Tampa Bay Rowdies Away to Pittsburgh Riverhounds Preview

Written by James Knowles

Date: Saturday June 21, 2025

Kickoff Time: 7:00 pm EST at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA

Records: Tampa Bay Rowdies (8 pts 2W-2D-8L); Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (14 pts 4W-2D-6L)

Standings: The Rowdies are 11th in the East and Pittsburgh are 9th.

After the Rowdies got a good win at home vs. a Floridian rival, the team wants to keep up its turn in form. There’s a long way to go to get where fans think they should be; but, it’s closer to get into a playoff spot. Their opponent this week is just on the cusp of being above the line, so there’s a lot to play for even in this match in June. Tune in this weekend to take in the game from Pittsburgh on ESPN+ or on your local station!

Can we handle the field at Highmark Stadium?

The month of May has ended and the Rowdies are seemingly doing better. As stated, the gulf between where they are and where they expected to be is enormous. However, they are once again getting points. This should give the team some belief that they are the players they were in the past. Yes, they can attain that same level they were playing at before 2025.

To keep moving in the positive direction, Tampa Bay will need to go to a place that has historically been unkind to them. Over the years in the USL, the Rowdies developed a reputation for playing with wingbacks who would take on a lot of importance for attacking plays. After some experimentation, they have reverted to that lately, prompting that newfound success.

However, up in Pittsburgh, the wide game has always been difficult. Highmark Stadium not only has a turf pitch – which helped to stifle Rowdies possession in the past – it is also particularly narrow. Yet again, this will necessarily box in the wide play and the wide players, which will allow the Riverhounds to keep up their usual defensive gameplan as well.

Just as Tampa Bay had their own reputation, so too have Pittsburgh under manager Bob Lilley. They are, and seemingly always will be, a team that is defensively organized, able to handle pressure, and usually try to score one or two goals on counter situations. Lilley has his own legacy as a coach that will find defensive diamonds in the rough and polish them in the USL.

This year’s recruits are no different. On the backline, Lilley has brought in Beto Ydrach and Guillaume Vacter straight from college. The former of those does have some higher level experience, having previously played for the Puerto Rico national team. Perrin Barnes joined after some time in MLS Next Pro, as did Sean Suber before last year’s campaign.

These players and others help fill in on the Riverhounds’ three-man backline. Their own wingbacks will be important during those infrequent forays forward, where they will try to interact with targetman Augie Williams and his two helpers sitting underneath. This year, that has mainly been Danny Griffin and Robbie Mertz, both long-time USL competitors.

Griffin has moved up from a deeper role in prior seasons. He seemingly always had the ability to play a more attacking role; but, necessity dictated that he would sit in the midfield. Now unleashed, he and Mertz act as the players that will both create for and then receive from Williams. The latter, with his back to goal, is a formidable wall off of which to bounce the ball.

That being said, the good chances for Pittsburgh this year have been fewer and farther between. It may even be a case of necessity to move Griffin higher up just so they can have someone more reliable in better positions. With Lewis Hilton recently returning for the Rowdies, they should be able to handle the Riverhounds front line with steady and focused defending.

This will be a good test for Tampa Bay’s chance creation at the same time. They need to determine the best way to move Pittsburgh’s backline around the field and open up space. Leo Fernandes went down with an injury in the warmup to last week’s game. His availability is unknown. Ollie Bassett and new signing Luis Alvarez need to step up to the plate to fill in for the creative role.