When the final whistle blew on Wednesday night, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds fans were treated to a familiar sight — their home team taking down a visiting MLS team at Highmark Stadium for the second time in three years in the US Open Cup.
It came in the most dramatic fashion. With New York City FC reduced to 10-men for a DOGSO (Denying Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity) red card late in the second half, the Riverhounds seized their chance in stoppage time mere moments before the final whistle. Rookie defender Beto Ydrach headed home a corner kick from Robbie Mertz with the penultimate touch of the game to snatch another famous victory for the Hounds in Cup play, this time 1-0 over New York in Round 4.
“I thought we had a pretty good first half,” said Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley, who won his 24th Open Cup game as a coach, which now ranks 5th most in the Modern Era (1995-present). “And then to win it like that, at the death, and not have to play another 30 minutes, was great.”
While New York City largely dominated the first half in terms of possession, each team managed to get off several shots, with the Riverhounds taking the two more dangerous attempts of the first 45 minutes of play.
The Hounds found their first good chance on target in the 10th minute, as a loose ball in the box off a Robbie Mertz free kick wound up falling to Bertin Jacquesson. The Hounds forward managed to pull off a tough, spinning half-volley, sending it towards the net but also straight at NYCFC goalkeeper Tomas Romero.
The best opportunity of the half came the Hounds’ way as well, again through Jacquesson. This time, a three-on-two counterattack was spearheaded by the pacey forward, who opted to keep the ball himself with runners on either side — firing a blocked shot but ending up with his own rebound. His subsequent right-footed effort was on-target and forced a diving save out of Romero in goal.
Ultimately, neither side was able to find the breakthrough in the first half and entered the locker rooms still level at zero.
The second half started out as a cagier affair for the hosts, as NYCFC ramped up the pressure. Led by Julian Fernandez and Hannes Wolf, City forced the Hounds defense deeper and deeper with more crucial saves, punches and step-ups from goalkeeper Eric Dick.
But everything turned on its head in the 78th minute. A long clearance upfield from the Riverhounds bounced in the NYCFC defense, and as centerback Strahinja Tanasijevic waited for his chance to control it, Bradley Sample aggressively pressed and forced the turnover. Tanasijevic had no choice but to drag the Hounds midfielder down as the last man, earning the red card and reducing City to ten.
Despite that, NYCFC had two great chances to win it before the end. In the 83rd minute, Agustin Ojeda rang the crossbar from 20 yards out on a ripped shot off a rebound. He then set up Julian Fernandez on the counter just five minutes later, with the latter inexplicably missing a wide-open net.
Finally, it was the Hounds turn to respond, and they took full advantage. With a late burst of pressure, the Hounds earned a corner in the final moments of added time. Mertz took it centrally from the far corner, where Ydrach was lurking. The rookie defender scored not only the first goal of the night, but the first goal of his professional career and the Hounds first set piece goal of the season, to send the crowd into a rapturous thunder.
“I think we needed a result like this,” Ydrach said. “It was gritty until the last minute, but we dug it out, and hopefully we can take that into league play and get a result on the road this weekend too in Louisville.”
NYCFC barely got a chance to kickoff again before the final whistle blew with the Riverhounds triumphant. The Hounds advance to the Round of 16, while New York City FC suffers an unfortunately familiar early exit to a lower-division foe.