Pitt women split matches with Friars, Huskies

Pitt’s women’s soccer team tied its all-time high for wins in a season with eight, thanks to… Pitt’s women’s soccer team tied its all-time high for wins in a season with eight, thanks to its win over Providence on Friday at Founders Field.

Pitt also won eight games in 1998. Even on its home turf, the Panthers could not break that mark on Sunday, falling to Connecticut. Pitt is now 8-7-3 overall and 3-6-2 in Big East play.

The Panthers return to action at Louisville tomorrow to face the Cardinals in the first round of the Big East Championship. Game time is 7 p.m.

Pitt 3, Providence 2

With a winning record in jeopardy, the Panther soccer team was bold in grabbing the momentum first on Friday. The game went at a relatively slow pace until the 31st minute, when senior Katie Surma scored the second goal of her Pitt career. The goal came off a scramble from Jennifer Kritch’s corner kick.

The Panthers took their 1-0 lead into intermission and scored again.

This time, it was a lot sooner, when Corina Sebesta took Kristina Francois’ pass and fired a strike from 30 yards out into the net for a 2-0 Pitt lead. Sebesta’s goal came four minutes into the second half.

The Friars (4-8-5, 1-8-2) tried to make a game out of the contest when Erin Mastrodonato knocked the ball in the lower right corner of the Panther goal off an assist from Kelly Determan. That cut the score in half at 2-1, but Providence’s attempts to tie the game came up short.

Finally in the 89th minute, freshman Ashley Habbel took Carlie Brill’s pass and assured Pitt of its record-tying victory with a goal. Habbel and Sebesta are tied for the team lead with six goals a piece. The Friars did score with 22 seconds on Jill Camburn’s goal off a pass from Greta Houlihan. But by then, it was much too late.

Katie Caslin led the Panthers with five shots, all of them on goal, while the team took 15 shots and 11 on goal. Goalie Allison Finch recorded two saves, while Laura Elfers saved eight for the Friars. Providence had 10 fouls to Pitt’s four.

“We got the result we needed tonight,” Pitt head coach Sue-Moy Chin told PittsburghPanthers.com. “We played well and I’m happy with the win. It is frustrating to let up a late goal but the overall result was good and I was pleased with our play.”

Connecticut 4, Pitt 2

On Senior Day, the torch this time was passed to freshman Caslin.

Caslin scored her first career goal in the game’s seventh minute off a pass from fellow freshman Megan Watson to give Pitt a 1-0 lead in the regular-season finale. Caslin’s goal snapped Huskie goalie Stephanie Labbe’s six-game scoreless streak.

The Panthers held onto their lead until the first half neared its end. UConn’s Meghan Schnur hit the back of the net from 15 yards out in the game’s 42nd minute to send both teams into intermission tied. Pitt struck back when Meta Haley took Kritch’s pass and turned and scored off a strike in the 58th minute.

The Panthers kept this lead for nearly 20 minutes until the Huskies responded. A goal from Brittany Tegler tied the match at two in the 76th minute, and Tegler scored again 10 minutes later without any consideration to a Pittsburgh response. Both of Tegler’s goals were unassisted.

UConn (10-7-2, 7-3-1) outshot the Panthers 11-10, with four of its shots coming from Tegler. The Huskies also committed 20 fouls, while Pitt was cited for 13. Labbe saved seven shots for UConn and Finch stopped two for Pitt.

“I thought we played good soccer today,” Chin said. “The result is unfortunate but I was pleased with our effort. I am proud of our success in the season so far.”