April 24, 2023 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release
PITTSBURGH – Back at home after a Saturday setback in league play, the Hounds will play for the first time in the 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup when they host Maryland Bobcats FC of the National Independent Soccer Association in a Third Round match starting at 7 p.m. at Highmark Stadium.
The Hounds advanced to this point of the competition by way of a forfeit win over Rochester New York FC, as the MLS Next Pro side folded prior to their season but after the Second Round draw. The visiting Bobcats had to put out much more effort to advance, but they prevailed 3-2 in extra time over the Ocean City Nor’easters of USL League Two in a match that both teams finished with 10 men after a pair of first-half red cards.
Having just returned home Sunday from a road match in El Paso, Texas, the Hounds will field a shaken-up lineup to provide rest for some players. However, coach Bob Lilley boasts an unblemished record against lower-division opponents in cup play, including a 3-0 mark in such matches with the Hounds, and he will not want to let that mark vanish with a shot to be one of the last 32 teams standing in the Fourth Round.
The match is a rematch of the 2022 Second Round, where the Hounds took a 2-0 win over the Bobcats at Highmark. Toby Sims was the hero of that match with his first two professional goals, and the match should provide some of this year’s young players the opportunity to mimic the feat of Sims, who signed this winter with Harrogate Town in England’s League Two.
The Bobcats do present some danger having won their first two NISA matches, and their attack is led by Honduran forward/midfielder Darwin Espinal, who scored twice against the Nor’easters and has four goals in three competitive matches this season. It will be Espinal’s third chance to crack the Hounds defense in the cup, after his Tampa Bay Rowdies were shut out 1-0 by the Hounds in 2015 and the Bobcats were blanked last year.
Should the Hounds advance, it will be the fifth time in team history they have reached the Fourth Round of the cup, after doing so in 2001 – the quarterfinals were that year’s fourth round – 2014, 2015 and 2019.
For the special midweek cup night, all tickets are just $15, and all seating is general admission. Parking in the stadium’s West Lot will only be $5, and both tickets and parking passes are on sale through Ticketmaster. There will not be a Tailgate Zone for…
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