Hounds Post 3-1 Win over Visiting Battery
- Forrest Wimberly
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 7 hours ago
Pittsburgh wins on Ring Night as the club celebrated their 2025 USLC title
It was a 3-1 win for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Ring Night as the hosts celebrated their 2025 USL Championship title with their victory over the Charleston Battery.
Pittsburgh scored very early in the match and then took a 2-0 lead before Charleston pulled a goal back to make the score close during the first half. Charleston had a bright spell of play to open the second half but a Pittsburgh goal from a corner kick and a Battery Red Card ended any hopes of a comeback in the Steel City.
Pittsburgh would play very direct all match long looking to press the visiting Battery on the smaller dimensions of First National Bank Stadium. Just two minutes into the match, a long service over the Battery backline was collected neatly by Pittsburgh’s Trevor Aman on his first touch before he ripped a rocket of a shot into the near post upper netting for the quick opening goal.
Pittsburgh was at it again in the 8th minute as another long service into the Battery area created some scrambling defensive work from Charleston to clear their lines. In the 15th minute a seemingly slow-motion, fast break saw the Riverhounds walk the ball up the field into the Battery end before a simple ball was slotted on the ground to Danny Griffin. Griffin completed the slow-developing attack by calmly rolling the ball under the onrushing Luis Zamudio and into the Battery net for the 2-0 Pittsburgh advantage.
The Battery answered the second Pittsburgh goal almost immediately as Nathan Messer drove a low cross across the area from the left flank to Douglas Martinez who was all alone at the far post. Martinez took the cross and bounced it past the Pittsburgh keeper in the 16th minute to cut the score in half as the Battery settled into the match.
With the score 2-1 Pittsburgh at the half, the Battery emerged from the break on the front foot and pressed their attack looking to level the match. An Emilo Ycaza shot in the 52th minute just didn’t have enough steam on it to beat the Pittsburgh keeper while Luis Zamudio stood tall in the Battery nets in the 56th minute turning aside the host’s best chance of the early minutes of the second half.
A Pittsburgh corner kick in the 61st minute would give the hosts some breathing room as they regained a two-goal cushion. The corner was looped into the crowded Battery goal mouth where Victor Souza would fight through traffic to head the ball down and into the far post for the 3-1 lead for the Hounds.
Any hopes of a late comeback were dashed away in the 81st minute as a professional foul by Charleston’s Douglas Martinez earned a second yellow and a sending off to sink the Battery on the evening.
“I didn’t think it was a bad first half from us, but the first two goals were just letting our emotions get the best of us,” said Battery goalkeeper Luis Zamudio. “Tough place to play, tough environment, but we have to handle our emotions better and just deal with it. I put my hand up for the first two goals, I feel like I could do better on both of them. But what I will say is that it was a good reaction from the boys to get the goal back and keep us in the game.”
“And then in the second half, we conceded that goal on the set piece to make it 3-1, and that basically killed us,” finished Zamudio. “But, thankfully, we play back home next week, so we just have to focus on that now.”
Charleston returns to The Point on Saturday, August 22 as Miami FC pays a visit at 7:30 PM. The Battery remains in second place in the USL Championship Eastern Conference table on 33 points with the result.
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