Women’s Soccer: Pitt still winless in Big East after weekend

After another disappointing weekend, the Pitt women’s soccer team remains winless in…

The Pitt women’s soccer team has struggled mightily since beginning conference play.

Huailei Wang, Senior Staff Photographer

After another disappointing weekend, the Pitt women’s soccer team remains winless in conference play through two weeks of games.

This is the team’s last season as a member of the Big East.

The Panthers lost a pair of home games last weekend, falling to Villanova on Friday and No. 11 Georgetown on Sunday, 2-1 and 8-0, respectively, at Ambrose Urbanic Field in the Petersen Sports Complex.

The weekend began well, as the Panthers (5-9-1, 0-4-1 Big East) took a 1-0 lead over Villanova just 10 minutes into the game. But that goal by junior Katie Lippert turned out to be the lone positive in what was otherwise a disastrous weekend, as Pitt conceded 10 goals without scoring any in the next 170 minutes of play.

After opening the year with a 4-1 record — averaging 1.8 goals per game and giving up just one — the Panthers are just 1-8-1 and have been outscored 24-4.

“We have been learning a new style of play all year, and at times it has been a struggle,” junior midfielder Danielle Benner said. “A new defensive style is easier to learn because, in essence, it’s really just protect the keeper and get the ball out no matter what style you run. But offensively, we have had success on set pieces — but that’s it. When we don’t convert on those, we can’t seem to find a way to score.”

Villanova 2, Pittsburgh 1

Lippert’s first goal of the season put Pitt ahead, but the Wildcats responded to deny the Panthers what would’ve been a crucial victory.

“[Senior Ashley] Cuba beat a girl up the sideline and crossed the ball to Alex [Charlebois],” Lippert said of her goal. “She shot it, and it rebounded to me at about 18 yards out, and I hit it left-foot into the top-right corner of the net. I was just hoping that the defender who was coming to play me wouldn’t deflect it.”

But Villanova (5-6-2, 3-2 Big East) would come back, tying the game with eight minutes left in the half and then taking the lead just eight minutes into the second half, as Victoria Gersh scored both goals.

“It was frustrating,” Lippert said. “We haven’t had much of an attack all season, and we finally did today. To not even get a tie out of this game was disheartening.”

Pitt outshot Villanova 15-7, and goalkeeper Nicole D’Agostino made three saves.

First-year Pitt head coach Greg Miller also expressed his frustration in losing the game.

“I felt like this was a game we could’ve won,” Miller said in a press release. “l felt like we had a lot of energy, we got an early goal — a 1-0 lead that we haven’t had for a while — and we had a great game plan. Then we made some mistakes that led to Villanova goals.”

Georgetown 8, Pittsburgh 0

The Hoyas came into the game ranked No. 11 in the country, and they lived up to their ranking in every way.

Georgetown (11-1-1, 5-0 Big East) broke the game open early with a goal made by sophomore Daphne Corboz, who scored two goals in the opening three minutes.

Corboz then completed her hat trick 13 minutes before the half to put Georgetown up 5-0. She would add two more scores in the second half to finish with a career-high five goals on eight shots.

“The team that was out there wasn’t us — we didn’t play like ourselves,” Benner said. “Our heads weren’t in the game, and the result was embarrassing. We need to work hard and re-focus this week and find ourselves.”

Lippert thought that allowing the come-from-behind victory on Friday affected the team Sunday.

“Friday was so frustrating and upsetting, and we didn’t have the best post-game speech. We had a team meeting on Saturday and tried to talk things out,” she said. “But we came out flat, and they scored two quick goals, and it felt just like last season again. I think everybody needs to focus on what they, individually, need to do better.”

Lippert also added that the only thing Pitt can do now is move forward.

“We need to stop pointing fingers and focus for this weekend, because we have two very winnable games that we quite simply have to win,” she said.

The Panthers play again when they visit Syracuse on Thursday before heading to St. John’s on Sunday.