Sounding Off on Soccer with John Krysinsky

On the newest episode of Sounding Off on Soccer Podcast, Pittsburgh Soccer Now's John Krysinsky is joined by Steel City FC's Nick Graeca and Grant McIntosh to discuss their upcoming Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match vs the Riverhounds

Among the topics discussed included: 

• Juggling post-collegiate life while still training and competing with Steel City FC
• How Steel City's roster evolved through Open Cup qualifying, building a strong player pool and rounding into form as the Open Cup and USL League Two season approaches 
• Thoughts on building on a successful first season in USL League Two 
• Importance of match between two Pittsburgh-area teams in the US Open Cup (First Match between two Pittsburgh clubs in USOC proper in 69 years) 
• What it will be like to have Steel City FC supporters and soccer family supporting them at Highmark Stadium 
• Importance of Open Cup friendlies against Robert Morris and Duquesne 
• Thoughts on facing the Riverhounds 

Pittsburgh Soccer Now's John Krysinsky and Mark Goodman are back and ready on a new Episode of Sounding Off on Soccer to discuss the new season as the Riverhounds get set to defend its USL Championship title. 

However, will the season start on time?  

The USLPA and USL Headquarters continue to negoiate in good faith, but with less than 48 hours before kickoff, there is still no new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and the league. 

 John and Mark share their thoughts on the 11th Hour negoiations, then roll up their sleeves to discuss some of the Five Burning Questions for the Riverhounds as they begin their title defense under a new, permanent Head Coach, Rob Vincent, then make their Annual predictions.  

On Friday, Steel City FC and the Riverhounds announced that its historic US Open Cup match has been moved to Highmark Stadium -- on March 17, at 7 p.m.  
  

This seemed like a great opportunity to bring back and check in with Tom Ovenden and Dan Brower, Steel City FC's owner/president and the men's first team Head Coach to discuss the match and the club's efforts to partner with the Riverhounds in hosting the Open Cup match.   

Robbie Mertz is back for another season with his hometown club, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC.

This time he comes back to the club, with a new contract, as a champion, postseason hero and even more determined to contribute in contributing to the Riverhounds' standard of success that has been part of his tenures with the team.

As the Hounds kick off the preseason, Mertz joins John Krysinsky on the Sounding Off on Soccer Podcast for a revealing and compelling in-depth interview.  

Among the topics John and Robbie discuss included:

• reflections on last season's remarkable postseason run, the team's resilience in overcoming adversity, dealing with what he described as a 'shocking' coaching change, finding a way to score the biggest goal in club history after missing golden chances the previous week, then experiencing hospitalization from exhaustion
• signing a new contract and looking forward to a transition to the new season as Rob Vincent has been implemented as the permanent Head Coach and what his role will be with the team 
• the continuing efforts of the USLPA to bring higher standards for players and reach a new collective bargaining agreement with the league -- as negotiations are still at a standstill 

Mertz, 29, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of nearby Upper St. Clair High School, has been a mainstay for the Hounds since signing with his hometown club as a rookie in 2019. While he did have a short stint with Atlanta United 2 starting in 2021, he rejoined the Hounds via transfer midway through the 2022 season and will be entering his seventh season with the team.

Randy Waldrum has earned his spot in coaching history in the United States of America.

In January, the United Soccer Coaches Annual Convention in Philadelphia, the organization honored Waldrum, along with Craig Ewing, Al Miller and Steve Sampson, as part of its 2026 Hall of Fame Class.

The U.S. Soccer coaching icon, who helped build successful women's college soccer programs at every stop, including at University of Pittsburgh, sat down with John Krysinsky for a special interview segment for Sounding Off on Soccer Podcast.

In this segment, Randy shares more on recieving on of the highest honors for a soccer coach in the United States and devulges into his career and soccer journey while also sharing plenty of thoughts on the current state of women's soccer, college athletics, thoughts on VAR, advice for coaches and how he's been transitioning in his new role as Technical Director for Pitt women's soccer and much more.

Stefan Lundberg has done it all on the Pittsburgh soccer landscape, but he's still not done yet.

The former WPIAL and club soccer standout, who went on to a four-year career at Duquesne University, played three seasons with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, where he (no pun intended) was part of the team that bridged the gap playing before scarce crowds at Chartiers Valley to the inagural season at Highmark Stadium. 

Lundberg has stayed involved with the game with local amateur clubs including Tartan Devils Oak Avalon of Greater Pittsburgh Soccer League and is now one of the veteran leaders for Pittsburgh's new pro indoor soccer club, Bridge City FC.  

On the first episode of Sounding Off on Soccer Podcast of 2026, Lundberg took a few moments to catch up with Pittsburgh Soccer Now's John Krysinsky, sharing more about his soccer journey and the new experience playing indoor soccer with a team that has been a very interesting collection of young and veteran players, and much more.

In what was our first-ever in-person, on location edition of Sounding Off on Soccer Podcast, at Shiloh Plate & Pour (on Mt. Washington), one of the pillars of the Riverhounds 2025 championship squad, the team's captain and midfielder, Danny Griffin joined John Krysinsky to share his thoughts, in his first extended interview session, a few weeks after the team delivered the franchise's first-ever League Title to Pittsburgh.

If there was one overriding theme in this conversation with Griffin, it was about how the team banded together and remained a close-knit group regardless of what ever adversity it faced, eventually finding a way to pull off an improbable run through the playoffs without allowing a goal and bringing home Pittsburgh's first-ever professional soccer Championship in the modern era.  

"In all my years here, we've always had a close-knit locker room and the guys demanding more from each other," Griffin shared.  

"Guys would get on each other. Get after each other about what we needed to do. There's struggles in every season, but in those little moments, there are guys that really stepped up and had each other's back.  That went a long way for everyone." 

Before the Riverhounds kickoff against FC Tulsa in the club's first-ever appearance in the USL Championship Final -- the Sounding Off on Soccer podcast is back with a special pregame edition.

Joining PSN's John Krysinsky includes Matthew Baldwin, who has covered the Riverhounds for the past two-and-half seasons with multiple outlets including previously with Pittsburgh Soccer Now and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Keith Barnes.

With the Riverhounds set to play in the USL Championship Final at Tulsa on Saturday, we continue our series of daily Sounding Off on Soccer Podcast episodes.

Today, John Krysinsky caught up with Riverhounds' All-USL Championship First Team defender Sean Suber as the third-year pro

• Thoughts on experience playing before Pittsburgh fans for three straight playoff matches
• How team has adjusted to each opponent through the playoffs and what have been the biggest challenges
• How Sean's soccer journey brought him to Pittsburgh and being teammates with Danny Griffin in each of the past three years
• How team is feeling and thoughts on the match-up vs Tulsa

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are USL Championship's Eastern Conference champions and will now be facing FC Tulsa in the League Final.  Pittsburgh Soccer Now's John Krysinsky is joined by fellow PSN contributors Mark 'Soccer Rabbi' Goodman and Matt Popchock who were all on hand at Highmark Stadium for Riverhounds 1-0 ECF triumph over Rhode Island, sharing their experiences from a memorable night in Pittsburgh soccer history and discuss the team's chances in the League Final to be played on Saturday at Noon.