Men’s Soccer: Lack of offense, injuries hurt Panthers

The road woes of the Pitt men’s soccer team continued Wednesday night — this time in… The road woes of the Pitt men’s soccer team continued Wednesday night — this time in Cleveland.

The Cleveland State Vikings beat Pitt 2-0 at Krenzler Field and dropped the Panthers’ record outside of Allegheny County to 0-4-1 and 5-4-1 overall.

Head coach Joe Luxbacher, whose team is 5-0 at home, couldn’t explain why Pitt’s level of play drops so much on the road, but he acknowledged that travel has to affect it.

“There’s obviously something behind that,” he said. “But I can’t put my finger on it right now, other than the fact that we’ve played some pretty good teams.”

Luxbacher said he has tried to find a travel schedule that the players respond to on the field, but so far he has been unsuccessful.

“Some of the away games, like against Seton Hall, you get there two days or a day early and you just sit there,” he said. “We just got [to Krenzler Field] late — right before the game, trying to get to the locker room, changed and ready for warm-up. We didn’t have any time sitting [in Cleveland], thinking that might be it, but again, we didn’t get it done.”

Senior Alex Betancourt said lengthy bus trips wear down the team.

“Traveling has taken a little toll on the team so far,” he said. “Everyone’s a little sore sitting on buses for six hours at a time, but other teams also get pumped up a little more playing at home.”

Whether or not travel was to blame, Pitt struggled out of the gate against the Vikings. Cleveland State took it to Pitt early, outshooting the Panthers, 7-1, in the first half.

“[Slow starts] are something we’ve been having some trouble with,” Betancourt said. “When we were in the West Virginia tournament, in both games that we lost 2-0 they scored within the first 20 minutes or half-hour. The same thing happened yesterday.”

“We were chasing the ball a lot in the first half,” Luxbacher said.

Brian Donnelly of Cleveland opened the scoring 27 minutes in, when freshman Pitt goalkeeper Matt Aberegg misjudged his free kick. Aberegg came out too far and the ball — intended as a chance for a Viking header — sailed over him into the goal.

Despite the error, Luxbacher said his goalkeeper played well in his first career Pitt start.

“He misplayed one ball, but he made a couple good saves early,” he said.

Aberegg made four saves in place of Hami Kara, who had started every game this season. Luxbacher said Kara struggled against set pieces versus Seton Hall last Saturday, and he thought Aberegg’s 6-foot-4-inch frame would translate to a more dominant presence on a restart play from the Vikings.

Cleveland State benefited from an accidental goal 35 minutes in to make the score 2-0.

Viking Jeff Baker’s attempted pass to teammate Audric Kilroy ricocheted off a Pitt defender’s foot and past Aberegg.

Cleveland State goalkeeper Brad Stuver preserved the Vikings’ shutout and made three saves that night. Wednesday’s scoreless effort is the fifth out of the last six games for Pitt.

“There’s only so much you can do,” Luxbacher said. “You have the same players, trying to put different guys in different spots. It’s not a lot of small things systematically more than guys trying to do a job and having to make the play when it’s there.”

In addition to a struggling offense, the Panthers also have to cope with two injuries suffered against Cleveland State.

Luxbacher said freshman forward Robert Iledare “probably broke his ankle” in the first minute, and starting defender Alex Harrison also left the game with an injury.

Luxbacher doesn’t know how much time he will miss.

“Hopefully, he’ll play over the weekend,” he said. “I don’t know. He couldn’t play tonight.”

Cleveland State improved to 5-6 on the season and is 15-1-3 in its last 19 home games with the victory.

Meanwhile, Pitt returns home to play Marquette at Founders Field Saturday at 1 p.m. The Golden Eagles (4-3-3, 1-0-1 Big East) tied nationally ranked No. 3 Connecticut last Friday, and Luxbacher said they are going to be a handful.

“But we know what we have to do,” he said. “We have to get it going. We’re definitely in a struggling period.”