Providence tops men’s soccer, 2-0

Offensive woes continued to haunt Pitt men’s soccer in its 2-0 home loss to Providence on… Offensive woes continued to haunt Pitt men’s soccer in its 2-0 home loss to Providence on Sunday.

The loss dropped the Panthers’ overall record to 2-11-2 and 0-7-1 in the Big East. That leaves the club with only one point and at the bottom of the conference.

Three ugly losses to premier conference teams rattled the psyche of the young squad, but a win against Duquesne and an impressive effort versus Providence might help Pitt turn things around.

“It was a similar script,” coach Joe Luxbacher said. “They’re a good team, it was a good, even game.”

The fatal flaw for the Panthers was their inability to put goals on the board.

Pitt has yet to score more than one goal in a Big East match and has been shut out in four of its contests this season.

“We had chances,” Luxbacher said, “but the fact is, you have to score to win. We didn’t.”

The inefficient offense didn’t hurt Pitt early against the Friars. Although Providence dictated the tempo throughout the first half, the match remained scoreless for over 40 minutes.

Pitt had its best opportunity to score in the first half in the 41st minute, but Pitt forward Chris Wilcox’s shot was blocked by Providence defenders.

Only one minute later, the deciding goal was scored. Providence’s Ryan Maduro passed the ball to a prepared Alex Redding in front of the Panther goal. Pitt goalkeeper Eric Barnes parried Redding’s shot for his fourth save of the first half.

He couldn’t come up with a fifth, though. Before Barnes had a chance to react, Providence midfielder Michael Narciso controlled the rebound and easily placed a shot to the open net for a 1-0 advantage.

The game evened out a bit in the second half, but Pitt still couldn’t even muster a shot until the game was put out of reach for good.

In the 77th minute, Providence’s Justin Kahle scored on a free kick to put the Friars up 2-0, an insurmountable deficit for the struggling Pitt offense with only 13 minutes to go.

“Both the goals we gave up were soft goals,” Luxbacher said.

Pitt had three shots over the final 13 minutes, but failed to solve Providence goalkeeper Timothy Murray.

Barnes notched six saves for the Panthers, while Providence’s Murray saved two.

The telling statistic was the shots taken, with the Friars doubling up on Pitt, 12-6.