May 31, 2026 By Jonathan Guth 4 min read

Pittsburgh Riverhounds keeper Nico Campuzano didn’t need to do much to earn his second straight clean sheet in the Hounds’ 2-0 victory over Miami FC on Saturday at F.N.B. Stadium in Station Square.

Miami FC (4-4-4) had one shot on target in the USL Championship match before a sellout crowd of 6,053, which was the third-largest regular season crown in the history of F.N.B. Stadium.

Pittsburgh (5-4-1) dominated play in the first 45 minutes but couldn’t get anything past Miami’s Felipe Rodriguez, who finished with four saves.

The Hounds’ Charles Ahl drove toward the box off a turnover and earned a free kick for the home team. Eliot Goldthorp did the honors for Pittsburgh, and nailed the set piece in the 10th-minute over the wall, but his shot hit the top of the net.

Goldthorp had a shot skid across the face of goal after he carried it forward from the front of the center circle. The English native had seven total shots, including two on target that we stopped by Rodriguez.

Despite controlling the play in the first half and the match level at 0-0, Hounds head coach Rob Vincent wasn’t overly concerned with his team’s performance.

“I wouldn’t say I was unhappy with the first half,” said Vincent when asked about the attitude in the locker room following a scoreless first half in which his team dominated play. “There was definitely room for improvement, and we made a couple of little adjustments to the press to try and get more pressure on the ball.

“When we were pressing them, we forced some turnovers, and created some chances out of that. The guys were feeling that something good was coming when I entered the room at halftime.”

Pittsburgh’s persistence paid off in the 49th minute when Albert Dikwa scored his sixth goal of the season with a lunging header for the game-winning tally. Ahl broke down the left wing and set a ball across the front of goal that couldn’t be corralled by Dikwa or Goldthorp.

Perrin Barnes tracked down the cross on the right side and chipped the ball back to the left, where Dikwa slipped past the Miami backline to put the ball in the net. Barnes earned the assist.

“That’s his strength, and what we try and encourage him to do,” said Vincent when asked to discuss Dikwa’s goal. “When the ball is in the attacking area, his job is to be in the box. When he finds little pockets of space, he needs to be ready to pounce, and that’s what he did tonight.”

Dikwa set up Ahl for a 2-0 lead in the 73rd minute following a one-touch pass that the Florida native buried for his first goal of the season. Ahl has scored in all three matches he has played against Miami in his career.

The sequence to Ahl’s goal started when Owen Mikoy won the ball near midfield. Six Hounds played the ball, which culminated in Dikwa’s soft pass to Ahl, who finished from the left side of the box.

“I was screaming at him (Dikwa) but I’m always screaming at him in a match,” Ahl said. “He likes to score goals, and he’s good at them, but he’s also good at setting us up. We work on that stuff in training. He set it up well and I had to score. It’s hard to miss from there.”

Dikwa was limited to four passes in the first half, but he had six second-half touches in Miami’s box and was named the Modelo Man of the Match.

“We had an opportunity to score in the first half and it didn’t happen, so I was pleased to get another chance in the second,” Dikwa said. “I feel comfortable being in the box. That’s my space and my house. The crowd was amazing tonight. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep.”

Campuzano only needed to make one save, as Pittsburgh had all its pieces working together.

“The MO of our team is defending from the front, and it translates from the backline,” Ahl said. “Clean sheets aren’t only on the keeper. The backline, midfield and also the attackers put in the work up there, and you get rewarded with goals from that.”