February 9, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release
Showcase season rolled on to kick off February, and last weekend there were five Riverhounds Development Academy’s boys teams competing at a pair of ECNL Florida Showcases – the ECNL event in Lakewood Ranch and the Regional League event in Sanford – across four days of play from Feb. 2-5 with more than 100 colleges represented scouting the action.
The Regional League squads in the 2005/06 and 2007 age groups were first to begin play on Friday, and both put together strong weekends with two wins each out of three matches.
The 2005/06 RL Boys started things off with a 2-1 win over Parkland SC, with Noah Hutter and Jonathan Nelson scoring to push the Hounds past the Floridian club. The Hounds kept rolling with a 3-1 win over East Meadow SC (N.Y.) behind a pair of Danny Bourgeois goals and another by Hutter. Hutter made it four goals on the weekend in the final match, but the Hounds were kept from a perfect record with a 4-2 loss to South Carolina Surf.
The 2007 RL Boys suffered their lone setback in the opening match, falling 3-1 to Atlanta Fire, but the team got their first win on Day 2 when Hamza Elsayed scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over local club Braden River SC. The team finished by finding the net three times in the finale – two goals for Elsayed and one for Wyatt Catchen – to take a 3-2 triumph over Eastside FC of Washington state.
The ECNL sides began play on Saturday, and the 2008 Boys led the way with an undefeated, 2-0-1 weekend that began with a tough scoreless draw against Alabama FC. The goals started to fall in the second match when Cole Radcliffe potted an early pair at the back post, and Ryan Maloney added a 25-yard free kick for a 3-1 win over Charlotte Independence. The team showed its defensive mettle in the finale, and a third goal of the showcase by Radcliffe was enough to close out an outstanding weekend with a 1-0 win over Eastern Pa.’s HEX FC.
The 2007 Boys were a little off-stride to open the tournament, conceding a pair of penalties in a 5-3 loss against Utah side La Roca FC, but they were able to turn things around in the next match against Charlotte SA. Nathan Katari scored a pair of goals, and Aedan Costa and Ethan Voight-Cherna also scored, while the coaches also praised the work of Roman Agostoni as a creator, Tyler Prex on the wing, and the defense as a unit in a 4-1 win. The weekend wrapped up with a 1-1 draw against a…