Sep 22, 2025 By Jonathan Guth 5 min read

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds earned a 2-1 road victory at Hartford Athletic on Saturday night, but the triumph was overshadowed by a stoppage-time incident that ended the match with Pittsburgh captain Danny Griffin and Hartford’s Marlon Hairston engaged in a dispute.

Following a 10-minute delay, the Hartford players, coaches and staff refused to finish the final minutes of stoppage play and match referee Greg Dopka ordered the end of the match after speaking with both coaches.

The Athletic issued a statement on their social media platforms following the match.

The statement read: “Unfortunately due to an on field verbal exchange between a Pittsburgh and Hartford Athletic player, Hartford Athletic players and technical staff did not feel comfortable proceeding with the match this evening.

“The club has requested the league to conduct an investigation regarding the use of racially offensive language by a Pittsburgh player.”

The Riverhounds also released a statement on social media that addressed the alleged racially offensive language.

Pittsburgh’s statement said: “The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are aware of Hartford Athletic’s request for a USL investigation following tonight’s match. Our organization takes any allegation of discriminatory or offensive language extremely seriously.

“At the same time, we stand by our players and firmly deny that such language was used. We will fully cooperate with the league’s investigation into the matter.”

Pittsburgh’s Chase Boone scored his first goal as a member of the Riverhounds (9-9-7) in the 89th minute of the match to give the visitors a 2-1 lead, as Pittsburgh defeated Hartford (10-10-5) for the 13th time in 17 meetings.

With the win, the Riverhounds have moved to sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings of the USL Championship with 34 points. The Athletic have a one-point edge on Pittsburgh for fifth. The top eight teams in the Eastern Conference will qualify for the USL Championship playoffs, and the first four will host a home playoff match.

“It was a good team win without Perrin (Barnes) and Jackson (Walti) available,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said. “The guys were ready to play, and it was an important result for us. We want to keep pushing for as high of a finish as we can get. We’ve got to keep pressing forward, and tonight was an important win.”

The sequence that led to Boone’s tally began when Bertin Jacquesson lofted a ball into the box on the right side of Griffin, who flicked the ball laterally to Brigham Larsen, who attempted a shot on target that was blocked. The rebound ricocheted to the front of goal, and Boone finished into the open net.

The home team pushed for the tying goal, but a tackle near the top of the box on Hairston led to the match-ending altercation.

No cards were issued from the dispute. There were only two cards shown in the match, as Hartford’s Sebastian Anderson (caution – tactical foul) and Adrián Diz Pe (caution – reckless foul) were issued yellows in the 58th and 60th minute.

Lilley didn’t comment on the incident during his post-match interview, but admitted to the physicality and intensity of the match.

“It was a really competitive game, which you tend to get at this time of the year when people are fighting for playoff positioning,” Lilley said. “We had stretches where we were good in possession, but we struggled to create a lot. We hung in there, and I thought Luke (Biasi) did a good job on (Michee) Ngalina, but they have a lot of pace and they’re very direct in transition. We made a lot of plays in our defensive third.”

Biasi was named the “Modelo Man of the Match” after making a pair of big defensive plays to keep the match level at 1-1. Biasi denied Ngalina on a close-range chance at the back post. Biasi had five clearances and recovered three possessions.

For the third time in the past four matches, the Hounds scored in less than five minutes when Charles Ahl found the back of the net for a 1-0 advantage. Biasi served the cross that led to the goal.

The Athletic leveled the match roughly eight minutes later when Emmanuel Samadia set-up Diz Pe for the game-tying goal.

Hartford took advantage of a set piece when Samadia lifted a corner kick high into the penalty area, and Diz Pe headed the ball past Eric Dick for the tally.

“We obviously had the quick start, but we couldn’t deal with that first restart,” Lilley said. “Eric (Dick) apparently lost it in the lights, and that’s why he didn’t come out.”

The Athletic had a 15-9 advantage in shots, but Pittsburgh put six on target, while Hartford had four.

Dick made three saves for the win in net. The Athletic replaced starting keeper Antony Siaha for John Berner in the second half. Siahi was involved in a collision with Diz Pe late in the first 45 minutes.

The Hounds return to Highmark Stadium this Saturday against Las Vegas at 7 p.m.