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Entering their first season, the Riveters set the goal of reaching the USL W League Playoffs. With only 10 days left in the season and two matches remaining, the path to that goal is clear, but not without its potential pitfalls.

At 5-1-2 (17 points) on the season, the Riveters hold first place in the Great Forest Division to lead what has boiled down to a three-team race with FC Buffalo (4-2-1, 13 points) and Steel City FC (3-1-3, 12 points). Because those two chasing teams are the Riveters’ final opponents and each holds a game in hand, any of the three would clinch the division title by winning their final three matches.

Where the Riveters hold the edge, however, is that a win and a draw in their final two matches — in either order — would be enough to secure the top spot. That would get the Riveters to 21 points, a total neither Buffalo nor Steel City can reach if they drop points the rest of the way.

Should the Riveters lose one of their final two matches, it opens the door for them to be caught. At that point, tiebreakers also become a concern. Head-to-head record is the first tiebreaker, and the Riveters did win their first meeting with both Buffalo and Steel City. But if a loss to one of those teams makes that tiebreaker even, the next criterion is goal difference, which currently stands with the Riveters at +14, Buffalo at +11 and Steel City at +3.

Two final caveats remain in the overall picture:

• Buffalo and Steel City cannot both take maximum points from their final three matches. Those two play in Buffalo on Sunday, June 29, the final day of the regular season.

• The Cleveland Force (2-2-3, 9 points) is still mathematically alive. However, given that the top three teams all face each other, the Force would need to win all three of their matches and hope for a near-perfect set of results from every other match in the division to ensure no one eclipses 18 points.

With all that in mind, the Riveters’ task is simple entering their next match in Buffalo this Saturday night: Take four points from the final two matches, and the Great Forest Division Champions banner can be ordered for Highmark Stadium.

On average, more than 2.3 million kids sign up to play soccer from the ages of 6 to 12. At this age, children also start to create role models and form connections with older people through shared hobbies. 

The Pittsburgh Riveters are the newest inspiration for the next generation of female soccer players and female athletes. Pittsburgh is home to four professional teams in men’s sports — the Penguins, Pirates, Steelers and Riverhounds — but lacks a professional women’s team in any sport.

On top of that, Western Pennsylvania has become known for producing top-tier soccer talent. Over the past decade, the WPIAL, the Pittsburgh area’s high school sports district, has been one of the best in both girls and boys soccer. In 2021, all eight PIAA state championship games featured teams from the WPIAL, with five of them securing the state title, and most years feature a handful of finalists from the WPIAL. 

With that in mind, establishing the Riveters in the USL W League filled a hole in the Pittsburgh sports landscape.

The Riveters were officially founded by Pittsburgh’s professional soccer club, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, to serve as a women’s First Team opposite their men’s team in the USL Championship. Announced on April 27, 2024, the vision was to create a top-quality, pre-professional women’s team with the hope of building a fan base and enable the team to become a full professional team in years to come. 

In the team’s planning, local soccer fans were given an opportunity to have a voice in selecting the team’s name and mascot. After a lengthy voting process, the Pittsburgh Riveters was the finalized name, an homage to Rosie the Riveter, a significant symbol of female strength during World War II. 

Then came the process of selecting players and coaches for the newly formed team. Scott Gibson, Academy Director at the Riverhounds and the ECNL coach for the girls’ side, was chosen as the first head coach of the Riveters. When asked about why he decided to start coaching girls’ soccer, Gibson stated: “They’re so determined and responsive to what we ask them to do. It’s a joy to work with them. I didn’t see myself primarily working with girls and women, but it’s a lot of fun.” 

One of the first players to accept an invitation with the Riveters was Pittsburgh native and Riverhounds Academy product Lucia Wells. Wells was a standout player at North Allegheny High School who chose to take her talents to the University of Pittsburgh, where she will be entering her junior year this upcoming fall. 

“Honestly, it is such a surreal feeling being able to represent the city in so many ways, especially being with North Allegheny and winning multiple championships and then going to the University of Pittsburgh and doing really well there. We made it to the Elite Eight the other year,” Wells said. “Now, playing for the Riveters, and we just had our first win, there is just a big audience now looking into women’s sports around this area, and I think it’s a very good opportunity for the city.”

The audience for women’s sports is rapidly expanding, and this growth is profoundly influencing the younger generation of female athletes. After the first home game, players stayed on the field to sign autographs as fans piled onto the field. 

“It was like a feeling you’ll never be able to describe or forget. We were on that field for about an hour signing autographs, and I don’t even think we got to everybody,” Wells said. “I’ve never experienced something like that—I’ve never had that many people at a game I’ve played in. It was just a very new experience.” 

Riveters goalkeeper coach Reaghan Duval holds multiple roles within the soccer community: assistant coach at Robert Morris University, Riverhounds Academy goalkeeper coach, and previously, she was a coach and player in the USL W League with the Greenville Liberty. But first game nerves didn’t only hit players on the big stage at sold out Highmark Stadium. Coaches felt it as the momentum of the new season grew throughout the opening week. 

“How we’re selling out, how there are no more tickets left, standing room only — it’s like you never know if that’s actually going to be real until you’re there standing there,” Duval said. “I thought it was pretty funny, we walked out for warm-ups, and I even got a little bit nervous, and I’m just warming up the goalkeepers.”  

Duval said the Riveters opener will be hard to compare to any other atmosphere she’s been a part of, with 6,077 fans making it the fourth-largest crowd in stadium history.

“It was actually electric, that is the perfect way to describe it. I think that the fans were amazing all throughout the night,” Duval said. 

The Riveters launch has been a significant step in elevating the visibility of women’s sports in the Pittsburgh area, but there is more to come. As the team continues to grow and raise its profile, there will continue to be an expansion of equitable opportunities and a chance to capture the national spotlight.

“It’s empowering a generation of players in the city, not just in our youth academy, which is a big part of this, but young girls in Pittsburgh are looking up to the Riveters players, and the players are just great role models,” Duval said.

Feature written by Riveters contributor Addy Jacoby

When 6,077 fans packed Highmark Stadium — the fourth-largest soccer crowd in the building’s history — to witness the first match in Pittsburgh Riveters SC history, it was a significant moment both for the nascent team and for women’s sports in Pittsburgh.

Young women and girls in the hundreds, and likely thousands, attended to see the Riveters make the first step into USL W League play. Having that pre-professional platform on display in Pittsburgh was an opportunity that was not visible during the formative years for the current Riveters’ players, many of whom come from the area. And with seeing the possibility of what could be built, it allows for the younger generation to dream even bigger with the possibility of one day having a hometown team in the top professional division of U.S. Soccer.

But if the Riveters’ opening night showed anything, it’s that the team is for everyone in Pittsburgh. Fans of all ages, genders and walks of life were able to connect and enjoy the highest level of women’s club soccer that has called the city home. And as grateful as the Riveters’ players and staff were for the support on the first night, the team’s goal remains to continue pushing forward for bigger and better for the city and the fans.

(This is Part 2 of a series about the impact of the launch of the Riveters in 2025. Click here to read Part 1, where local girls and young women in soccer share their thoughts about the new team.)

The emergence of the Pittsburgh Riveters represents a goal for young girls and an opportunity for young women still playing the game, bringing a higher level right to our back yard in Pittsburgh.

But the team also represents growth in the sports industry overall, and specifically in women’s sports.

Karina Graziani is one example of the opportunities sports provide off the field, serving as the Associate Director of Athletics for Sports Communications at Carlow University.

“I just think representation is important. It’s really hard to imagine yourself doing something if you don’t see someone who looks like you doing it,” Graziani said. “Even in my career, there were not a lot of women in sports information, but when I go to the conference in the summer, there’s a lot more.”

Katie Stumpp, the Associate Athletic Director of Administration at the University of Pittsburgh, knows that Pittsburgh is ready for women after guiding women’s programs at the NCAA Division I level. 

“You’re showing the youth, and you’re showing young women that anything is possible. And you could be out there, right?” Stumpp said. “I think the most amount of success or growth comes from being able to see and have someone there, knowing you don’t have to be the one to break through. Somebody is there and giving them an example of, “I can do this,” because it is possible.”

Stumpp also mentions a key theme among college athletes and professionals is the joy that soccer has brought them and the value it holds in their lives.

“This is the opportunity to give the youth that something to look up to and something to aspire to, giving them more role models in their life and helping them to celebrate soccer as much as they can,” she said.

As the Riveters bring the new era of women’s sports to Pittsburgh, they will need community support. And many people had a message for our first team of Riveters athletes. 

“Thank you for taking part in this. And I mean, I know it’s probably not going to be easy, because I’ve met a lot of women’s athletes that have to do stuff on the side as well. I just think that’s really inspirational that you’re willing to take the risk, if you will,” said Carlow soccer player Meghan McCoy.

“I just want to let them know that what they’re doing really is so amazing and special,” said Anna Gribik, another Carlow player. “Being able to actually go watch these women play is going to be such an important thing for all of the young athletes, so I want to let the players know how important they are and how big of an influence they have on women in Pittsburgh.”

“We have a saying with women’s soccer here (at Pitt) that they made ‘herstory.’ And that’s been something fun,” Stumpp said. “Leave your legacy has been our other big thing. Go out there, and we’re behind you, and you always have the opportunity to create your own legacy and to make ‘herstory’ in some way.”

 (Feature by Riveters contributor Jameson Keebler.)

In this new year, a new wave of women’s sports and representation is coming to Pittsburgh when the Pittsburgh Riveters take the field.

The team was created to honor a legacy of female strength, with a name reflecting on women’s positions in World War II efforts, but it also exists for everyone in Pittsburgh. 

To prepare for the Riveters’ arrival in 2025, we explored what this team means to members of our women’s soccer community.

Anna Korney is a player for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Development Academy. The 14-year-old freshman at DuBois Area High School recently played in the National Selection Game at the ECNL Florida showcase, and the summer of 2024, she was selected for the U.S. Girls National Team Camp. 

Korney received acclaim at a young age, but her passion for the sport has only grown. She started playing soccer at only three years old. Today, she sees soccer as a way to express herself. 

“My favorite thing about soccer is the way you get to express yourself on the field. All my worries go away whenever I’m on the field, and I’m just focused about the game. I think of it as art. It’s just the different moves, the different techniques, the different styles,” Korney said.

Her appreciation for the artistry of soccer shows the importance of the sport. For these kids, it’s not just activity but a large part of their lives, especially when playing at a high level.

Korney is growing into the kind of athlete younger girls will look up to, but she still looks for role models herself. When asked about what the Riveters can bring to her community, Korney mentioned the importance of girls having athletes they can look up to. That makes the Riveters special, because they are bringing those high-level players directly to Pittsburgh. 

“I think it’s amazing, because I feel like growing up, it was always men. Like they’re always the superstars. And now that women are becoming the superstars, there’s more to look up to,” Korney said.

Soccer has always been a popular sport for American girls, and Korney’s view on the importance of women superstars is a shared sentiment. Women have been making accomplishments in soccer across the country for years, but now the Riveters can bring these figures to Pittsburgh. 

“I kind of just had the U.S. Women’s National Team. I think it’s really, really valuable that they’re going to have something local, that they’re going to have people here in Pittsburgh,” said Meghan McCoy, a Pittsburgh native and freshman on the Carlow University women’s soccer team. “They can look at these players, and they don’t have to look at the national scale.”

McCoy’s teammates, Arley Wilson and Anna Gribik, feel the same way about having a local presence for high-level women’s sports. 

Gribik is a sophomore at Carlow, while Wilson is a senior. Both women are from Western Pa. — Gribik from Clarion and Wilson from Connellsville — and both mentioned growing up in a community that places value in sports.

“Pittsburgh is very passionate about their sports. So I hope it’s the same way for the women’s team that it is for all the men’s teams,” Gribik said.

 (Feature by Riveters contributor Jameson Keebler. Part two of this series can be found here.)

Staff from the Riverhounds and Riveters joined representatives from Pittsburgh’s other professional teams, the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, on Wednesday, Feb. 5 for a special event celebrating National Girls & Women in Sports Day hosted by the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on the North Shore.

Pittsburgh’s teams partnered with Operation Warm and their FLY:FWD program to provide essentials to Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Girls Flag Football teams, and volunteers from the pro teams at the event took the time to prepare and box the care packages for delivery.

Operation Warm discovered that the absence of sports bras is hindering young girls from actively participating in football, thus, the FLY:FWD program was created, which is aimed at addressing disparities and equipping young girls from diverse backgrounds with the gear they need to participate in sports.

In response to this issue and in celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, volunteers met at Acrisure Stadium on Feb. 5, to package 500 sports bras that were distributed to young female athletes 250 from Allderdice, Brashear, Carrick, Obama and Westinghouse girls flag football programs.

Players chosen by their program from each school were on-site to receive the gifts, and remarks were made by representatives from each professional sports program to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day and inspire these young athletes by recognizing that sports is a space for women and girls.

Below are some of the images from Wednesday’s event, a celebration of girls and women in sports. (Photos by Alysa Rubin/Pittsburgh Steelers and Mallory Neil/Pittsburgh Riveters.)

On Friday, Dec. 6, the Riveters held the first on-field event in club history when head coach Scott Gibson led the team’s first open combine with the help of sporting director Dan Visser, goalkeeper coach Reaghan Duval and others from the technical staff.

In total, 43 women took part in drills and scrimmage matches at the AHN Montour Sports Complex while the staff evaluated the pool of players aspiring to be part of the inaugural 2025 Riveters team. Each received feedback from the staff, and the top players from the combine will be invited back to a later tryout and/or the team’s preseason in April.

Take a look below to see some of the sights from the combine, and hear Gibson’s comments after the event. (Photos and video by Mallory Neil/Riverhounds SC; additional photos by Matt Grubba/Riverhounds SC)