Saturday, April 6, 2013
RICHMOND, Va. – The Richmond Kickers and Pittsburgh Riverhounds played to a 0-0 draw in front of 3,268 fans at City Stadium on Saturday night. Ryan Kinne came closest to breaking the deadlock for the Riverhounds, only to see his second-half shot come back off the crossbar as honors finished even.
Both sides had several near-scoring chances during a first half, with Richmond going close in the 12th minute when Pittsburgh goalkeeper Hunter Gilstrap lost control of the ball in his box, dropping it to ground and nearly to the feet of several waiting Kickers players before he cleared it out of the way. The Riverhounds had the better of the game overall, however, with Kinne and Jhonny Arteaga both having long-range efforts miss the target.
The Kickers went close again in the 29th minute, as a passing move between Kickers forward Jason Yeisley and midfielder Henry Kalungi was deflected out for a corner kick. The corner by Sascha Goerres found Yeisley, whose header went just wide of the left post. Pittsburgh went close from a corne of its own a few minutes later, with a clearance off the line by Taylor Kemp keeping the game scoreless at the break.
Pittsburgh came out strongly again to start the second half, with Sterling Flunder having a shot from distance saved by Andrew Dykstra. Kinne then almost gave his side the lead in the 64th minute as Kinne’s effort from 30 yards beat Dykstra, only to come back off the crossbar.
Kinne also forced a good save from Dykstra with 12 minutes to go with a free kick from just outside the penalty area, while Seth C’DeBaca also forced a good save five minutes later. In the final minute of the game, Pittsburgh would make try to get the game-winning goal, only for their late efforts to go over the crossbar, leaving the game scoreless.
The Richmond Kickers return to City Stadium next Saturday night to host the Charleston Battery at 7 p.m. Order tickets in advance at RichmondKickers.com. The Riverhounds return home for their first game at Highmark Stadium next Saturday night at 8 p.m. against thhe Harrisburg City Islanders.