It was business as usual for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds this weekend as they hosted a pair of games at Highmark Stadium to put a wrap on their 2026 preseason schedule. They took down West Virginia, 2-1, on Friday and then on Saturday morning, a pair of goals in the 50th minute did in Pitt, 2-0.
It has been quite the offseason for the soccer franchise that enters its 27th year as the defending USL champion. The roster has turned over a good deal and — oh yeah — coach Bob Lilley is gone, and Rob Vincent is now the man in charge, with a new staff and a good deal of new players to motivate and prepare to win.
But that might not be the biggest story as the team opens its regular season Saturday with a trip to the Holy City and a match with its oldest rival, the Charleston Battery. Both clubs have been sparring with one another since 1999. But that game, and the start of the league’s season on Friday, could be on hold if the USLPA and its players decide they want to strike.
On Feb. 20, according to ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle, the union arm of the players released a statement on social media stating that unless a new CBA can be reached and soon, they have voted to authorize its bargaining committee to call for a strike.
According to a post on the union’s X account, the USLPA says it’s not about “extras” but more about “basic professional standards.”
After Saturday’s game against Pitt, several players spoke about what was looming, including Upper St. Clair’s Robbie Mertz, who has missed the entire preseason battling an MCL injury but has served on the USLPA’s executive board.
“There was a strike authorization vote by the players,” Mertz told a group of local reporters. “Ninety percent voted to give the bargaining committee that power if they deemed it necessary. We’re just in a spot right now where we’re saying we need professional standards and that’s the message that will continue to be put forth by all players.”
Mertz, along with the 11 other returning players from the 2025 championship team, must now prepare for what could be a stoppage before a single whistle is blown and ball is struck in defense of their crown. Not an easy place to be, said Mertz.
“I think there’s compartmentalization for players: We’re going to do our jobs while we’re here,” Mertz said. “We’re also looking for improvements to our experience, going back to the professional standards that we all know we deserve in our minds.”
Danny Griffin offered his thoughts on a possible strike. The native of Wethersfield, Conn., starts his sixth season with the Riverhounds, along with his second as team captain.
“The league’s in a much better place than when I came into the league,” said Griffin. “The players want the best standards they can get — livable wages, insurance, stuff like that for all the guys. Everyone is in a different position, organization to organization. Some people have different things going on. We’ll see if players want to play, but first things first, we’ve got to get the best deal possible.”
Trying to navigate all this is Vincent in his first full season as manager. Not only has he seen a great deal of change to his roster, but staff also. Given the run he took the Riverhounds on after the Lilley saga last October, then Lilley’s dismissal and eventually Vincent being named the man in charge, he’s in a spot where he must prepare his team for the new campaign while a dark cloud of a strike looms.
“Business as normal. We’ll just train and get ready for a game,” Vincent said. “We’ll handle this as it comes, but we’re not going to change how we train.”
Saturday’s game, if played, will be at 6 p.m. from the Battery’s home on Patriot’s Point in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. No TV broadcast has been announced.