July 31, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release
As the calendar turns into the final three months of the USL Championship season, the Hounds find themselves in unfamiliar territory by being on the wrong side of the playoff line.
But one of the staples of the Bob Lilley era – a run of six straight years qualifying for the playoffs – has been strong finishes to the season, which gives plenty reason to think the Hounds can make a move with 14 matches to play.
The Hounds (5-9-7) enter August five points back of Loudoun United FC for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but with two wins and a draw in their past three matches, things have trended upward in recent weeks. That alone is reason for optimism, despite a difficult stretch of upcoming games that begins with Saturday’s road trip to Western Conference contenders Sacramento Republic FC.
However, this tends to be the time of year Lilley’s teams have hit their stride in Pittsburgh, going back to his first season with the Hounds, 2018. That year, the team ended July with their only back-to-back losses of the season, but the group rebounded to win the next three and lose just once in the next 14 matches on its way to a third-place finish in the East – at that time, the Hounds’ best finish in the “modern” USL Championship.
In five full-length seasons under Lilley – excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season that didn’t begin until July – the Hounds are 37-11-21 from Aug. 1 onward, taking 132 of 207 possible points, or 1.91 per game.
While that isn’t a jaw-dropping amount above the 1.78 points per game taken in pre-August matches, that slight lift in form yields 2-3 extra points in the final standings. And after the Hounds finished first in the East by a single point in 2019, and then won the 2023 Players’ Shield by just three points, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where 2-3 points could again make a vital difference in a playoff chase.
Take a look back at recent seasons’ stretch runs, as the Hounds gear up for a final 14 matches in 2024 that will see them play six games against the teams they look to catch, the clubs holding the No. 4-8 spots in the East currently (Indy, Birmingham x2, Detroit, Rhode Island, Loudoun).
2018 (6-2-7 after Aug. 1)
The Hounds were already in solid position in mid-July, but consecutive losses to Charleston and North Carolina on last-minute goals let in a few signs of worry. Unshaken, the group remained one of the toughest…