When Hartford and Pittsburgh take the field Saturday night in the first round of the USL Championship playoffs, each team’s current form, or specific player matchups, or the tactical outlook, or the talent levels don’t really matter like they might in another game.
This game is all about the drama.
The last time Hartford and Pittsburgh met on September 20 at Highmark Stadium, it was a tightly contested affair that seemed like a typical ordinary midseason USL match.
Twelve hours later, I’m waking up to texts from non-soccer watching Pittsburghers asking me ‘What the hell happened at the Rierhounds game last night?!?’
In the late stages of the match, the Riverhounds Danny Griffin and Hartford’s Marlon Hairston exchanged words. Hairston then went to officials and accused Griffin of using a racial slur. Officials spoke with Griffin, who emphatically denied it. Hartford players walked off the pitch. Game over. For a full summary of this dramatic turn of events, you have to read John Krysinsky’s game recap from that night, ‘Stoppage time incident clouds Riverhounds late game-winner at Hartford.’
Over the subsequent days, both teams traded social media posts that defended or implicated the involved individuals. Ultimately the league found evidence inconclusive – no punishments were handed down, but neither was Griffin exonerated from guilt. It seems both teams have their own narratives of what happened. The game is backlit by this highly charged set of circumstances. Epic drama.
But wait. There’s more.
As if this game doesn’t already have a bit of a soap opera-quality to it, there’s the fact that the Riverhounds long time coach, Bob Lilley, won’t be stalking the sidelines to oversee things. That’s because Bob has been indefinitely placed on administrative leave from the team for reasons that have gone undisclosed. Newish Hounds assistant coach Rob Vincent will be in charge. Two weeks ago, John Krysinsky quoted Vincent as responding to the challenge thusly: “Sure, it was a shock to system. But, guys are ready for it. Message was don’t let what happen in last 24 hours change our focus.”
So the Riverhounds, who have had an up and down season; who have never won the USL Championship Cup; who have had a bumpy history in the playoffs; and who may have bad blood with their opponent; are ALSO (at time of this writing) going to be without their coach of the past 7 years. That’s a lot to process.
The Hounds need to be professional, focused, and efficient. They need to be more effective and poised than they have many times this past season. They need to be aggressive enough to get the job done but not let emotions or tempers or anxieties overwhelm them into making a rash challenge that erupts into chaos.
In other words, there’s a lot of non-football stuff looming over this game. Will the Riverhounds be able to block all that out and just put in ninety minutes of their best football?
Hartford Personnel
The very average, .500 football club Hartford (10-5-10, WTL) will be facing a very average .500 Riverhounds (9-7-9, WTL). But just as Hounds fans know their team is quite talented and dangerous, the same can be said for Hartford.
Hartford Athletic is led by four players: Jordan Scarlett, Michee Ngalina, Sebastian Anderson, and Marlon Hairston.
Scarlett, the team’s captain, is in his ninth season in USL, having started with NY Red Bulls II. He plays the middle center back in Hartford’s 3-4-3 formation, which sometimes looks like a 5-3-2. He coughed up an ugly backline turnover against Tampa Bay a few weeks ago that turned into a goal, but overall he’s a good all-around defender and can start the attack with a smart pass into the midfield.
Ngalina started in the Philadelphia Union academy and began his pro career at 17 for Bethlehem Steel, so he’s quite familiar with Highmark Stadium. He was up with the MLS team in 2019 and 2020, but almost exclusively as an unused sub or as the 19th man in the 18 man lineup. He was non-tendered and spent two years at Colorado Springs with Hartford’s current coach, Brendan Burke. Ngalina is a pacey wing forward that usually starts on the left side – for Hartford, he’s something in between a ‘Left Midfielder’ and a ‘Left Winger’, depending on how high up the pitch the fullbacks are playing and whether Hartford are defending a lead or trying to chase the game. Ngalina has 45 goals in six USL seasons, including 5 this year.
Sebastian Anderson is a player I know very well. The talented right back was a junior at a suburban Denver high school when the Colorado Rapids signed him to a pro contract in 2019. Together with Cole Bassett and Sam Vines, Anderson was part of the vaunted ‘RapKids’ movement. At one point in 2024, the Rapids were starting five homegrowns all together – Anderson, Bassett, Vines, Darren Yapi, and Oliver Larraz. But Anderson was never able to beat starter Keegan Rosenberry for the RB job, and so they let him walk to end the 2024 season. He’s been a huge addition to Hartford this year, logging 2,420 minutes and often bringing up the attack. He’s fast, he defends well in a pinch, and he delivers a diagonal quite well. When he was with the Rapids U15s, his coach Marcelo Balboa called him ‘Sebby’. Personally, I think he’s maybe a smidge too good for USL, but that’s a problem for his agent to work out.
Finally, there’s Marlon Hairston – another former Colorado Rapid. The best soccer player ever to come out of Jackson, Mississippi, Hairston was drafted by the Colorado Rapids and was a key contributer to their 2016 run to the Western Conference finals. In his prime he was a devastating dribbler down the right wing, possessed with speed and precision that caused headaches for MLS backlines for years. Now that his speed has declined, he generally plays as central or defensive midfielder for Hartford marshaling both the offense and the defense. He’s very tidy on the ball and has great vision – maybe an off-brand USL version of Darlington Nagbe. When I interviewed him back in the day, he was genial and polite and maybe even a bit shy. And although I started this article by focusing on all the ‘drama’ around Hairston and Griffin, both players are consummate professionals. If anyone can put aside the bitter feelings and just go out and play, it’s Griffin and Hairston.
Tactical Preview
Hartford play in a freewheeling 3-4-3, which sort of looks like a 5-3-2 in spots, depending on the moment. Ngalina and fullback Emmanuel Samadiya overlap and cut in on the left off of one another; Seb Anderson and Hartford’s midfielders or attackers form running triangles on the right, and Hartford can really put you on your heels. They’re a good pressing team, too. That said, they sometimes get a little too loose and are more susceptible to goals on the counterattack. I haven’t noticed the Riverhounds taking advantage on the counter much this year, though, so that bodes ill for the boys from Pittsburgh.
Athletic like to use the whole field, and as a result that tends to leave big gaps in the middle that a smart team can exploit and drive forward into. So this could be an up tempo, back and forth battle on Saturday.
Last Week’s Starting XI
Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Hartford Athletic
John Berner; Prethus, Farrell, Diz Pe; Samadiya, Hairston, Careaga, Anderson; Ngalina, Moreira, Edwards
Game Info and Where to Watch
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals
#4 Riverhounds vs. #5 Hartford Athletic
Date: Saturday, Nov. 1
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Highmark Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Odds: Hounds -115 / Draw +240 / Hartford +300 at Fan Duel (After 90 minutes of play)
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Radio Las Palmas, 92.9 FM HD2
Live statistics: USL Championship Match Center
Match hashtags: #PITvHFD and #Grittsburgh
Mark Asher Goodman is a writer for Pittsburgh Soccer Now, covering the Riverhounds, the Pitt Men’s and Women’s teams, and youth soccer. He also co-hosts a podcast on the Colorado Rapids called ‘Holding the High Line with Rabbi and Red.’ He has written in the past for the Washington Post, Denver Post, The Athletic, and American Soccer Analysis.
When he’s not reading, writing, watching, or coaching soccer, he is an actual rabbi. No, really.
You can find him on twitter at @soccer_rabbi
