Women’s Soccer: Panthers unravel, drop Big East opener

The Pitt women’s soccer team received a harsh wake-up call on Thursday night.

In its Big…

The Pitt women’s soccer team dropped its Big East conference opener to No. 24 Marquette, losing 5-1 on Thursday night at the Petersen Sports Complex.

Huailei Wang, Senior Staff Photographer

The Pitt women’s soccer team received a harsh wake-up call on Thursday night.

In its Big East opener, Pitt fell to No. 24 Marquette in a rout, 5-1, at the Petersen Sports Complex. After tying the program record for nonconference victories last weekend, the Panthers appeared morose and unable to compete with the Golden Eagles’ attack.

Looking overmatched for the majority of the game, Pitt (5-5, 0-1 Big East) rarely advanced out of its defensive third, and when it did, often couldn’t maintain possession long enough to mount a serious attack.

The total domination of the game by Marquette manifested itself from the opening whistle, as the Golden Eagles outshot the Panthers 17-2 in the first half.

Marquette’s (4-2-1, 1-0 Big East) absolute control of play didn’t go unnoticed by first-year Pitt head coach Greg Miller.

“I think we just got a little flustered at the beginning,” Miller said. “We just spent a lot of the game reacting and unfortunately spent a lot of the game giving the ball away.”

The second half offered little respite for the Panthers.

Pitt redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Nicole D’Agostino stayed busy all night with the Golden Eagles swinging in numerous crosses and firing dozens of shots.

Marquette wasted no time in adding to its lead after the break as Rachel Brown turned and scored a stunning goal in the 53rd minute. Well outside the box, Brown placed the ball immaculately in the top corner, and the diving effort of D’Agostino couldn’t alter its path.

Pitt then orchestrated a couple of attacks, which finally put Marquette under pressure.

Senior forward Ashley Cuba ran diagonally onto a through ball and smartly hit it off her defender to win a corner — Pitt’s first of the game.

Junior defender Morgan Sharick met the service with a powerful header, and the ball rocketed into the net. It was Sharick’s fourth goal of the year, all of which have come off corners. Freshman Roosa Arvas tallied the assist, her seventh of the year.

The goal seemed to energize the Panthers, who pressed higher up and attacked with purpose.

It wouldn’t last, though, as Marquette’s Maegan Kelly slid a ball past a helpless D’Agostino to push the Golden Eagles’ advantage to 3-1.

Pitt appeared deflated after conceding a third goal, and Marquette seized the opportunity by adding two more goals late in the contest to make the game a blowout.

Miller wasn’t happy with his team’s defensive lapses at the end of the game.

“We gave up three goals in eight minutes because of our lack of attention to detail and falling asleep,” he said. “We have to manage the game for longer periods of time instead of taking breaks.”

Marquette finished with 34 shots to Pitt’s six.

Cuba stated that Sharick’s goal gave Pitt belief that it could equalize, but she admitted the Panthers were fatigued.

“It’s a huge mentality thing,” Cuba said. “After that first goal, I think it gave us some momentum towards getting a second one. [But] after a while, we just got tired and broke down.”

For Sharick, the team’s early jitters and subsequent lack of composure kept it from putting together more attacks of its own.

“A big thing for us is sometimes we panic in the middle, and as soon as we get it out wide. And when you’re playing against a formation like Marquette had, we had numbers out wide, and we had the space out wide,” Sharick said. “If we can get the ball to [our dynamic players], we can get in on goal and get service.”

The junior defender also believes the Panthers’ troubles in open play place an added importance on not wasting set pieces.

“Sometimes we struggle on the field to get shots off and get shots in the run of play,” Sharick said. “So honestly, when we get [free kicks or corner kicks] everyone is excited, because we know that that is one of our strengths, and we need to make everyone count.”

With the team’s next game at South Florida on Sunday quickly approaching, Cuba knows the team can’t afford to dwell on this disappointing, lopsided result.

“We just got to put it behind us,” she said. “It’s in the past.”