Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — Detroit City FC’s perfect start to the season came to an end on Saturday evening, falling to Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC 2-0 on the road at Highmark Stadium.
Head Coach Danny Dichio made two changes to his starting XI from last week’s 3-1 victory over Oakland Roots SC. Ali Coote returned to the starting lineup, and Victor Bezerra made his first start for Detroit City after getting a goal as a substitute last week.
Le Rouge struggled with possession in the opening minutes of the game. Any 50/50 ball, Pittsburgh was winning. Any slight chance of opportunity Detroit had ended up in Pittsburgh’s possession. Pittsburgh set up shop in the attacking third at the beginning of this match.
After 20 minutes of constant pressure, Pittsburgh finally made a breakthrough from a corner kick in the 21st minute. Patrick Hogan’s header off of a cross in the box put the ball past Nate Steinwascher to give Riverhounds a 1-0 lead.
In the 33rd minute, off a Pittsburgh attack, Devon Amoo-Mensah was called for a foul in the box, giving the Riverhounds an opportunity to increase their lead. Steinwascher got a hand on the penalty shot, but it still wasn’t enough as the ball found its way into the net, giving Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead.
It was a half-to-forget for DCFC as they went to the locker room at the half. Pittsburgh had six total shots throughout the first 45, three on target. And even though Detroit had the 55%/45% possession advantage, it didn’t feel that way, as they only had one shot throughout the half.
Detroit had their first true opportunity in the 57th minute, as a cross into the box got to Maxi Rodriguez, who headed it right into the hands of the Pittsburgh keeper Eric Dick. But this was an opportunity for Detroit to seize the momentum and try to get one goal at least back.
Dichio made his first changes of the game in the 61st minute, bringing on Yazeed Matthews and Matt Sheldon for Victor Bezerra and Michael Bryant.
Le Rouge looked to find any momentum with another double change in the 70th minute. Connor Rutz was brought on for Ben Morris and Daniel Espeleta was brought on for Ali Coote.
The final change of the night came in the 79th minute, when Ryan Williams made his Detroit City FC debut, replacing Abdoulaye Diop.
With mere seconds remaining in stoppage time, Stephen Carroll was shown a straight red card for a clunky tackle in the Pittsburgh half.
The sold-out crowd at Highmark Stadium celebrated as the final whistle blew, marking Detroit City’s first loss of the USL Championship season. Detroit falls to 5-1-0 but still sits in third place in the Eastern Conference.
Le Rouge will continue the road trip next week, heading to Leesburg, Virginia, to face off against Loudoun United FC. Detroit City returns to Keyworth Stadium on May 11th to face off against Phoenix Rising FC. Tickets for that match and all other Detroit City matches can be found at www.detcityfc.com/tickets.
DCFC Starting XI: Nate Steinwascher, Alex Villanueva, Devon Amoo-Mensah, Stephen Carroll, Michael Bryant (61’), James Murphy, Abdoulaye Diop, Ali Coote (70’), Maxi Rodriguez, Ben Morris (70’), Victor Bezerra (61’)
DCFC Substitutes: Ryan Williams, Connor Rutz (70’), Matt Sheldon (61’), Daniel Espeleta (70’), Dominic Gasso, Yazeed Matthews (61’), Carlos Saldaña
For more information about Detroit City FC, visit detcityfc.com and follow @DetroitCityFC on X and Facebook and @detroitcityfootballclub on Instagram.
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Please send all media inquiries to media@detcityfc.com.
Primary Media Contact: Jarrett Maki (Sports Information Director, jarrett.maki@detcityfc.com)
