7PM – Highmark Stadium
Match Officials, as assigned by PRO:
REF: Mr. Leland Grant
AR1: Mr. Sean Regan
AR2: Mr. Nathaniel Buck
4TH: Mr. Charles Murphy
Five and a half months is a long time to wait for a soccer game. When you consider how last season ended, the wait is even more burdensome. However, today is the day we put all the waiting behind us and have hope spring eternal as a new season dawns. The Riverhounds are back, and we hit the ground running tonight against the defending USL champions, Rochester. (Big shout out to Detective John for killing his first ‘Know Your Enemy’)
For the Hounds, its been an off season of turnover with a majority of the roster settling in for their first season at Highmark Stadium. Our man with a plan, John Krysinski, has the roster breakdown. It’s a lot of new faces to learn and love. However, I’m sure you’ll survive. The cliff notes version of the off-season looks like it can delivered in three questions;
1. Does the backline has have the size, strength, and stamina to avoid the late game, set piece goals that allowed so many points to vanish last year?
2. Is there enough variety and depth of scoring options available to make up for the loss of Rob Vincent?
3. Can the Hounds control the midfield and successfully transition into an attacking formation on only a couple touches?
The answers to those questions may hold the fate of your 2016 Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess how the early part of the season goes. We’ have two teams today with a bunch of new parts and only a handful of scrimmages see how well they fit together. We’ll all learn together how it plays out.
TAILGATING
For those veteran Steel Army tailgaters, you know how this will go down. The party kicks off sometime between 1 and 2 this afternoon in the same spot as always. If this is your first time, or you just need a refreshed, we gather in the parking lot on the West side of the stadium, as wonderfully illustrated below…
We may have one of those stupid-tall flag poles going as well, today, use it as your lighthouse in a sea of off-season darkness. Memberships will be available for pickup or purchase.
The plan from the team, as of last weekend, is to have an area set-up outside the stadium where season ticket holders will be able to pick up their Tuffybucks and/or season tickets. It appears that the Tuffybucks will be dated for each game this season, so be sure to get your use out of them every time.
Some (who knows exactly how many, 5-6) Rochester supporters are claiming they’ll be at the game and are planning on pre-gaming in the same lot as us. Do with this information as you wish…
March into the stadium goes down sometime between 6:20 and 6:30, if you plan on participating, have your stuff put away before that time.
It’s been a long off-season, time to stop talking about it or thinking about it. It’s time to go do it. Get loud, get silly, make an impact.
#UNLEASH
