Five games into the 2026 USL Championship season, Birmingham Legion finally have a win on the board.
The Three Sparks welcomed the Pittsburgh Riverhounds to town, and a singular Sebastian Tregarthen goal was enough to see them notch three points for the first time this season.
The matchup never looked easy — Pittsburgh are the defending USL Championship champions and have lost just once to Birmingham in 12 games — and it was made that much harder before a ball was even kicked. Through a series of unfortunate events, injuries and illnesses sidelined enough players to force Jay Heaps to name just six substitutes on his bench instead of the allowed seven.
It made no difference to a Three Sparks team that came out on the front foot and dominated the ball in the early periods of the game.
“Very proud of the guys,” Heaps said. “The guys fought really hard together. When you’re at the same situation [as previous weeks] the end of the game, you’re up a goal and some calls go against you, rather than putting their hands up and getting angry, they dug down and fought for the points and fought for the result.”
Though the Riverhounds had the most threatening moments early on, first with a cross to the back post missed by everyone, and then another headed just wide, Jassem Koleilat was never called into action. Up the other end, Legion needed just one real opportunity to go ahead.
Dawson McCartney found space down the flank in the 25th minute and sent a vicious low cross into the box. Sebastian Tregarthen sprinted across from the opposite flank, got ahead of the defending Riverhound and deftly diverted it beetween Nico Campuzano’s legs.
“Today I had the opportunity to start, and I scored,” Tregarthen said after making only his second start of 2026. “I’m very happy for that.
“I waited for Dawson,” he added. “I know that he can serve the ball very well. So I think the timing was good, and with my run I beat the defenders.”
Romario Williams nearly doubled the lead with an audacious midfield lob a couple of minutes later, but though the Pittsburgh goalkeeper was off his line and beaten, the effort sailed narrowly over the crossbar.
Pittsburgh had their best chance in the 37th minute when a contested long ball left Amir Daley in a heap on the floor. With no foul called, Pittsburgh ran through but could only hit the inside of Jassem Koleilat’s post.
Though Daley soldiered on for the remainder of the half, injury forced him off at the break. With limited options available to him, Heaps opted to bring on Peter-Lee Vassell and move Tregarthen to right back.
“That was a sub I didn’t want to make,” Heaps said. “I really liked what Seba was doing down that side. So it was actually one of those where you’re really frustrated that that happened. But we were so limited right now with outside backs and injuries, so Seba kind of had to put his workman’s hat on and played a great second half.”
While the change, on paper, could have been construed as attacking, Birmingham spent much of the second half in defense-mode. However, solid midfield work by Seth Antwi and Sam McIllhatton and resiliency on the defensive line ment Koleilat was still untroubled until the final 10 minutes of regular time. Even then, his one save was a fairly straightforward catch from a Pittsburgh header.
Vassell thought he had the killer blow in the 89th minute as he struck Gevork Diarbian’s cutback into the bottom corner, but the assistant’s flag was up for offside. Upon review, it’s unclear who was deemed to be in such a position.
The final minutes then saw a lot of defending in and around the Legion area, but no real threat as the Three Sparks saw out the game after letting leads slip in the previous two outings.
“It was a good display of defensive ability,” Koleilat said. “Our football at the end was definitely not the prettiest, but that’s what you need. When the back lines start solid and are able to get gritty and deal with all the balls that are being whipped in, all the through balls being played in when legs are tired, that’s what separates you in the game.”
It was their first win in the last 10 attempts at Protective, and their first since 2022 against the Riverhounds. Following the 0-0 draw with Hartford Athletic earlier this season, the Black and Gold have now kept consecutive clean sheets in their home stadium after registering just two at Protective across the entirety of 2025.
Birmingham Legion are back at home next week. They host Indy Eleven at 4 p.m. on Sunday April 19.
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