The last time Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC was one game away from a USL Final, there were only three teams involved in the postseason.

Fifteen years ago, the Hounds were the No. 3 seed in the playoffs in the six-team USL Second Division. They fell 2-0 to the No. 2 seed Richmond Kickers in the lone Semifinal, played in mid-August in the final year before the establishment in 2011 of the league that is now the USL Championship.

So, it’s safe to say the Hounds first trip to the Eastern Conference Final on Saturday night, when they host Rhode Island FC at Highmark Stadium (6:30 p.m. ET | Preview | ESPN+), has been a long time coming.

“It's exciting,” said Hounds midfielder Danny Griffin in the club’s pregame availability on Thursday. “All these games have that feel to it, that atmosphere, and obviously a lot of that’s created by our fans, the Steel Army, and it’s good to have these games at home. The guys are just buzzing and excited. We're playing for a trophy this weekend.”

As last weekend’s club-record crowd of 6,220 showed, with the potential that number will be surpassed this Saturday, it’s a game the club’s ever-increasing fanbase is eagerly anticipating as well after years of postseason heartbreak.

• MIDDLING TO POOR: In the Championship’s early years, the Hounds were far from a consistent contender. The club squeaked into the playoffs in three of the league’s first five seasons, suffering first-round eliminations on the road on each occasion and conceding 13 times. Even after the completion of Highmark Stadium in 2013, Pittsburgh had difficulty in finding the right combination to make it a contender.

• SETTING THE FOUNDATION: After missing the postseason in both 2016 and 2017, the Hounds’ appointment of Bob Lilley as Head Coach set a new course. The team’s new defensive structure turned it into a perennial postseason fixture, but even in the club’s best campaigns – when its attack matched the defense to help propel it to first-place finishes in the East in 2019 and 2023, winning the Players’ Shield in the latter campaign – it didn’t translate to postseason success. The side suffered hope-crushing home defeats, late in extra time to Louisville City in 2019 and late in regulation to Detroit City two years ago.

• GETTING THE FLOW: This season, the postseason bounces have started to go the Hounds’ way. Despite becoming the first club to advance to a Conference Final without finding the net in either of its contests, Pittsburgh has ridden a 422-minute shutout streak the Steel Curtain would be proud of – holding Hartford Athletic and Detroit to a combined 0.71 Expected Goals across 240 minutes of play in the playoffs – and penalty shootout victories to its deepest postseason run in the USL-C era. With the elimination of the top three seeds in the bracket, Fort Highmark is gearing up for the biggest game in its history.

It might not have gone quite the way interim Head Coach Rob Vincent had envisioned in front of goal – as a player, his 21 goals for the Hounds a decade ago were a catalyst for one of their early postseason berths – but he believes the squad is ready to keep the run going.

“[We’re] as ready as we’ll ever be,” said Vincent. “Training has been good this week. We've kind of limited the volume, but got the intensity that we needed, got the reps that we needed. So, everybody’s excited and ready to go.”

In the big picture, this has been a big year for the Hounds. During the summer, the club announced its plan to expand Highmark Stadium to a 15,000-capacity venue, with the renderings teasing the potential for one of the most unique venues in the American landscape.

While that’s in the future, Saturday night is an on-field landmark the Hounds’ fans and players are relishing, even as big a challenge as defending Eastern Conference title-holder Rhode Island will pose.

“We’re confident in our group and what we we've been putting out there,” said Griffin. “We’ve just got to keep doing the things that we’re doing. Obviously, get some chances created – Detroit was better than Hartford in the chances we created – and we got to find a way to score the goal. But whatever we got to do, just find a way to win this game.”

• WATCH: Revisit our 2023 trip to Highmark Stadium to meet Pittsburgh’s Steel Army