The Pitt women’s soccer team fired 26 shots in its 2-2 tie with South Florida on Sunday, but… The Pitt women’s soccer team fired 26 shots in its 2-2 tie with South Florida on Sunday, but missed opportunities still prevented the Panthers from picking up their first Big East win.

Pitt has struggled to score this season.Entering last Thursday’s Big East opener at Marquette, head coach Sue-Moy Chin said that her team was concerned with jump starting its offense. So the Panthers emphasized finishing shots and attacking in practice. Yet against the nationally ranked Golden Eagles, they managed only four shots. Pitt lost the game 3-0.

The defeat extended the Panthers’ losing streak to four games. During that time, they failed to score a single goal.

On Sunday, however, Pitt’s dormant offense created plenty of chances as the Panthers (2-5-2) fired 26 shots — 10 on goal — en route to a tie with the Bulls (4-3-2).

Pitt outshot its opponent 8-4 in overtime, but was unable to put one past Bulls’ goalkeeper Nicole McClure, who collected eight saves in the game.

The next step for the Panthers is converting those opportunities into enough goals to seal a victory.Pitt freshman midfielder Ali Matisse made it clear after the game that an increase in shots does not necessarily mean more goals.

“I thought we did a lot better today than we’ve been doing,” said Matisse. “If we could’ve finished our chances earlier in the first half, it would’ve been a different game. We created a lot of chances.”

Chin echoed this analysis.

“If we would have finished the way we should have finished, the game could’ve been out of hand in the first half,” she said. “I thought we had three or four very good scoring opportunities that we should’ve capitalized on.”

One such opportunity came in the seventh minute of the first half when senior midfielder Katie Ruhe drilled a shot past McClure. The ball struck the right post and ricocheted back off the goalkeeper’s head before it eventually landed out of bounds.

“That kind of summed up our season this year,” said Chin. “It’s just a bit unlucky.”

Both teams were scoreless at halftime. But the second half proved to be much more action-packed than the first. The Panthers came out of the locker room strong after a speech by Chin at halftime.

“I told them that we were the better team in the first half,” Chin said, “that we just have to continue running at them and that our chances will fall for us.” She added that it was important for her team to keep working hard in the attacking end to create scoring opportunities.

Right away, it was evident that the Panthers heeded their coach’s advice.

Two minutes went by in the second half before Ruhe dribbled furiously down the field and sent a cross that deflected off the goalkeeper’s outstretched hand and onto the foot of Matisse, who sent the ball into the back of the net. The freshman’s first goal of the season — assisted by Ruhe — put the Panthers up 1-0.

Eleven seconds later, however, the lead vanished. South Florida’s Taylor Patterson scored on an assist from Demi Stokes, tying the game at one.

“We got that early goal which is what we wanted,” Chin said. “But I was very disappointed that we let them back in seconds afterwards. It came from us not getting good pressure”.

Chin said Pitt’s goalkeeper Kristina Rioux was out of position.

“Our goalkeeper should’ve been out [of the net] early to clear the threat and keep it out for a throw-in,” she said.”But that’s credit to South Florida for pushing forward.”

The Panthers answered in the 50^th minute to go ahead 2-1. Sophomore Katelyn Lippert received Nicole Stiles’ perfectly placed through-ball from midfield, raced past the Bulls’ defense and beat the goalkeeper for her first goal of the season.

After the game, Chin said that she is especially pleased with her young players’ willingness to perform in big games.

“Young players are stepping up,” said Chin. “They’re very good technical soccer players. I think just learning the Big East’s level of competition — that’s another whole level they’re not used to, particularly the physicality. That was a growing point, especially for Matisse. But once she learned that, she started to get a little more physical and she’s done tremendous.”

Matisse said it’s important for the younger players to step up and play a key role.

“The team needs us — everyone,” she said. “Even the players on the bench need to be ready to come in and work as hard as they can.”

Demi Stokes’ goal in the 60^th minute, which came amidst a scramble in front of the Panthers’ net, evened the game at two. Pitt goalkeeper Kristina Rioux made five of her 12 saves in the final 30 minutes to make sure the game stayed that way.

The Panthers will look to build on the progress they made during Sunday’s tie as they head into their meeting with Rutgers on Friday and Seton Hall on Sunday. Rioux said she expects her team to do just that.

“I think we’ve picked up the tempo and the pace at which we’ve been playing,” she said. “At times we’ve been able to get all our units working — defense, midfield and forwards, everybody’s starting to come together. We’re just missing that final thing.”

Matisse said that “final thing” is a victory.

“We’re staying really positive,” she said. “We’re looking for two W’s next weekend. Hopefully we get them.”