August 16, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release
Russell Cicerone already has 27 goals – tied for sixth in club history – before reaching the end of his second full season with the Hounds.
When Russell Cicerone signed with the Riverhounds before the 2021 season, he was regarded as a talented forward who was just starting to hit his stride as a pro in the previous two seasons with Saint Louis FC.
Fast-forward to about 18 months later, and Cicerone has established himself as a full-fledged finisher with 27 goals for the Hounds. His total – 16 in 2021 and 11 so far this season – already goes down as one of the best two-year scoring runs in team history, and it could end up being the best by season’s end.
Here is how the Michigan-born forward’s numbers stack up with the best in team history:
Based purely off goal total, the best two-year stretch by any Hounds striker was that of the first target man in the Bob Lilley era, Neco Brett.
Brett scored 34 goals in all competitions during the 2018 and ’19 seasons in Pittsburgh, and the team’s success during those seasons – third- and first-place finishes in the Eastern Conference – makes his run the gold standard. The Jamaican forward was also consistent with totals of 15 and 19 goals, respectively, showing he was no one-year wonder.
But Brett also had the advantage of some additional games Cicerone did not.
Two of Brett’s 2019 total came in a U.S. Open Cup win over the Dayton Dutch Lions of USL League Two, and he also had the unforgettable four-goal performance in a rainy playoff win over Birmingham Legion in that year’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
Cicerone, on the other hand, did not have the benefit of cup play or a playoff run in 2021, and played only one cup game this season, the team’s extra-time loss at MLS club FC Cincinnati. Counting only regular-season league goals, Brett’s advantage shrinks to 28-27.
The two also are remarkably similar in the assists category – Brett had 12; Cicerone has 11 – showing how both are all-around catalysts for the attack in Lilley’s system.
Neco Brett’s two-season total of 34 goals in all competitions during 2018 and ’19 is the biggest two-year haul of any Hounds player.
Are there any other contenders? Let’s take a glance.
– Apart from Cicerone and Brett, the only other player to record consecutive double-digit goal seasons for the Hounds was Corey Hertzog in 2016-17. His 27 goals – the same number as Cicerone currently – still…