Goalkeeper Bailey Herfurth scores in stoppage time as the Riveters draw Flower City 1872 3-3

PITTSBURGH. Goalkeeper Bailey Herfurth came forward for a last corner kick and scored in stoppage time as the Pittsburgh Riveters drew Flower City 1872 3-3 on Saturday, May 23, at F.N.B. Stadium. The draw was the only match in which the Riveters dropped points at home all season, and it came after Flower City had taken the lead in the 81st minute, the first time the Riveters had trailed in 2026.

Lola Abraham scored first for the Riveters (1-0-0) in the 14th minute. Flower City cleared the first corner kick of the match, the ball reached Abraham, and she settled it and drove toward goal before scoring with a bouncing shot from 20 yards into the bottom left corner. It was Abraham’s first goal for the club. Flower City (1-0-0) tied the match in the 37th minute. Olivia Pilato took a corner kick and Amelia Breton elevated in the box to head the ball off the underside of the crossbar and into the net.

The lead changed hands twice more before halftime. In the 44th minute, Ellen Molloy curled a free kick high into the box, Shannon Studer headed the ball diagonally toward goal, and Taylor Green turned it over the line for her second goal in two games. Flower City answered in first half stoppage time, when Sam Cipolla struck a shot from the corner of the box across goal and into the top left corner, and the teams went to halftime tied 2-2.

Flower City goalkeeper Lindsay Parker kept the second half scoreless into its final ten minutes. Her best save came in the 40th minute, when she got the slightest of touches to push a Molloy shot from distance onto the crossbar, and the club recap credits her with five saves in the match. Herfurth recorded one save for the Riveters, and neither team scored until the 81st minute, when an awkwardly bouncing ball troubled the Riveters’ back line and Andrea Wilson ran through the play and volleyed the ball into the goal.

The Riveters sent all 11 players forward for a last corner kick in the final minute of stoppage time. Emme Butera curled the ball in, Flower City did not fully clear it, and the ball rolled to Herfurth, who was waiting to the right of the penalty spot. The West Virginia University goalkeeper swung her right foot through the ball and scored. The club recap reports that she told reporters afterward the goal was the first she had ever scored.

“I just looked over at the bench, saw the clock, and thought, ‘Why not?’” Herfurth said.

“The bounce on their third goal was incredibly unlucky, but that response at the death shows the character of this group,” head coach Scott Gibson said.

The draw left both teams at 1-0-1, even on points at the top of the Great Forest Division. The Riveters play their first road match of the season on Thursday, May 28, against Steel City FC at Founders Field in Indiana Township, with kickoff at 6 p.m.

Goals: Pittsburgh, Abraham 14. Flower City, Breton 37, Pilato. Pittsburgh, Green 44, Studer. Flower City, Cipolla 45+1. Flower City, Wilson 81. Pittsburgh, Herfurth 90+. Halftime: Pittsburgh 2, Flower City 2. Attendance: 4,032 tickets distributed, reported by Pittsburgh Soccer Now.