North Allegheny’s Mack Leftwich builds explosive Texas Tech offense
The life of a football coach, any coach at the college or professional level, is nomadic. In Tulsa for a time, then a cup of coffee in Columbus, then jetting to Jacksonville. All the while leading young men to winning games. Mack Leftwich is no stranger to this life. He’s...
Riverhounds goalkeeper Eric Dick won’t return as team announces series of moves
The first steps in the quest to repeat as kingpins of the USL Championship League were taken by the Pittsburgh Riverhounds as the club announced a series of roster moves Friday, retaining options on four key players while also declining options on six members of the club, including its leading...
Riverhounds beat Tulsa to win 1st USL Championship title
TULSA, Okla. — On a chilly afternoon Saturday in front of 9,507 fans at ONEOK Field, the visiting Pittsburgh Riverhounds met FC Tulsa with the 2025 USL Championship season hanging in the balance. The winner would claim its first league title. Like they had two times prior this postseason, in...
Riverhounds head to Tulsa hoping to bring club, city elusive soccer title
For 26 seasons, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds have played, moved to multiple venues, shut down operations for a season, reopened, found a permanent home and finally stable ownership as part of a long path to playing for a league championship. In front of what will be a hostile crowd of 10,000...
Record-breaking goalkeeper Eric Dick fuels Riverhounds’ historic playoff run
At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, Pittsburgh Riverhounds goalkeeper Eric Dick is the cornerstone of a defense that has been the backbone of a USL Eastern Conference title run and berth in Saturday’s league final against Western Conference king FC Tulsa. Dick, a Kansas native, came to Pittsburgh in 2024 after...
Riverhounds win Eastern Conference thanks to Robbie Mertz’s winner
Carrying 26 years of futility into Saturday’s USL Eastern Conference title match, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds came to Highmark Stadium on Saturday with a simple goal. Beat defending conference champion Rhode Island FC and wait to see where they would travel to for a crack at the elusive first club championship...
Riverhounds relish chance at historic win in conference finals
The wild ride that has been the 2025 Pittsburgh Riverhounds season continues to play out like a trip on the Phantom’s Revenge at Kennywood. Some big hills, a few valleys and thrills and screams abound. There was a slow start followed by a rather good run during the summer at...
Riverhounds win PK shootout to reach conference finals
A very raucous and record crowd of soccer fans jammed into Highmark Stadium on Saturday evening with hopes of watching their side do something the Pittsburgh Riverhounds franchise had never done. Make an Eastern Conference final in the USL Championship. Since the league adopted its current playoff format in 2016,...
Against Detroit FC, Riverhounds can avenge playoff loss, earn elusive trip to conference finals
No matter what the sport is, from hockey to football, postseason play is unmatched, as it becomes not just a test of wills, but at times it’s simply about luck and the right place and right time. For Detroit FC, a bit of timing and luck has propelled the No....
Riverhounds win playoff opener, beating Hartford Athletic in PK shootout
There was a sense of anticipation in the air at Highmark Stadium on Saturday as the USL Championship playoffs kicked off in Pittsburgh with the Riverhounds hosting Hartford Athletic. In the end, penalties were needed to decide a winner in a scoreless game. The host Riverhounds came away with a...
In battle of section rivals, North Allegheny stings Seneca Valley in 2OT to win WPIAL 4A title
The road to Highmark Stadium for both the North Allegheny and Seneca Valley girls soccer teams had few tricks and many treats en route to a meeting for WPIAL Class 4A gold on Halloween. The cold autumn breeze that kicked off the banks of the Monongahela River proved to be...
Controversy surrounds Riverhounds playoff opener vs. Hartford Athletic
The chill in the air as November dawns caps off a rather hot two months of soccer by the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, who finished on a 5-2-1 run, good enough to earn a home playoff tilt. A 30-match regular season culminated last Saturday in a draw with visiting Phoenix Rising of...
Riverhounds finish tumultuous regular season with scoreless draw, clinch 4th seed for playoffs
A turbulent regular season for Pittsburgh Riverhounds soccer came to an end Saturday in front of a chilly crowd of 5,067 fans at Highmark Stadium. After 29 games, the local 11 held down 43 points and a fourth-place slot in the Eastern Conference standings of the USL Championship. Coming into...
Freeport secures playoff spot by beating East Allegheny
Punching a ticket to the WPIAL playoffs is never easy. For the Freeport Yellowjackets, they needed a win Friday at home against East Allegheny to position themselves for a spot. In front of a healthy senior night home crowd at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium, the Yellowjackets allowed an early TD...
With coaching situation casting shadow, Riverhounds clinch playoff berth
The mood on Saturday at Highmark Stadium was not one of a festive atmosphere the building usually channels when the local 11 from the Riverhounds are home to play. All season, as in the recent few campaigns, sellout crowds are mostly a raucous group, full of optimism. That festive mood...
Gateway soccer programs making in-season strides
The start of the 2025 soccer season in Monroeville was tough on a pair of young Gateway Gators teams. The Gateway boys program is under the tutelage of Mike Rugh for a third season. A Gateway grad from 1996, he was inducted into the school’s soccer hall of fame in...
Riverhounds blanked at home by USL’s top team, Louisville FC
As the leaves begin to turn, many teams hopes of making the USL Championship’s postseason are doing much of the same. That includes the Pittsburgh Riverhounds who, as of late, have turned to falling short in the win department —including a 2-0 loss to Louisville FC on Saturday night —...
Freeport dominates Derry, improves to 2-0
Freeport and Derry entered Friday night’s matchup coming off impressive season-opening wins. Something had to give. And it was Derry that buckled, as the Yellowjackets prevailed 49-6. It didn’t take long for Amos Glenn to continue his strong start to the season, scoring from 25 yards out 1 minute, 11...
Riverhounds announce planned expansion to stadium on Pittsburgh’s South ShoreVideo
Paul Heisley had a vision in 1999. It was not only to bring professional soccer to Pittsburgh but give it a home that would be a center for the sport in the city. He had blueprints. Even a place on the Monongahela River in Homestead to make his vision a...
Productive offseason provides optimism as Sto-Rox rebuild continues
Brendan Blair knows the grind of football in Western Pennsylvania. Having grown up in Stowe Township, Blair played for Sto-Rox, graduating in 2014. After attending Cal (Pa.), where he earned a business degree, he returned to the area and got involved in coaching. Before long, Blair was announced as the...
Change sweeps through Waynesburg after back-to-back playoff seasons
The winds of change swept into Green County this past offseason, and Waynesburg was in the path of much of it. The Raiders graduated four all-conference starters, including starting quarterback Jake Stephenson, who led the team to back-to-back playoff appearances. Waynesburg also welcomed a new coach. Aaron Giorgi had been...
Riverhounds give up lead, lose to Charleston at Highmark
With an overflow crowd of 6,115 on hand, the second largest in Highmark Stadium history, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds came out fast and confident Saturday against their oldest rivals, the Charleston Battery. The Palmetto 11 came into the game with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship...
Program in a good place as Mohawk keeps stacking playoff seasons
The long summer days that lead to the start of a football season are where many coaches feel wins and losses will be determined, based on the effort put in. Mohawk coach Tim McCutcheon is no different, logging hours that go into the evening most days. But to build a...
With 11 starters back from playoff team, Riverside expects even more in 2025
Rob Magnifico returns for a second season as head coach at Riverside in 2025 after leading the Panthers to the WPIAL playoffs last season. The story of how Magnifico came to be coach of Riverside, given the fact that he’s an Ellwood City native who played and then coached the...
Union to lean on young players in 2nd season in Class 2A
There is an old saying that the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. And in the case of Kim Niedbala, his coaching legacy starts with his father Rich, who spent 31 years in charge at Western Beaver. The road traveled for Kim was paved mostly in the college...
