The Pittsburgh Riverhounds haven’t suffered a regulation loss in their first three matches of USL Cup competition this season. Nonetheless, they’re an extreme longshot to advance to the next round.
After a scoreless tie through regulation, the Charleston Battery was perfect in the penalty kick shootout Saturday, beating the Riverhounds 4-2 in the tiebreaker to move to the top of the group in the USL Cup standings.
Charleston (3-0) has eight points with one match to play. The Charlotte Independence (2-0) has five points with two matches left. The Riverhounds (1-0-2) have five points with a July 11 match against Loudoun United remaining. Charlotte and Charleston face each other July 11.
The Riverhounds need a win over Loudoun and help to finish second in the group and have a shot at a wild-card entry into the quarterfinals.
If there’s one consolation the Riverhounds take from the result, they reached the PK shotoout despite playing a man down for the last nine minutes after Kelp Lasse received his second yellow card.
Former Riverhound Sean Suber, Miguel Berry, Kirill Pakhomov and Joey Akpononu converted their PKs for Charleston.
Robbie Mertz and Jackson Walti converted for the Riverhounds before Charleston goalkeeper John Berner made a save on Jorge Garcia and Aldi Flowers-Gamboa missed wide.
Shots were even at 10-10. Berner made two saves for Charleston. Mike Sheridan made three saves for the Riverhounds.
The Riverhounds will be back in action with a USL Championship home game against the Indy Eleven at 7 p.m. next Saturday at F.N.B. Stadium.