Pitt women take home first win of young season

Missed opportunities and mental errors hurt, but this weekend they didn’t cripple Pitt’s women’s… Missed opportunities and mental errors hurt, but this weekend they didn’t cripple Pitt’s women’s soccer team,’ which split its two games in the University of Illinois soccer tournament held in Champaign, Ill. Still, Pitt coach Sue-Moy Chin said she saw a lot of heart from her entire team in the tournament. ‘We wanted to win the tournament,’ said Chin. ‘But more importantly, we wanted a really good effort [in which] we were focused on the details. We accomplished those goals, but we had some mental breakdowns, and we learned from the lessons of the first two losses.’ Pitt junior Ashley Habbel and sophomore Liz Carroll were named to the all-tournament team. Habbel notched the 12th and 13th goals of her career, pushing her into third place on Pitt’s all-time career scoring list. Habbel needs just six more goals to break the school record held by Cande Ruiz (18 goals from 1998-2001). Pitt [1-2-0] continues play with its first home game Friday night against the University of Pennsylvania at Founders Field. Dayton 3, Pitt 2 The Panthers fell behind 2-0 in the first half after Dayton out-shot them, 14-5. But Pitt bounced back and dominated the second half, out-shooting Dayton, 6-4, tying the game at two goals each and controlling possession for most of the half. Junior Katie Caslin scored Pitt’s first goal in the 71st minute. Caslin ripped a shot past Dayton’s goalkeeper after controlling a loose ball in the penalty box. Katie’s twin sister, Maura Caslin, assisted her on the play. Just six minutes later, freshman Katelyn Ruhe scored the Panthers’ second goal after finishing a rebound shot. ‘We started out playing really strong,’ said coach Sue-Moy Chin. ‘We had a mental error to allow their first goal, and then they scored off a corner kick, which was just us not concentrating enough and picking up the ball.’ The two teams played the final 12 minutes of regulation time without a goal, forcing overtime. Dayton’s Kelly Blumenshein scored the game-winning goal at the 103:59 mark, giving the Flyers the 3-2 victory. Blumenshein controlled the ball and fired a shot into the goal’s lower right corner after a shot bounced off a Pitt defender right to her. ‘We didn’t clear the ball,’ said Chin of the double-overtime goal. ‘The ball probably would’ve gone wide if it didn’t hit our defender. I thought we deserved at least a tie in that game.’ Pitt 4, Iowa State 1 After falling to Dayton and struggling in the heat of the weekend, Pitt’s offense picked up the pace Sunday, knocking off Iowa State, 4-1. ‘We bounced back Sunday,’ said Chin. ‘It’s hard to bounce back on a Sunday after a Friday game, but we did. We were a little concerned how fresh we would be, playing in the heat of the day.’ The Panthers substituted in every player on their roster to rest players from the heat. ‘We used all of our subs,’ said Chin. ‘We even had a girl get injured on Friday, so we were down. Everybody contributed, Molly [Griganivicius] scored our second goal, and she came off the bench.’ Habbel scored two goals in the victory. She gave the Panthers an early 1-0 advantage after she finished off a shot from six yards out in the third minute. Griganavicius scored her first career goal in the 42nd minute to give Pitt a 2-0 lead going into halftime. Kelsi Morris and Caslin were credited with the assists. Pitt took a 3-0 lead on Habbel’s second goal in the 59th minute after she finished a shot from midfield, assisted by sophomore Kat Weiler. Carroll scored on a rebound shot in the 70th minute to give the Panthers a 4-0 lead. Pitt’s More Kephart earned the victory in goal and finished the day with five saves. Coach Chin said the win will help in building momentum for this Friday’s game against Penn. ‘We’re going to work on our possession in tight spaces,’ said Chin. ‘But mainly we’re just going to build off our performance this weekend. Nothing really glaring stood out for us.’