A very good crowd gathered Saturday along the Monongahela River to celebrate the return of women’s soccer to Pittsburgh. After winning the Great Forest Division in their first season, the Pittsburgh Riveters began this campaign with one goal in mind: Get back to the playoffs and win the USLW crown.
Riding the crest of three first-half goals, the Riveters handed FC Buffalo a 5-0 defeat in front of a sellout crowd of 5,088 fans at F.N.B. Stadium.
From the opening kick, the Riveters (1-0-0) controlled the action and possession of the ball. The advantage of having up to 40 players to suit up against FC Buffalo’s roster of 15 provided Riveters manager Scott Gibson plenty of options.
After the opening 10 minutes was spent with each team getting settled in, Piper Coffield made her return home quite a story. The Mars area native and current Indiana University product took a corner ball in the 12th served up by Ellen Molloy and placed a well-aimed header past Buffalo (0-1-0) keeper Jordan Senz.
Coffield suffered an ACL injury in August, and it ended her season in Bloomington before it started. Saturday marked 316 days since she played a game. The Riveters team captain for 2026 talked about her first career goal in black and gold.
“I was hungry to get a goal, but the team performance was cool. My last game was here in the playoff game versus Minnesota. It was a full- circle moment. The coaches having trust in me to put me out there. To wear the captain band is incredible. There were tears in my eyes when I scored that goal. It’s the culmination of all the hard work and all the bad days the past 9-10 months. It has been tough.”
Just 11 minutes later, a product of Ireland found luck as Molloy cracked the back of the net. It came off a pass from defender Brielle LaBerger that bounced in front and to the left of Molloy. Her volley gave the Riveters a 2-0 lead.
Molloy, a native of Kilkenny, Ireland, is on loan to the Riveters from her parent club Shamrock Rovers. Molloy didn’t waste much time registering an impact on the field, as her arrival a week ago provided dividends for Gibson.
“Ellen has a lot of quality,” Gibson said. “She came in on Sunday evening. Getting used to the time change. Moving in and in less than a week. Ellen is just a leader.”
The Riveters finished off the barrage when in the 37th minute as LaBerger delivered another well placed feed. This time is was midfielder Shannon Studer who blasted a ball past Senz, extending the lead to 3-0 before half.
The possession time at half was lopsided, as were the shots on goal — an 8-2 advantage for the hosts. Unlike last year when the Riveters went north and fought Buffalo to a 1-1 draw, the sizeable talent difference was evident. FC Buffalo was also hurt by several players participating in college graduations.
With such a big lead, Gibson was able to start subbing in players early in the second half. The Riveters were awarded a penalty kick in the 50th minute but didn’t score as Senz made a brilliant save to her right against forward and Pitt standout Lola Abraham.
The joy was short lived as in the 52nd a Bella Vozar free kick found a space and teammate Taylor Green, who finished cleanly for a 4-0 Riveters lead.
The teams moved along evenly until the 82nd, when Sabrina Bryan came off the bench to score from an assist by Thomas Jefferson alum Vozar.
Gibson talked about the energy of the night and how it translated into a great evening:
“It was a perfect start. We’ve had a very good week. I think it paid off. There was a lot of nerves last year, but all the work paid off.”
The Riveters will take to the road next Saturday when they travel to Rochester, N.Y., and face Flower City 1872 with the match scheduled to begin just after 7 p.m.