May 21, 2016 USL Toronto FC II--Pittsburgh Riverhounds vs Toronto FC II (from riverhounds.com)
Hounds Down Toronto FC II, 2-1 PITTSBURGH (May 21, 2016) – The Pittsburgh Riverhounds (1-4-3) nabbed their first win of the season with a 2-1 result over Toronto FC II at Highmark Stadium on Saturday, May 21. Scoring the tallies for Pittsburgh were Lebo Moloto and Corey Hertzog, while Malik Johnson for Toronto pitched in one late in the match. After a first half of strong defensive efforts from both sides, play opened up in Pittsburgh favor. Spending most of the time in Toronto’s defensive end, Moloto finally broke through in 68th minute for the first goal of the match. Moloto received the corner short from Kevin Kerr on the left side of the pitch before uncorking a shot that found its way into the upper part of the net. Hertzog would soon follow after thanks to a Drew Russell deflection off a Conor Branson feed in the box. All second half subs, Russell’s header off of Branson’s initial touch from the throw-in kicked towards the far part of the post, where Hertzog was able to hit flush with an acrobatic finish into the upper left corner of the net. From there, the Hounds would hold serve amidst a late Johnson tally and a desperate push by Toronto. Pittsburgh now hits the road to face New York Red Bulls II this Saturday, May 28. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Line-ups: Riverhounds – Mauricio Vargas – Michael Green, Sergio Campbell, Jordan Murrell, Willie Hunt – Stephen Okai, Karsten Smith (Conor Branson 70’), James Bissue (Corey Hertzog 58’) – Kevin Kerr, Duwayne Ewart (Drew Russell 71’), Lebo Moloto (Zak Boggs 90’+) Subs not used: Brendan Alfery, Ben Swanson Toronto FC II – Quillan Roberts – Wesley Charpie (Steven Furland 83’), Mitch Taintor, Robert Boskovic (Skylar Thomas 73’), Anthony Osorio – Liam Fraser, Chris Mannella, Brian James – Salvador Bernal (Adam Bouchard 61’), Shaan Hundal, Malik Johnson Subs not used: Phil DiBennardo, Raheem Edwards Scoring Summary: PGH – Lebo Moloto 68’ (Kevin Kerr) PGH – Corey Hertzog 72’ (Drew Russell) TOR – Malik Johnson 83’ Misconduct Summary: PGH – Jordan Murrell 56’ (caution) Cleveland Brothers “Blue Collar Player of the Game” – Sergio Campbell TFCPOG Quote Sheet Mark Steffens: On tonight’s performance… Our possession was really, really high tonight. They moved the ball around real well. We really picked it up in the second half, but even in the first half we really knocked it around nicely. We didn’t create, again, a ton of scoring opportunities and you just sit there going, “When are we going to get some of these?” And it finally happened in the second half. I’m proud of the guys. They defended really hard, worked hard – doubled-down a lot, which we haven’t done a whole lot this year. So, the group did a good job. On the scoring… And tonight, it was nice to see the team click and see some scoring opportunities come our way and go in the net for a change. Overall, it was a good performance. On Lebo Moloto… He was magic tonight and this is what we expect of him. He’s really [Major League Soccer] quality. There’s no question in my mind. He’s magic and that’s what I call him. He does things that most players can’t even think of doing. He’s a great player and all night long – it’s taken him a little bit to get into the season, unfortunately – but he was fantastic tonight. Kevin Kerr On ending the winless streak… There was a little bit of desperation there. It was all about getting the job done and all about letting our frustration out and leaving it all out on the field. On scoring two quick goals… It was massive. Everyone knows we’ve been struggling with goals a little bit. You couldn’t have picked two players who wanted to score more. Everyone has been waiting for Corey to get going and everyone knows how good he is and how dangerous he can be. It was huge for him to come off the bench and score.
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