Match info
Riverhounds (2-1-3) vs. El Paso Locomotive FC (2-3-1)
Date: Saturday, April 22
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Southwest University Park, El Paso, Texas
Odds: Hounds +220 / Draw +230 / El Paso +105 (FanDuel)
Streaming: ESPN+
Live statistics: USL Championship Match Center
Live updates: @RiverhoundsSC on Twitter
Match hashtags: #ELPvPIT and #HOUNDTAHN
(April 21, 2023) — The Hounds seek consecutive wins for the first time this season as they head back on the road for a 9:30 p.m. match Saturday at El Paso Locomotive FC at Southwest University Park in El Paso, Texas.
It is the fifth road match in the first seven games to start the season for the Hounds, and it is the third straight game against a Western Conference opponent. The Hounds toppled Rio Grande Valley at home last weekend, 2-0, but the week prior, they suffered their first loss of the season by a 1-0 score in the mountains of Colorado Springs.
There isn’t much history to go on between the two teams, whose only previous meeting was a 1-0 win for the Hounds last season at Highmark Stadium. Both teams are coming off wins, but the Locomotive haven’t taken the field since April 8, when they got a 1-0 win at home over Orange County.
For the Hounds, Albert Dikwa is coming off a game in which he picked up his fourth goal of the season — and 20th with the Hounds — which has him amongst a logjam of players tied for second in the USL Championship for goals. The striker got some scoring help from Kenardo Forbes, who headed in his first goal of the year, and the Hounds have been at their best when whipping the ball in from wide areas. Luke Biasi and Dani Rovira assisted the two goals last week playing left back and right back, respectively, and somewhat unusually, four of the Hounds’ five assists this season have come from defenders.
The Hounds’ defense, with four goals allowed in six matches, is shaping up to be one of the league’s best. Only Sacramento, which is off to a stifling start with one goal allowed in six games, has given up fewer goals than Pittsburgh. Opta’s xG metric — the expected goals allowed based on the course of play in a match — shows the Hounds xG at less than 0.5 goals in four of their six matches thus far, and only once was the number above 1.0, when the Hounds were reduced to 10 men and Jahmali Waite stopped a penalty kick against Colorado Springs.
El Paso has had a mixed bag of results but is trending in the right direction after losing their first three games. A surprising 3-0 win at Louisville got the Locomotive rolling, and Luis Solignac is back to his goal-scoring ways after getting his third of the season, the game-winning goal in their last match against Orange County.
The trip to El Paso is the first for the Hounds since a U.S. Open Cup win there in 2001, but the Hounds aren’t unfamiliar with Texas heat after playing away matches at San Antonio and RGV in recent summers. This visit is expected to be a bit more mild than those recent Lone Star visits, as the forecast calls for a high of 84 for a sunny Saturday evening match that will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Downloadable Game Notes
