Tylenda and substitute Anna Korney score as the Riveters beat Steel City FC 2-0 in the first Pittsburgh derby

CHESWICK. Alexis Tylenda scored in the 19th minute and Anna Korney, a substitute, added a second in the 70th as the Pittsburgh Riveters beat Steel City FC 2-0 on Thursday, May 28, at Founders Field in the first Pittsburgh derby of the USL W League season. The match was the Riveters’ first on the road in 2026, and the win kept them unbeaten at 2-0-1 and moved them to seven points, four ahead of Steel City (1-1-0) in the Great Forest Division.

Steel City had the first clear chance, in the ninth minute. Maya Matesa timed a run between the Riveters defense to get in on goal, and Bailey Herfurth closed down the angle and made the close-range save. The Riveters (2-0-1) scored 10 minutes later. Kennedy Neighbors won the ball in front of the center circle and played a ball through on the ground to Tylenda, who took a touch into the box and shot low around Steel City goalkeeper Ruby Morgan. The goal was the first of the season for Tylenda, one of the club’s top scorers a year ago, and the club named her its player of the match.

“I thought Alexis Tylenda and Kennedy Neighbors were outstanding as strikers,” Riveters coach Scott Gibson told Pittsburgh Soccer Now. “First ten minutes we came out, put them under a lot of pressure.”

Morgan kept the margin at one goal through halftime. She saved from Lola Abraham and from Tylenda again in the first half, and the Riveters led 1-0 at the break. Tanum Nelson, the club’s leading scorer in 2025, made her first appearance of the season and nearly doubled the lead three minutes into the second half, when Morgan pushed her turning shot off the crossbar.

The second goal came from the bench. Korney, 16, entered in the 60th minute in her first appearance of the season and scored 10 minutes later from the left side of the box, lifting her shot into the top, near corner. She had also scored at Founders Field last season, when she became the youngest player to score for the club, at 15. “It was really exciting; I was glad that I could help the team in any way,” Korney told Pittsburgh Soccer Now.

Herfurth made three saves and kept her second clean sheet of the season. Morgan finished with 10 stops for Steel City (1-1-0), whose captain Emily Graeca anchored a defense that held the Riveters to the two goals. Tylenda was cautioned in the second half. Steel City’s next match is also at Cleveland, on Sunday, May 31.

The Riveters travel to Cleveland Force on Wednesday, June 3, at Krenzler Field, with kickoff at 7 p.m. It is the middle match of a three-game road swing.

Goals: Pittsburgh, Tylenda 19, Neighbors. Pittsburgh, Korney 70. Halftime: Steel City 0, Pittsburgh 1.