Match info
Riveters (5-1-2) vs. FC Buffalo (4-2-1)
Date: Saturday, June 21
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Coyer Field, Buffalo, N.Y.
Streaming: SportsEngine Play
Live updates: @RivetersSC on X/Twitter
Match hashtags: #BUFvPIT and #RivetersRise
(June 20, 2025) — The Great Forest Division is coming down to the final eight days of the season, and the Riveters’ final road match Saturday at FC Buffalo could go a long way toward deciding who ends on top.
A win by the Riveters would put the team one point away from clinching the division — and other results around the division could make things official by the final whistle — but a win by Buffalo would put the New York side in control of the race, though with two matches still ahead for them next week.
The first meeting between the teams on June 8 turned into the Tanum Nelson show, as the Riveters’ midfielder recorded the club’s first hat trick before halftime in the 3-0 win at Highmark Stadium. That was the start of the Riveters’ current three-match win streak, but Buffalo rebounded from that to win three straight matches of its own, largely behind the scoring of Carissima Cutrona. Cutrona posted a four-goal game in a win over the Cleveland Force, and entering the weekend, Nelson and Cutrona share the scoring lead in the Great Forest Division with six goals.
Apart from the scoring leaders, the match also lines up to pit a pair of NCAA Championship-winning teammates against each other in the Riveters’ Tessa Dellarose and Buffalo’s Linda Ullmark. The University of North Carolina duo each was away from their W League sides for a stretch of the season — Dellarose while winning The Soccer Tournament 7v7 and Ullmark while playing with the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team — but both were back in the starting lineup in their teams’ last matches.
The Riveters will hope to keep their high-scoring ways going with 13 goals in the past three matches, beginning with the home win over Buffalo. Nelson, Olivia Damico, Sabrina Bryan and Gina Proviano all have multiple goals in that time, while the emergence of 15-year-old Anna Korney and the return last match of Alexis Tylenda give coach Scott Gibson no shortage of attacking options.
But managing things defensively has been the bigger challenge, particularly on the road. The Riveters have kept a clean sheet in all four home matches but have yet to do so on the road, and all seven goals the team has conceded in 2025 have come in the second half. Still, if the Riveters are able to get off to another fast start and make it hold up as they did in their last road match at Steel City, a 3-1 win, the division title will be that much closer to their grasp.
Fans not making the trip to Buffalo will be able to catch all the action streamed live on SportsEngine Play.
Downloadable Game Notes
