Men’s Soccer: Panthers tie Niagara, defeat Howard over weekend

The Pitt men’s soccer team remains undefeated after beginning its season with two tight…The Pitt men’s soccer team remains undefeated after beginning its season with two tight contests this past weekend.

Despite dominating possession, the Panthers needed a last-second goal to avoid starting its season with a loss on Friday night.

Pitt 1, Niagara 1

Pitt (1-0-1, 0-0 Big East) leveled with Niagara (1-0-1) at the Duquesne Invitational off a low, driven corner kick from sophomore Michael Tuohy that junior John Cordier met in the middle of a scrum and directed into the net.

The goal capped an aggressive second half offensively for the Panthers, made possible by Pitt winning the possession battle.

The game went to sudden-death extra time thanks to the Cordier tally, but neither team could capitalize during the remaining 20 minutes, so the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Sophomore goalkeeper Lee Johnston didn’t see many attempts, but when he did, he stopped them.

An acrobatic diving save by Johnston off a header midway through the second half kept out a great chance that would’ve left Pitt trailing by two.

He said that even during the stretches when there isn’t much action for him, he remains ready.

“If I’m called in for action, I got to come up and make a few saves. It’s going to have to happen every game, especially when we get to the Big East [part of the schedule],” Johnston said.

Pitt head coach Joe Luxbacher said he was pleased with his team’s performance and figured his team must’ve controlled the ball for “60 or 70” percent of the game.

But for all of the possession, Niagara’s goal came against the run of play in the dying minutes of the first half when Rene De Zorzi buried a loose ball following a corner in the bottom left of the net.

Struggling to create scoring opportunities early, Pitt managed a mere three shots on goal in the first half despite controlling the ball. The inability to turn all that possession into scoring chances boiled down to a reluctance to shoot from a distance, according to Luxbacher.

“Niagara was dropping in [deep to defend], and we kept trying to slip balls in behind them,” he said. “I was telling our guys [in the second half] to take the shots from outside the [box].”

Andthat’s what they did, firing 11 attempts on frame after the break.

“We had chances. We just couldn’t seem to buy one,” Luxbacher said.

But the team’s energy never waned and Pitt kept pushing, resulting in the extremely late equalizer.

“They never quit battling. When you’re down in the last minute, a lot of guys would’ve just packed it in,” Luxbacher said. “If they didn’t have that attitude, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Junior defender Alex Harrison felt Pitt had an advantage over Niagara, but it just couldn’t get the result to prove it.

“We were definitely the better team,” Harrison said. “[We] should’ve won, but you don’t always win when you play well.”

Harrison also claimed that the ability to stay in the game after falling behind was the product of a new skill the Panthers have developed.

“The last two years, we haven’t been able to possess the ball as well. That’s why we haven’t won many games,” Harrison said. “We kept the ball really well. That’s all we do in practice: keep the ball.”

Pitt 1, Howard 0

On Sunday, the team faced Howard in its second game as part of the Duquesne Invitational. The team began an offensive onslaught at the opening whistle and never slowed down, registering 23 shots, nine of which were on target.

The Panthers broke through with four minutes to go in the first half, when freshman Nick Wysong beat his defender on the wing and found sophomore Ryan Myers, who one-timed it past the goalkeeper. It was Myers’s first career goal.

Howard struggled immensely all game to put together any sort of attack.

The team’s frustration began to manifest itself later in the game as the Bison accrued two yellow cards in the second half and gave out a number of poor tackles. But fortunately for Pitt, no Panthers left the game with any injuries.

Pitt will host its first home game this Saturday against St. Francis (Pa.) at noon.