Alyssa Cwanger photos, Post-Gazette The Riverhounds' Tim Bezbatchenko, left, and the Pioneers' Everson Maciel battle for the ball in the first half of the home opener at Falconi Field yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

At every opportunity last night, Riverhounds team officials spiced soccer with a touch of unconventionality. They held impromptu promotions during the game. They gave away T-shirts and pizza. A sound track of jock-rock music blared from the speakers. Even the game itself -- the Riverhounds' first pro soccer game under new ownership -- received an unorthodox backdrop: it was played at Falconi Field, in Washington County, atop a baseball diamond.

Still, cast all that aside, and one thing remained unconventional in the Riverhounds' 2-1 loss to Western Mass., last night. The officiating. In particular, several calls that players and coaches swore hindered their chances of winning the game.

"Very, very unusual," Riverhounds assistant Rich Salvini said.

As the 2,115 who attended the home-opener watched fireworks shoot from beyond the outfield fence following the game, Riverhounds players shot off about their own frustrations. In the 30th minute of the first half, with the Riverhounds already trailing, 1-0, goalkeeper Chris Robinson sprang from the box to contest a pass intended for Western Mass midfielder Rigels Qosa.

Both Robinson and Qosa jumped for the ball. They collided. Qosa hit the ground. A nearby referee reached for a red card. He signaled to Robinson.

That penalty forced Robinson from the game. The Riverhounds changed goaltenders and played the rest of the game with only 10 players, not the standard 11.

"In a World Cup, that would have never been called," Salvini said. "Very poor call. Both players were going for the ball. It was a clean play."

Said forward David Flavius, who scored the Riverhounds' lone goal: "You don't call a red card in that situation."

The Riverhounds exhausted the rest of their energy trying to overcome the disadvantage. In the 58th minute, following a free kick, the ball zipped to the left of the Western Mass defensive zone. Riverhounds defender Nathan Salsi headed a pass to Flavius, who angled the ball past keeper Bryan O'Quinn.

Western Mass Pioneers' Omar McFarlene jumps over Riverhounds' Ahmad Manning as they fight for the ball during the second half at Falconi Field last night. Click photo for larger image.

The score, though, was tied long enough only to cue the music celebrating that fact. Seven minutes later, Qosa corralled a pass roughly 20 yards away from the net. He chipped a shot toward the goal that seemingly rainbowed earthward in slow motion. Riverhounds back-up goalie, Terry McNelis, furiously backpedaled to tip the shot away. Instead, the ball nipped his hand and landed right behind him -- in the net.

"It was a tricky play," McNelis said.

The Riverhounds had one more complaint: how the game ended. Officials blew the final whistle -- signaling the end of extra time -- as the Riverhounds maintained possession on offense. Flavius said that most refs allow a scoring chance, even a slight one, to pass before stopping the game.

"Even when time is up," he said, "you don't do that. You don't end it like that."

And so the Riverhounds, in that manner, ended a game that was both a first impression (for many fans) and a second chance (for the team, which had lost its first game last Saturday against Harrisburg).

In that game, head coach Ricardo Iribarren received a red card, leading to his suspension from this game. He watched the contest last night from the press box, leaving his coaching duties on the field to Salvini.

Salvini and his players stood on the far sideline -- center field for baseball games. Though other cities -- Rochester and Washington, for instance -- have experimented with stadiums for both baseball and soccer, this configuration still looked like a novelty.

One end line ran from home plate into right field, with the goal positioned along the first-base line. The other end of the field extended from the left-field foul pole toward center field.