August 6, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release
The Hounds hope to keep their July momentum rolling into a new month, as they carry a six-match unbeaten streak with them to visit Indy Eleven for the teams’ second meeting of the year.
The first clash of the year was par for the course in Pittsburgh-Indy matchups. The Hounds scored a 1-0 win on a 79th-minute goal by Albert Dikwa off the bench, and it was the fourth consecutive meeting between the teams to finish 1-0, dating back to 2020.
In 10 all-time meetings, the Hounds have a 5-3-2 record, but 9 of those 10 games was decided by one goal or fewer. This will be only the second time the Hounds have played at Carroll Stadium on the IUPUI campus after a 10 win there in 2021; the team’s first three games at Indy were played at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL’s Colts.
The Hounds come into the game with a clean injury report. Dane Kelly returned to action last week after missing the team’s trip to Hartford with a lower-body injury, which means Bob Lilley will have his full roster to choose from. The Hounds are one player lighter after the mutually-agreed release of defender Robby Dambrot, who shortly thereafter signed with Indy and could be eligible for selection despite only arriving in training this week with the Eleven.
The trend lines for the two teams couldn’t be more different entering the game. While a result for the Hounds would give them their first seven-match unbeaten run since Aug. 19-Sept. 19, 2020, Indy is in the midst of a nine-game winless stretch during which they have been shut out five times and only scored multiple goals once. But with Indy now trailing Miami by nine points for the final playoff spot in the East, the hosts will just as motivated as the Hounds, who need to keep winning to maintain their top-four position.
The Eleven still have dangerous attacking options in top scorer Stéfano Pinho, Manuel Arteaga and playmaker Solomon Asante, and given first-year head coach Mark Lowry’s track record – most recently in El Paso – it could only be a matter of time before the team’s half-dozen in-season acquisitions, such as Asante and goalkeeper Sean Lewis, mesh with the existing group and the team turns a corner.
Preventing that falls to a Hounds defense that did not allow multiple goals in a game during their 5-0-1 July, which ended with Jahmali Waite posting a four-save shutout for his fourth clean sheet of the year last week against Tulsa….