HARRISON, N.J. – With both the ninth-place New York Red Bulls II and 11th-place Pittsburgh Riverhounds sitting outside of the USL Cup Playoffs places in the Eastern Conference, Saturday’s home finale for the Red Bulls II at MSU Soccer Park is vital for both teams’ hopes of reaching the postseason. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. ET.

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New York Red Bulls II news and notes

• Current record: 11-12-5, 38pts

• The New York Red Bulls II come into this match following a tough 4-2 loss to FC Cincinnati on Sept. 16 in front of a USL-record crowd of 30,417 fans at Nippert Stadium.

• Florian Valot scored twice in the outing, including a first-half equalizer after Cincinnati had taken the lead, but the hosts pulled away midway through the second half to leave Valot's late second tally merely a consolation.

• The defeat in Cincinnati ended the Red Bulls II's six-game undefeated streak, but the club continued its run of scoring at least two goals to five games. New York has tallied 14 goals in that span, and has won each of its last four home contests.

• The Red Bulls II enter the weekend's action a point behind both seventh-place Bethlehem Steel FC and eighth-place Orlando City B, and hold a game in hand on OCB as the race for the playoffs reaches the final three weeks of the regular season.

Pittsburgh Riverhounds news and notes

• Current record: 8-10-11, 35pts

• The Riverhounds continued a recent slide on Sunday as they fell to a 3-2 loss to Bethlehem Steel FC at Goodman Stadium to drop to 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

• After conceding three first-half goals the Riverhounds attempted to get back into the game, but Corey Hertzog's pair of goals either side of halftime saw the comeback effort come up short.

• Hertzog's two goals moved him into a tie for fifth in the USL race for the Golden Boot, and also matched his scoring total from a season ago in his first season with the Riverhounds.

• The Riverhounds announced on Thursday it had acquired defender Joe Greenspan on loan from Minnesota United FC for Saturday's game. Greenspan had a standout stint on loan with the club earlier this season, and earned nomination for the USL Player of the Month award for May.

Series Notes

• The Red Bulls II dominate this rivalry, leading the regular season series at 3-1-1 while sitting undefeated since 2015. The teams played to the first draw in the series on the opening day of the 2017 regular season as the game ended 3-3 at Highmark Stadium.

Squads

• New York – GK: Rafael Diaz, Evan Louro, Sam Ilin; D: Gideon Baah, Jordan Scarlett, David Najem, Tim Schmoll, Andrew Lombard, Hassan Ndam, David Abidor, Jordan Bailon, Noah Powder, Ethan Kutler; M: Dan Metzger, Arun Basuljevic, Florian Valot, Dilly Duka, Andrew Tinari, Ben Mines, Kazu Shigenobu, Junior Flemmings, Zaire Bartley, Vincent Bezecourt, John Murphy; F: Zeiko Lewis, Stefano Bonomo, Douglas Martinez

• Pittsburgh – GK: Matthew Perrella, Brenden Alfery; D: Shane Campbell, Jack Thompson, Taylor Washington, Ryan Adleye, Nick Thompson, Jamal Jack, Tobi Adewole, Ritchie Duffie, Gale Agbossoumonde, Lalas Abubakar, Joe Greenspan, Shannon Gomez; M: Victor Souto, Maduabuchi Obinwa, Stephen Okai, Michael Green, Kevin Kerr, Danny Earls, Kenroy Howell, Ben Fitzpatrick; F: Chevaughn Walsh, Corey Hertzog, Kay Banjo, Romeo Parkes 

Discipline

• New York – Accumulation warning: David Abidor, Andrew Tinari, Dan Metzger

• Pittsburgh – Supended: Jamal Jack; Accumulation warning: Victor Souto, Tobi Adewole, Danny Earls

Officials

• REF: JONATHAN BILINSKI

• AR1: Gjovalin Bori

• AR2: Victor Vazquez

• 4TH: Carlos Gonzalez-Escobar

Game hashtag:

• #NYvPGH

Twitter social handles

• New York Red Bulls II – @NYRBII

• Pittsburgh Riverhounds – @PGHRiverhounds