Riverhounds Development Academy

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1998 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. Since 2013, the Riverhounds have played their home games at the 5,000-seat Highmark Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium located in Station Square. Their current head coach is Bob Lilley. Saint Lucian international David Flavius currently holds the club records for most appearances and goals which he set over his eight seasons with the Riverhounds between 1999 and 2006.

The Riverhounds have an affiliated women's soccer team, Pittsburgh Riveters SC, that plays in the USL W League.

History

An ownership group led by local banker Paul Heasley was awarded a Pittsburgh expansion franchise in the USL A-League by USISL on March 11, 1998. The team was planned to begin playing in the 1999 season and would be the first professional outdoor soccer team in the city since the Pittsburgh Phantoms of the National Professional Soccer League folded after the 1967 season. The name "Riverdogs" was initially selected until the threat of legal action by the Charleston RiverDogs led the team to change their name to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in December 1998.

The Riverhounds played their first match on May 1, 1999, against the Cincinnati Riverhawks at Bethel Park Stadium in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The team lost 3–2 in a penalty shootout after a scoreless draw in front of a sellout crowd of 5,639 spectators. They drew an average attendance of 4,178 in their inaugural season—the second-best in the league—and qualified for the A-League playoffs, where Pittsburgh were eliminated by the Rochester Rhinos in the second round. The team's attendance declined in later seasons as Heasley unsuccessfully pursued plans for a soccer-specific stadium to replace Bethel Park by 2005. The Riverhounds moved a tier below the A-League (later the USL First Division) to the USL Pro Soccer League (later the Second Division) in 2004 amid financial issues. The team underwent several ownership changes and continued to have unstable finances; it withdrew from competition for the 2007 season but continued to run its youth programs and the senior team returned the following year.

In April 2013, the team opened Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh with an initial capacity of 3,102 seats and plans for future expansions. The stadium cost $10.2million to construct, entirely with private contributions, and was the result of several design and location changes. The Riverhounds successfully drew larger crowds at their new stadium and averaged 3,273 spectators during the 2013 season. The remaining financial issues and debts incurred from stadium construction caused the team to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2014 but remain playing. Majority ownership was sold to Tuffy Shallenberger, a construction company owner who was part of the ownership group, and the team focused on expanding its youth academy business. The Riverhounds unveiled a new crest and identity in 2018, replacing a cartoon dog with a modern roundel, and expanded Highmark Stadium to 5,000 seats.

The Riverhounds remained part of the USL's third-division league, which was restructured into USL Pro and later the USL Championship after it received second-division sanctioning. In 2013, the team announced a plan to join Major League Soccer, the country's top-flight league, within the next decade as an expansion franchise. The plan would require further expansion of Highmark Stadium to meet the league's minimum of 18,000 seats. The Riverhounds have never submitted a formal bid for an MLS franchise during previous rounds of expansion.

The organization announced in 2024 that they would form a women's team, later named Pittsburgh Riveters SC, to play in the pre-professional USL W League the following year. Former academy director Scott Gibson was named as the team's head coach.

Colors and badge

Originally, the Riverhounds' colors were predominantly red with smaller amounts of black and white. Pittsburgh-based BD&E designed the original logo. The firm made a strategic decision not to make the club's colors black and gold. The choice meant the Hounds would not align with the region's established professional sports identity but would allow the soccer fans' jerseys to stand out in a Pittsburgh crowd. The club adopted new colors, predominantly blue with white and black added, before the start of the 2008 season to honor their academy and training partnership with Everton. The use of blue was also an allusion to the blue collar populace of Pittsburgh. Beginning in 2014, the Riverhounds began wearing black and gold uniforms more regularly, aligning the club with the colors representative of Pittsburgh's other professional sports teams. Blue and black kits continued to be worn as an alternate third version.

On February 16, 2018, the Riverhounds unveiled a new crest as part of its rebranding. The new crest incorporates traditional Pittsburgh sports colors with important symbols of the city such as bridges and rivers. The crest was designed by Oregon-based graphic designer Brian Gundell.

Sponsorship

* Source(s):

Stadium

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC has played at Highmark Stadium, a 5,000 seat soccer-specific stadium in Station Square, since 2013. The stadium is owned and operated by the Riverhounds organization.

File:Highmark Stadium from Mount Washington.jpg, Highmark Stadium as seen from Mount Washington
File:Highmark Stadium Main Stand.jpg, Highmark Stadium main stand
File:Highmark Stadium collage.jpg, Highmark Stadium

Supporters

In November 2007, the first supporters group of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds was formed, The Steel Army. The Steel Army held their first meeting at Piper's Pub in Pittsburgh's South Side. The group started as 5–10 local people interested in supporting the reorganized Riverhounds Soccer Club and in supporting the efforts of growing the sport of soccer in Western Pennsylvania as well.

Members are from Pittsburgh and nearby states like Ohio and distant states such as Oregon and Florida. Membership in the Steel Army is also international. Members have joined from Portsmouth, Sunderland, Surrey and Derbyshire in the U.K., Bray in the Republic of Ireland, and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

The section of Highmark Stadium where the Steel Army stands and supports the Riverhounds is located at the South Gate end of the stadium. The terrace there holds 1,000 supporters. On August 1, 2015, the supporters' section was renamed the Paul Child Stand in honor of Pittsburgh soccer legend Paul Child. The Steel Army had fierce rivalries with United Soccer League clubs Rochester Rhinos (Oak Street Brigade) before the club moved to USL League One.

File:Steel Army at Highmark Stadium Home Opener.jpg, Steel Army during the first match at Highmark Stadium
File:Steel Army 2013.jpg, Steel Army in 2013
File:HighmarkStadium4.JPG, Steel Army during friendly with Wigan Athletic
File:Rob Vincent tifo.JPG, Rob Vincent tifo during 2015 US Open Cup

Players and staff

Current roster

Team management

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Honors

Team

* USL Pro Soccer League
** ''Atlantic Division Champions'' (1): 2004
* USL Championship
** ''Players' Shield'' (1): 2023
*** '' Eastern Conference Regular Season Champions'' (2): 2019, 2023

Players

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! rowspan="2", USL Championship Most Valuable Player
! José Angulo
! 2013
, -
! Albert Dikwa
! 2023
, -
! USL Championship Golden Boot
! , Albert Dikwa
! 2023
, -
! rowspan="2", USL Golden Glove
! Danny Vitiello
! 2020
, -
! Eric Dick
! 2024
, -
! rowspan="2", USL Championship Defender of the Year Award
! Joseph Greenspan
! 2019
, -
! Arturo Ordoñez
! 2023
, -
! rowspan="2", USL Championship Goalkeeper of the Year
! Eric Dick
! 2024

Head Coaches

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! USL Championship Coach of the Year
! Bob Lilley
! 2023

Record

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Riverhounds. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC seasons.
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, 2020
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, 11
, 4
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, 34
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, 760
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, 6
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, 2021
, USLC
, 32
, 17
, 8
, 7
, 52
, 34
, +18
, 58
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, 3,132
, align="left" , Russell Cicerone
, 16
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, 2022
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, 34
, 16
, 9
, 9
, 50
, 38
, +12
, 57
, 1.32
, 5th
, 7th
, QF
, R3
, 3,934
, align="left" , Russell Cicerone
, 13
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, 2023
, USLC
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, 19
, 5
, 10
, 50
, 29
, +21
, 67
, 1.47
, bgcolor=gold , 1st
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, R1
, QF
, style="background:#dfd;" , 5,077
, align="left" , Albert Dikwa
, style=background:#FAECC8;" , 20 ♦
, -
, 2024
, USLC
, 34
, 12
, 10
, 12
, 41
, 28
, +13
, 48
, 1.41
, 7th
, 12th
, R1
, Ro32
, 5,048
, align="left" , Edward Kizza
, 12

1. Avg. attendance include statistics from league matches only.

2. Top goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in league, league playoffs, U.S. Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, and other competitive continental matches.

See also

* Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC records and results
* History of Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
* Pittsburgh Riverhounds U23

References

External links

*

Steel Army Supporters Group

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Soccer clubs in Pittsburgh
USL Championship teams
USL Second Division teams
USL First Division teams
Association football clubs established in 1999
1999 establishments in Pennsylvania
Soccer clubs in Pennsylvania