May 4, 2023 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release
SEASIDE, Calif. – Another first-time matchup is on tap with the Hounds ready to take the field on California’s Central Coast to face Monterey Bay FC at Cardinale Stadium in a 10 p.m. ET kickoff.
The match completes a challenging opening quarter of the season with 7 of 9 USL Championship matches on the road, and it is the first of three road trips to California this season, this one to the region known for Pebble Beach and John Steinbeck novels.
While it’s an unfamiliar venue, there will be plenty of familiar faces among the opposition with Monterey Bay relying on three former Hounds – Alex Dixon, Hugh Roberts and Christian Volesky – in key roles.
Dixon is the top scorer in the USL Championship with six goals – one ahead of Albert Dikwa – and his strike rate has been superb having done that on just eight shots. Roberts, meanwhile, captains the home side and has been a steady force on the Monterey Bay back line since the team’s inception, and Volesky is the team’s top secondary scorer with three goals and two assists of his own.
High-scoring games have been the norm for the team led by longtime MLS coach Frank Yallop, as Monterey Bay’s 15 goals scored lead the league, but their 12 allowed is fourth-worst through the season’s first eight weeks.
The Hounds, on the other hand, haven’t quite hit their scoring stride. The team has scored multiple goals only twice in league play so far, but they also have conceded multiple goals only once on the year, setting up a stylistic contrast entering Friday’s game.
The Hounds’ big news of the week came Wednesday, when it was announced that midfielder Danny Griffin would be returning to the team via a transfer from Huntsville City FC of third-division MLS NEXT Pro. The team was aiming to have Griffin as an option as early as this week, a move that would allow Kenardo Forbes the freedom to roam higher up the field and helps cover for the loss of Junior Etou, who remains on the mend from the broken arm he suffered March 28 at Tulsa but should return later this month.
The late-night match – the first to start this late for Hounds fans back in Pittsburgh since 2014 – will only be available by streaming through ESPN+. Local viewers at home will be able to catch the Hounds back on their Pittsburgh’s CW home beginning with next week’s match against Birmingham.
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