All season long Riverhounds SC has searched for a bona fide offensive threat.
They brought in Kazaiah Sterling to mixed reviews. They also acquired Enoch Mushagalusa on a loan from Hartford and his departure was as quiet as his on-field impact.
Through all of that, the Riverhouds persevered and finally made what has, so far, been the perfect acquisition to counteract the team’s goal-scoring ills when it brought in Pitt alumnus Bertin Jacquesson on loan from Real Salt Lake of MLS. The only question is whether it will be too little too late.
Jacquesson set up Edward Kizza for a goal less than two minutes into the match that propelled the Riverhounds (10-10-12) to a 2-0 victory against Charleston Battery (17-6-9) in a critical USL Championship Eastern Conference match with huge postseason ramifications.
“It was a good start to the game, good energy, got the first one and I thought we played really well to that second goal,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said. “It was good to get the shutout. We played a good team, we found the goals we needed and we were able to keep them off the board.”
In his five matches with the Riverhounds Jacquesson, who was the league player of the week after a hat trick last week in a win against Miami FC, has four goals and two assists and his 10 points — a player is awarded two points for a goal — have him tied with Danny Griffin and Robbie Mertz for second on the team behind Kizza’s 22.
“I think, just the way he’s very direct and very positive, we’ve been lacking some of that this year,” Mertz said. “Every time Bertin gets the ball he’s looking to do something very positive with it and perhaps take more risks and that has paid off. And that goal was awesome.”
And, with the Riverhounds without their best left side threat in Junior Etou, he needed to make a huge impact. And it took less than two minutes for him to do just that.
After taking possession on a counterattack, Jacquesson crossed midfield, drew three players to him along the right side, then flipped a perfect ball into open space in the Charleston zone 15 yards from the top of the box. Kizza got to it first and, as Battery goalkeeper Adam Grinwis came out to challenge, he chipped it past him into the wide-open cage for his 10th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead 69 seconds into the match.
Taking the lead is one thing. The Riverhounds have done a lot of that this season. However, the team has had trouble giving up goals, as well as crucial points, late in games.
Mertz, and a fortuitous bounce, made sure there would be no chance of that Saturday.
Jacquesson won a scrum at the top of the box, played a ball off a Charleston defender over to Mertz 12 yards out. Mertz took the shot that deflected off Battery defender Leland Archer and inside the left post for a 2-0 lead at 19:08.
Had the ball been a direct shot, it would have likely been saved. But because Grinwis was moving with the shot, the ball went behind him and into the net.
“He has the ability to make something happen in the wide area or if he gets in behind and I think that frees me up a little bit not to come ball-side so much,” Mertz said. “I can be a little more patient and kind of read things and, I think how I got a goal was being able to trust some of those guys in the wide areas.”
With the win the Riverhounds moved, at least temporarily, into a tie with North Carolina FC for seventh place in the conference in what has turned into a five-team race with the teams separated by two points for the final two postseason spots.
Birmingham Legion FC (12-13-6), which is currently in ninth place and tied with the Riverhounds and North Carolina with 42 points and Loudoun United FC (11-12-8), which is one point behind, both play on Sunday.
No matter what happens on Sunday, the Riverhounds victory against Charleston sets up a must-win game next week at Loudoun if they have any hope of qualifying for the postseason for the seventh consecutive season.
“It’s going to be an important game in Loudoun. If we drop that game, it’s completely out of our control,” Lilley said. “We hope to beat Loudoun and go into that last weekend against El Paso (at home) with everything in front of us.”
First Published: October 13, 2024, 2:37 a.m.
