Match Info
Riveters (0-0-0) vs. FC Buffalo (0-0-0)
Date: Saturday, May 16
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: F.N.B. Stadium
Tickets: Ticketmaster
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Streaming: SportsEngine Play
Live updates: @RivetersSC on X/Twitter
Match hashtags: #PITvBUF
PITTSBURGH (May 14, 2026) — Exactly one year to the day after the Riveters made their debut on the Pittsburgh sports scene, the team will embark on Year 2 in the USL W League when they host FC Buffalo on Saturday at F.N.B. Stadium.
As the reigning Great Forest Division champions, expectations are high for the Riveters entering the 2026 season. The team’s roster this year sports a balance of returning players and talented newcomers, and the biggest challenge facing the team will be getting that group to mesh in what amounts to a two-month sprint toward the playoffs.
The back line is probably most reflective of the mix Scott Gibson will have to sort out. Right back Bella Vozar returns after being the only player to start every 2025 match, and center back Piper Coffield was fourth in minutes played, though Coffield is just getting back to action after a knee injury in her Fall college season. With Coffield working her way back and 2025 center back partner Natalia DiSora out with an injury of her own, Gibson will need to tinker with the back line, but he has plenty of promising options to choose from, including newcomers Hadley Murrell, Taylor Green, Gabby Lamparty and Brielle LaBerge, to name a few.
Annamarie Williams also returns from her regular starting role as a box-to-box midfield player, and the Riveters have other reliable players for that sort of role, including Minah Syam and Kate Friday. All three appeared in 9 of 11 matches a season ago, and they again will be relied upon in varying combinations to control the middle third.
On the attacking end, midfielder Tanum Nelson — the team’s scoring leader with six goals and two assists in 2025 — will not join the team until later in May and is out for the opener. Sabrina Bryan (three goals, one assist), Alexis Tylenda (two goals, three assists) and Kennedy Neighbors (one goal, one assist) all come back from regular starting roles, however, and forward-thinking new options include Emily Hanrahan, who comes over from Flower City 1872 with W League experience; Ellen Molloy, who joins having played at the top level in the League of Ireland; and Lola Abraham, who is fit again after missing the 2025 season with a knee injury.
That is hardly an exhaustive list of capable players on a very deep team, and midfielders Sierra Dupre and Fiona Mahan are just two more examples of players who, like Abraham, missed 2025 but have been around the Riveters system and seem poised to contribute. Goalkeeper might be a question mark, but it also could be a question with three correct answers between returner Bailey Herfurth, newcomer Lexi Grundler and 2025 playoff standout Caitlyn Thompson, the latter two of which were sharp in the team’s intra-squad scrimmage Tuesday.
As for Buffalo, who proved to be one of the major threats to the Riveters a season ago, they also have a fair share of returners from the team that pushed the Riveters to the limit in a late-season 1-1 draw last year. Sarah Woods, the goal scorer in that match, is back, along with returners Erin Weir, Paige Szymanski, Skylar Cornell and others. But like the Riveters, who have three players off their inaugural team now in the pro ranks, Buffalo will have to contend with the loss of their highest-profile player, Linda Ullmark, now with the NWSL’s Houston Dash.
Saturday’s match will air live on SportsNet Pittsburgh channels with support from this year’s new presenting broadcast partner, Restano Heating & Cooling. The match will be shown in its entirety on SportsNet Pittsburgh+, and coverage will be joined in progress on the main SNP channel after the conclusion of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball coverage. SNP and SNP+ also will air multiple replays of the match through Monday. The match is also the USL W League Game of the Week, and that coverage will be available on SportsEngine Play.
For Opening Night at F.N.B. Stadium, there will be plenty of off-field entertainment, as well, highlighted by the reveal of the new Riveters mascot, a post-match fireworks show and the traditional autograph session after the game. It also will be a STEM Night celebration at F.N.B., perfectly timed after the announcement of the team’s new partnership with Hitachi Energy. STEM night activities and tables will be in the Tailgate Zone and the University of Pittsburgh’s Formula SAE car — a student-engineered and built race car — will be on display near the West Gate.
Tickets for the match are still available through Ticketmaster and at the F.N.B. Stadium Box Office. The Tailgate Zone will open at 5 p.m., and gates will open at 6 p.m.
Downloadable Game Notes
