Captain Danny Griffin and goalkeeper Eric Dick combined to lead the Pittsburgh Riverhounds to a desperately needed victory Saturday afternoon.
Griffin scored the game’s only goal late in the first half and Dick made five saves as the Riverhounds ended a six-game winless streak in USL Championship matches with a 1-0 victory over Rhode Island FC.
While the Riverhounds sprinkled in a pair of US Open Cup victories in the middle of the stretch, they were 0-5-1 in their previous six USL Championship fixtures, having scored a grand total of two goals. The victory moved the eighth-place Hounds (3-5-2) within a point of seventh-place Rhode Island (3-4-3) in the early season Eastern Conference standings.
Griffin scored in the 37th minute. A Robbie Mertz corner ricocheted out to the top of the 18, and Griffin skipped a shot through traffic and inside the left post for his third goal of the year.
Dick made the goal stand up with his fifth shutout of the season.
The Riverhounds will play Rhode Island again at 7 p.m. next Saturday at Highmark Stadium, this time in a USL Jagrmeister Cup match.
