Sep 1, 2025 By Jonathan Guth 4 min read

Pittsburgh scored in the second minute, but couldn’t hold or extend its lead in a 2-1 setback to Tampa Bay on Saturday in USL Championship play at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Riverhounds fell to 7-8-2, and are in danger of hosting a playoff match at Highmark Stadium, as fourth-place North Carolina FC holds a five-point lead in the Eastern Conference standings with eight games to play.

The Rowdies (6-12-3) avenged a 2-1 loss in Pittsburgh on June 21. Tampa Bay sits in 10th place in the East with 21 points, three back of

Rhode Island for the eighth and final playoff spot.

“It was warm down there, but I don’t think it was a fatigue thing,” Pittsburgh coach Bob Lilley said. “I think we let our foot off the gas and lost focus. We put ourselves in a good position, but we didn’t do what we had to do to finish a game off, especially on the road.

“In the second half, they brought attackers into the game, and we backed off a little, got a bit careless and turned the ball over. We opened the door a little bit, and they were attacking everything.”

Rookie and Florida native Charles Ahl scored his second goal of the year 119 seconds into the match when he snuck a shot into the top right corner of the net with his first touch from 12 yards out.

Luke Biasi moved the ball down the left side to begin the sequence that led to Ahl’s tally. Biasi lifted a pass to Robbie Meretz, who was running toward the goal line in the box. Metz made one cut before sending a pass back to Ahl for a 1-0 lead.

Augi Williams had a look at an open cage in the 25th minute after Mertz sent a no-look touch toward the goal that was the result of a broken play. Williams dribbled around the left of Rowdies keeper Ethan Bandré and shot toward the net, but former Pittsburgh defender Thomas Vancayezeele cleared the ball off the line while falling into the goal.

Hounds keeper Eric Dick made a diving, full-stretch stop to rob Lewis Hilton from 25 yards out during stoppage time in the first half to keep the visitors ahead at the break by one.

“We could’ve been up 2-0, 3-0 with chances in the first half and second half, but the final ball or the runs in the box aren’t good enough,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said. “We maybe had them more unbalanced than any team we’ve played this year, but we didn’t take advantage of those moments.”

Tampa Bay leveled the match in the 64th minute from a set piece, as newly entered substitute Joey Skinner won a header from a corner kick and directed the ball on target. Dick pushed the ball off the crossbar, but it ricocheted into the path of Hilton, who directed the ball over the line off his knee.

The Riverhounds didn’t let the game-tying goal affect their psyche, as Metz sent in a pair of crosses that were inches from Williams.

Bandré pushed the first attempt away from danger, and the second was too tall for Williams.

The Rowdies scored the game winner in the 75th minute, as substitute Manuel Arteaga’s long, diagonal ball from the life side was sent into the Hounds box. Woobens Pacius received the pass on the right side, took a touch and scored on an angle for his eighth goal this season.

“On the first goal, we defended the corner kick and had a chance to clear, but we didn’t, and they got another corner and scored from it,” Lilley said. “The second one started with another corner. The ball was cleared out wide, and Arteaga just hustled to it and played a good ball back in. They have three guys at the back post, and we’re looking at the ball, no one’s picked up men in the box.

“We didn’t get our line out and didn’t defend the second phase. It’s frustrating because we’ve worked on it, talked about it, but that’s two really bad goals we conceded.”