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During their three seasons in the USL Eastern Conference, FC Cincinnati had plenty of chances to battle opponents from the Keystone State. The Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Harrisburg City Islanders/Penn FC and Bethlehem Steel took a combined 10 trips to face Cincy in Nippert Stadium between 2016 and 2018 and none of them ever returned home with three points.
That means that the Union’s 2-0 victory over FC Cincinnati last Saturday made them the first Pennsylvania team to gain a victory at Nippert Stadium.
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds made four combined trips to face FC Cincinnati, including twice in 2018, but the best they could do was draw twice at Nippert. They settled for a 2-2 draw in April of 2018 and a 1-1 draw in September of 2017. They were defeated 1-0 in 2016 with the winning goal coming from former Philadelphia Union homegrown and Malvern, Pa. native Jimmy McLaughlin.
.@fccincinnati have the 1-0 lead at halftime after this double strike from McLaughlin! #CINvPGH #USLhttps://t.co/iS50VFyMTo
— USL Championship (@USLChampionship) May 14, 2016
Bethlehem Steel had been effective against Cincy when they played them at home, picking up two victories at Goodman Stadium in 2017, but they never did better than a draw during their three matches at Nippert. They managed a 2-2 draw in 2018 behind goals from Derrick Jones and Fabian Herbers. And they too were defeated 1-0 in 2016 thanks to a lone McLaughlin goal.
Unfortunately for Harrisburg, they never managed to get a point in three matches at Nippert. In fact, they never even scored a goal there. They were held scoreless behind a 2-0 scoreline in 2016, 3-0 in 2017, and 1-0 in 2018. McLaughlin scored against them too, but only in 2017.
The Union were able to avenge their Keystone comrades to welcome Cincy to MLS with both their first home MLS loss and their first home defeat to a Pennsylvania club, thanks to goals from Marco Fabián and David Accam.
If the Orange and Blue aren’t happy with this turn of events, then they won’t have to wait long to try and get their revenge. They get to make their first ever trip to Chester for a midweek match on Wednesday, May 1.