Oct 14, 2025 By Jonathan Guth 5 min read

If seven is lucky, then eight is great, which is what the Pittsburgh Riverhounds are celebrating following Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Indy Eleven at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh’s Station Square.

Pittsburgh (11-10-7) have qualified for the postseason in the USL Championship for the eighth-straight year, which is the second-longest active streak in the league behind Louisville City FC, and the longest streak among Pittsburgh’s four professional teams.

There was turmoil for the Riverhounds prior to the match, as head coach Bob Lilley was placed on administrative leave the day before the match, the club announced on X (formerly Twitter).

Assistant coach Rob Vincent will serve as the acting head coach for the Hounds. The release stated the team didn’t have any further comment on the subject at the time.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, to be honest,” said Vincent when asked about the situation involving Lilley and having to coach a match 24 hours later. “It was after training yesterday, so you don’t really have any time with the guys. We got the guys together on a call last night and just tried to explain the situation and how things were going to work today. We were trying to make it business as usual, in terms of the game.”

Indy Eleven (9-14-5) entered Saturday’s match hoping for at least a point, if not three, as it sat one spot out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 32 points, and the visitors played like it early in the first half.

Indy’s Aodhan Quinn forced Pittsburgh keeper Eric Dick to make his first of three saves seven minutes into the match on a free kick. Quinn had his second shot on target pushed away by the fingertips of the Hounds keeper, as he used his fingertips to redirect a low shot around the far post in the 22nd minute on a counter attack.

“I thought he (Dick) did brilliantly tonight,” Vincent said. “He made a really good save in the first half to keep it at nil-nil. That could have changed things a lot.”

Despite the visitors carrying the play early, Pittsburgh scored in the 38th minute when captain Danny Griffin scored on a sliding effort for his sixth goal in all competitions this year, which is a career high.

The sequence began with a long cross that was sent across the goal by Robbie Mertz from the left sideline that carried over the Indy defense to Augi Williams, who sent a low, hard ball back across the goal to Griffin for the score and a 1-0 lead.

“Augi played a great goal across, and I knew I just had to throw my body at it,” Griffin said. “We knew how they would play, and for them, their season was on the line, so we knew it was going to be a battle and we had to be up for it. We wanted to get the win to clinch a spot in the playoffs.”

The Hounds held their one-goal advantage after 45 minutes of play, and scored an insurance tally in the 76th minute when Sean Suber headed Bradley Sample’s corner kick into the far side of the net for a 2-0 lead. The tally was the center back’s first of the year.

James Musa cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 88th minute when Jack Blake had his volley attempt from outside of the box spin off his foot, but the awkward delivery fell at the back post for Musa, who finished unmarked on a spinning ball.

Pittsburgh protected its lead for the next seven minutes, as stoppage time was set at five, for the triumph in front of a sellout crowd of 5,618.

Indy keeper Hunter Sulte made five saves, including a flurry of three in the 58th minute when he denied Williams with a kick save before diving to his right to stop Sample.

Sulte pushed Charles Ahl’s near-post attempt wide of the cage to keep his team in the match.

Griffin was named the “Modelo Man of the Match” after winning possession five times, conquering the larger Indy side in aerial duels (4 of 7) and having five touches in the visitors’ box.

While they have clinched a playoff spot, the Hounds are seeking to move into fourth position in the Eastern Conference standings, which would earn them the right to host a playoff match at Highmark Stadium. Pittsburgh will travel across the country for its next match against Monterey Bay FC (7-14-7) in Seaside Calif. this Saturday at 10 p.m.

“The teams that usually do well in playoffs find some momentum late in the season, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Vincent said. “We have a west-coast trip, and those games are always difficult, in terms of the travel.”