Oct 20, 2025 By Jonathan Guth 5 min read

Pittsburgh enjoyed its West Coast trip on Saturday in Seaside, Calif.

The Riverhounds not only relaxed in the cool Mediterranean climate, but dominated Monterey Bay FC in a 3-0 victory at Cardinale Stadium.

The win propels Pittsburgh (12-10-7) into fourth place in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference standings.

The Riverhounds can lock up a home playoff match with a win over Phoenix Rising FC (9-8-12) next Saturday at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh’s Station Square.

Pittsburgh can overtake Hartford Athletic (13-11-5) for third place in the conference if it defeats Phoenix and Hartford either losses or plays to a draw against Louisville FC (21-17).

“I think it removes some of the narrative and some of those auxiliary thoughts you can have in the final week,” said Hounds acting head coach Rob Vincent in regards to the opportunity to clinch a home playoff match next week. “It’s a clear goal: Win and we get the home playoff game. It’s always messy on the last day when you’re looking at other results. But even without the other results going our way tonight, we knew we had to maximize our points by getting wins in these last two matches.”

Pittsburgh scored the only goal it would need in the 27th minute when Sean Suber found the back of the net for his second tally in as many matches and a 1-0 lead.

The sequence to Suber’s goal began with the Hounds cycling the ball in the attacking half before Monterey Bay partly cleared a corner kick. Augi Williams received a pass into the box and played the ball wide to captain Danny Griffin on the right.

Griffin’s low cross glanced off Guillaume Vacter, who redirected the ball to Suber for an unmarked tap-in at the back post.

Pittsburgh had a 1-nil advantage at halftime, but the home club came out strong in the early stages of the second half when Johnny Klein fired a shot into the stomach of keeper Eric Dick less than a minute into the second 45 minutes. Dick only had to make two saves for the clean sheet, as the Hounds had 58 percent of possession and matched their season high of seven shots on target (12 total).

Monterey Bay came out strong in the first half, Klein one-touched a high ball to Xavi Gnaulati, who fired a right-footed shot just wide of the left post in the 23rd minute.

Dick has 11 shutouts this season across all competitions.

“That was certainly a focus at halftime,” said Vincent in regards to Pittsburgh earning its third clean sheet in the past 11 matches. “We said we wanted to go get a second or a third goal, but at the same time, we knew we had to take care of our roles, and if we didn’t concede a goal, we would win the match.

“I think we were able to limit them to a few chances early in each half and didn’t give them much else. But what I will add: I was thrilled that we were able to not just get the second, but the third goal, as well. It was really pleasing that we didn’t have any loss of intensity late in the match.”

The Hounds continued to work for their second goal, and after Luke Biasi and Robbie Mertz had chances in the box, Williams cashed in for his team-leading ninth goal of the season in the 73rd minute for a 2-0 advantage.

Jackson Walti, who entered the match in the 68th minute, won the ball and passed to Williams, who corralled the ball with his right foot while curling away from the defender to his teammate’s right. The Sierra Leone native took a touch to accelerate into the box and blasted a shot over the arm of Monterey Bay keeper and former University of Pittsburgh standout Nico Campuzano. Despite the setback, Campuzo made four saves.

Walti was rewarded for his effort on Williams’ goal when he scored in the 86th minute after lifting a shot under the crossbar from inside the box for a three-goal lead.

Williams created the opportunity with a low cross that found its way across the box. The Hounds moved the ball to stretch the Monterey Bay defense before Griffin put the ball at the feet of Walti for the tally.

Walti was named the “Modelo Man of the Match” after scoring a goal and assisting on one in logging 21 minutes off the bench.

He connected on 13 of 14 passes and won possession twice, with one of those turnovers leading to his helper.

“I’m really happy, really proud of the guys,” Vincent said. “We maybe weather a storm early in each of the halves, and we knew they’d probably try to put on a performance at half. But we felt they didn’t have as much to play for, so if we take the initiative and get control of the game, they’d back off a little. Overall, we’re real happy with the win. It was a convincing result.”