By Addy Jacoby
Playoff soccer is coming to Pittsburgh again, and this time, it’s the women leading the way!
In their inaugural season, the Pittsburgh Riveters clinched the Great Forest Division and will be the Central Conference host in the USL W League Playoffs this Friday and Sunday at Highmark Stadium.
From the start, the Riveters were looking to make an impact in their new league and create a high standard. The team started out with a mixed 2-1-2 record after five games, which had it in a strong position to make the playoffs, but the team needed to pile up wins in the second half to make playoffs a reality.
FC Buffalo appeared to be the Riveters biggest threat when it came to making playoffs, with the Cleveland Force and Steel City FC also dangerous in a very strong division. The ambition for the last five games was to win out, but that would not be an easy task.
The Riveters started their playoff push with a great game in early June against Buffalo on June 8, a 3-0 win at home. Tanum Nelson collected the first ever Riveters hat trick with all three goals coming in the first half. The Riveters surged to the top of the division with the win, but they next had to face their cross-town opponent, Steel City, only three days later.
Making her first appearance, 15-year-old Hounds Academy standout Anna Korney put the first goal away 21 minutes after forcing a defensive error by Steel City. Olivia Damico then added to the Riveters lead with a header before halftime. Steel City put one away late in the game to set up a dramatic finish, but Sabrina Bryan sealed the deal in stoppage time to help the Riveters win, 3-1.
With another quick turnaround, the Riveters were back at home hosting Erie Sports Center, a team that held them to a frustrating 1-1 draw earlier in the season. The Riveters played an inspired match to earn their largest victory of the season the, a 7-0 win with two goals each from Bryan and Gina Proviano, and further goals by Nelson, Tessa Dellarose and Damico.
After a week of rest came a showdown at Buffalo, which had not lost since facing the Riveters in Pittsburgh. Both teams would search for the victory, knowing that whichever one came out with three points would control their path to the playoff.
The game felt like a playoff match, and both teams had a penalty kick saved, but Buffalo took the lead with only nine minutes remaining. The Riveters needed at least a draw to maintain their first-place spot going into the final match, and in stoppage time, Minah Syam poked the ball into the net for her first goal of the year, a critical one that came after a scramble in the box that began with a Dellarose corner kick.
The Riveters left Buffalo still in first place and spent the week knowing a win over Steel City the next Friday would be enough to clinch the division and send them to the playoffs. But hours before kickoff, the team learned Cleveland Force had taken all three points against Buffalo, and with three straight wins to end their season, the Force had temporarily taken over first place with their schedule completed.
That made the Riveters’ task clear: Win or draw to reach the playoffs or miss out with a loss.
With much anticipation, the last Riveters home game brought all the excitement and a crowd of 5,761 — a top-10 crowd in Highmark Stadium history. But it was Steel City that took a lead to halftime after Emily Graeca silenced the crowd by scoring from a penalty kick.
After a long buildup and some excellent chances denied by Steel City, it was another first-time goal scorer, Sydney Lindeman, who finally found the back of the net with a long-range shot that squeezed past the Steel City backline and teammates to find the bottom corner of the net. That goal would have been enough, but Proviano capped off a celebration in the final 30 seconds by putting away the winning goal for the Riveters to sweep Steel City and officially clinch the Great Forest Division title.
The surge in the second half of the season has made the inaugural season a special one for the Riveters, but the team now has a chance to make more history in the playoffs. They will try to do so when they host Minnesota Aurora FC at 1 p.m. on Friday, July 4, as the Riveters make their playoff debut.
