Pitt soccer was on the road this weekend, with the women’s team out in California and the men’s team in Virginia. The men’s team looked to continue a win streak and the women’s team looked to get out of a funk.
Men’s soccer
Pitt men’s soccer continued its dominant run this weekend, taking care of Virginia Tech on the road and likely maintaining their No. 1 designation going into next week.
The Panthers shut out the Hokies for Virginia Tech’s second straight shutout loss. Pitt has maintained a quite long streak without allowing a goal — 275 minutes of action without a goal given up. The last time the Panthers allowed a goal was on Sept. 13 against Louisville, a match which Pitt won 3-2.
The match started out quite slow, with neither team playing well. The first shot came 19 minutes into the game, with Virginia Tech getting two shots in the minute that followed. Going into the halftime break, the Panthers were at a 7-2 deficit in shots and could not get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. But that would all change in the second half.
Coming out of halftime, the Panthers scored twice in the first 22 minutes of the half. One goal came off of an own goal by Virginia Tech, but junior midfielder Casper Grening put the game away in the 77th minute for his second goal of the season.
No. 1 ranked Pitt now occupies the top of the ACC standings with four wins and four conference games left to play. Stanford and North Carolina both have three ACC wins and will give Pitt the most trouble going forward.
Next up, the Panthers host Howard on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. on ACCNX.
Women’s soccer
Pitt headed west this weekend and played in two inaugural ACC matchups. With conference play in full swing, the Panthers find themselves in a slump after a drop against California and a draw against Stanford.
The match against California was reminiscent of Pitt’s loss against North Carolina. The Panthers fell to the University of California on Thursday 1-0. Bears goalkeeper Teagan Wy’s performance prevented Pitt from seeing the back of the net.
In the first half, Pitt dominated in shots 5-1, to which Wy had three saves. California secured the game’s only goal early in the first half and the Panthers couldn’t reciprocate. Pitt created far more opportunities to score compared to California, but like North Carolina, the Bears only needed one opportunity to secure the win.
Pitt moved onto Stanford on Sunday afternoon, hoping to end the two-game scoreless streak. It didn’t look promising when the Panthers dropped a goal in the first half and the match followed the pattern of the last.
But Pitt was eager to get the equalizer before the end of the half and quickly returned the goal. Senior midfielder Keera Melenhorst launched a rocket from about 20 yards out in the top right corner of the net, ending Pitt’s scoreless streak.
Pitt nearly gave up another goal in the final minute of the first half when junior goalkeeper Ellie Breech left the net wide open for a Cardinal to take advantage. But Pitt quickly recovered and went into the second half 1-1.
The match was even in the second half, and neither team could find the back of the net, and ultimately, Pitt walked away with a draw to end their losing streak.
In both California games and against UNC, Pitt dominated in shots and nearly doubled each team’s attempts. But the only way the Panthers are going to dominate teams of this caliber is if they make a habit of executing the opportunities they work so hard to create.
The Panthers return home Thursday, Oct. 3 to play in another tough ACC matchup against Clemson. The last time Clemson came to Pitt, the game ended in a 0-0 draw for the first time in program history. Pitt needs to capitalize on its shots to pick up the conference win on Thursday at 7 p.m.