It is a goal of any sports team to be better than the previous year. Sometimes giant strides… It is a goal of any sports team to be better than the previous year. Sometimes giant strides are taken. Other times, however, progress is measured in baby steps. Such was the case for the 2006 men’s soccer team, who, despite a 5-11-2 overall record, qualified for the Big East tournament for the first time since 2000.

“We were definitely a better team this year, even if our record may seem like we didn’t make significant improvement,” head coach Joe Luxbacher said. “We were competitive in every game and continue to make strides, but still have a ways to go.”

The Panthers’ season did not exactly start off on the right foot, as the team went winless in its first five contests. The majority of those losses came against weaker non-conference opponents – losses that continue to haunt the players and their coach.

“Where I thought we played poorly this season was in our non-conference games,” Luxbacher said. “We dominated in many of those games but made a few mistakes and were then unable to find the net to make up for those mistakes. The unfortunate thing is that we put forth little effort in those games, which were generally against weaker teams.”

It seemed as if the Panthers were well on their way to another 3-12-1 season, their mark of a year ago, when their fortunes changed on Sept. 10 against the 15th-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats. Pitt headed into the contest 0-4-1, but managed to squeak out its first conference victory, and first overall win of the season, in a 2-1 double-overtime thriller.

“We played our best soccer of the season that weekend,” Luxbacher said. “I thought we played especially well in the victory over Cincinnati and then again in the tie against 13th-ranked South Florida at their place.”

Feeding off their newly found confidence, the Panthers rattled off a four-game unbeaten streak against mainly Big East opponents. Their best game of the stretch came against South Florida, a game the team played at the end of a long weekend on the road. Even though they did not win the game, the exhausted Panthers managed a double-overtime tie against one of the nation’s best teams on its home turf. Pitt then followed up the tie with a victory against Xavier, to increase its record at the time to 3-4-2. During that stretch, Pitt freshman midfielder Matt Baker was named the Big East Conference Men’s Soccer Rookie of the Week for his performances in the games against DePaul and USF.

The remainder of the season had both its ups and downs. Yet even in some of the team’s losses, Luxbacher felt Pitt was improving.

“Although you are never content with losing, I was very proud of our efforts in the loss to UConn and the playoff loss as well, because we put ourselves in position to win both of those games against top-ranked teams, but could not convert our opportunities,” he said. “The difference this year is that we battled hard and had a chance in most of our big conference games, whereas a year ago we didn’t have much of a chance.”

Following its win streak, Pitt would only triumph in one more game, a shutout victory against Marquette, until its matchup with Georgetown on Oct. 8. The game was significant for both teams because Pitt and Georgetown needed a win or a tie to clinch a spot in postseason play. The Panthers captured that final playoff spot in the Blue Division when freshman Mike McDade scored his first career goal late in the game. The 1-0 victory pushed Pitt into the playoffs for the first time since 2000.

The Panthers were soon informed of their opponent. They were due to meet St. John’s at their home field in Queens, N.Y., in the first round of the tournament. The match pitted the 5-10-2 Panthers, a six seed, against the third-seeded, 9-5-2 Red Storm.

As was the case all season long, the Panthers created scoring opportunities, but could not convert them, and fell 1-0 to St. John’s in the opening round. The loss ended the Panthers’ 2006 season with a 5-11-2 overall record and a 4-5-1 mark in the Big East. The Red Storm advanced to the quarterfinals, where they defeated the defending Big East Champion UConn Huskies.

With the season completed, the coaching staff regrouped and now focuses its efforts on recruiting for the future and replacing the soon-to-be graduates. Coach Luxbacher acknowledged the difficulties of replacing the seniors.

“It’s hard to pick specific names, because from year to year you are always going to have to graduate a number of important players,” he said. “We will be graduating a couple of seniors this year, but the person that will be hardest to replace is Brendon Smith. Brendon has been a solid player for us over the past few years and is a tremendous person as well. As an experienced captain, we will especially miss his leadership.”

The departure of Smith and company leaves holes that need to be filled, but according to Luxbacher, the coaching staff is actually ahead of schedule in filling in those voids.

“Recruiting is well under way and we already have a number of verbal commitments for next year,” he said. “Our top priority is to improve our talent base. If you have talent, no matter how young you are, you can be good. We are much further along this year with recruiting than in past years, and we’re optimistic that we will be able to sign all of our top recruits come February.”

Coach Luxbacher also stressed the need for a goal-scorer. Although he did say it was possible for one to develop from the existing squad, he plans to put forth a great deal of effort recruiting those players who have a knack for finding the net. In his opinion, getting someone who’ll score a few goals here and there “would cure a lot of problems.”

The returning Panthers showed a lot of promise this season, and because of their youth, should return next season much improved, according to Luxbacher. He did not feel as if the teams’ youth would be an issue.

“We expect all of our players to come back improved from this season,” Luxbacher stated. “We are a young team next year with only two seniors, but that should not matter as long as you have talent, and that’s what we are recruiting.”

The Panthers’ 5-11-2 overall record may seem on paper like a lost season, and to some it was. Yet, the team did improve from a season ago and hopes to continue to do so.

“Every year has its ups and downs, but compared to last season, I thought we were a better team,” Luxbacher said. “For one, we qualified for the Big East tournament which was a goal of ours. We were playing in the best conference in the country with four nationally ranked teams, two in the top 10, and despite that, we were competitive in every game.”

Even though Luxbacher was optimistic about the Panthers’ chances in the future, he acknowledged not much will change unless the team can find a couple of above-average goal-scorers.

“The disappointing thing is that we probably should have won a few of the big games, but for the number of scoring chances we created, we didn’t score many goals,” he stated. “That was the same problem we had in our playoff loss to St. John’s. We had numerous opportunities to win and even hit the ball off the crossbar, but not into the net. Our number one goal next year is to capitalize on those scoring opportunities.”

It would be something if the 2008 Panthers could capture the Big East championship, but right now the team and its coach would be content with steady but gradual improvement.

“We took a few steps forward, even if it wasn’t as much as we wanted,” Luxbacher said, “but we are headed in the right direction.”