By K.C. McElroy, uslfans.com Match Reporter

2009/07/26
By K.C. McElroy, Match reporter for USLfansite and founder of www.gts09.com

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds hosted the Western Mass Pioneers for two games this weekend.

The first was on Friday evening, when the teams battled to a scoreless first half, in which both teams missed good chances, but the Pioneers had the advantage over the Hounds in play where Western Mass seemed to want it more.

The second half proved to be more aggressive with numerous cards being issued and words exchanged on a few occasions, with three players being ejected. The Pioneers saw two of theirs get tossed, Federico Molinaro and Neil Krause, while the Hounds Justin Evans.

Western Mass grabbed the lead in the 69th minute on a break away goal by Almir Barbosa, beating Danny Waltman, who had come out to challenge. Barbosa took a pass from Krause and deposited his shot inside the right post from about 10 yards.

It seemed like that would be the only goal and they would win, until stoppage time came. Two minutes in, former Cincinnati King Jeff Hughes took pass from Ed Hayden while racing down the right side and launching a shot that found the left corner, past Pioneers cage minder Bobby Shuttleworth, who had frustrated us until then. The crowd erupted and Hughes was mobbed by his teammates.

The final play saw Tony Labudovski deflect a cross over the net.

In Sunday's game, the Hounds applied quick pressure to Western Mass and thought they scored in the 2nd minute but it was called offside.

However, in stoppage time, Hounds captain Nathan Salsi scored his first of the season, deflecting a cross from Randolph Jerome, just before the half ended.

Jerome added a pair of penalty kicks in the second half, the first came in the 75th, as the result of a take down by the goalkeeper, and again in the 87th when a handball was called on the Pioneers.

The win renews playoff hopes as the Hounds host Wilmington on Saturday at 7.