Pitt drops Providence

While soccer games last 90 minutes, sometimes games are decided in a much shorter time.

That… While soccer games last 90 minutes, sometimes games are decided in a much shorter time.

That was the case on a blustery Sunday at Founders Field, where Billy Brush’s two first-half goals — only 3:20 apart from one another — locked up a 2-0 Pitt win over Providence.

“I wish I would have gotten another [for a hat trick],” Brush said afterward.

He later accredited his success to fellow teammate Dwayne Grant-Higgins.

“I owe it all to Dwayne,” Brush said about his goals. Grant-Higgins recorded assists on both of them.

Brush’s first was the result of a very long clear from Pitt’s defense, which played with the wind gusting to more than 20 mph at its backs in the first half.

Grant-Higgins elevated over his defender to head the ball forward to Brush, who ran in unmarked. A soft touch around charging Providence goalkeeper Chris Konopka put the ball in the net and gave Pitt a 1-0 lead before 15 minutes were up.

Three minutes later, Grant-Higgins made a run with the ball up the left wing with numbers in transition, and a low, hard cross found the unmarked man just in front of the penalty spot. It was Brush again, who controlled the pass before easily placing the ball home into the right side of the net.

The play of the game became decidedly more physical after Pitt’s second goal, as Providence continued to struggle clearing the ball into the stiff wind.

After a late slide by Providence’s Carlos Suero drew harsh words from Pitt’s Mike Cunha, play began to deteriorate. Pat Kerr became the first to go into the book for the Panthers after a hard slide in midfield sent a Providence player crashing down.

Brian Madden joined him in the book after getting tangled up with Matt Otte of the Friars, and late in the first half, a shoving match while the ball was out of play earned Cunha and Jeff Smith of Providence yellow cards.

“It was a Big East game, and every Big East game is the same; they’re going to come out hard,” Brush said of the intensity, despite both teams’ low position in the standings.

After halftime, the field position game swung to Providence, who now played with the wind, but Pitt had the first scoring chance of the half.

On the counterattack again, Brush found himself with the ball on the right side, but instead of going for his third, passed to Chris Bastidas, who held the ball long enough to allow Thomas DeCato to join the attack. DeCato took the pass from Bastidas and hit a hard-rolling shot that beat a diving Konopka, only to be denied by the base of the post.

The physical play continued, as a violent scissor tackle by Joseph Weill of Providence landed him in the book, while a card to Pitt’s Zamahir Campos for delaying a restart made six total yellow cards for the game.

Providence turned up the attack late, with its best chance coming when Zachary Tobin found himself all alone, approaching from a sharp angle on the right. His shot got past Pitt goalkeeper Justin Lowery, but rolled harmlessly past the left post by the slimmest of margins.

The second-half desperation by Providence turned the final shot count to 12-6 in favor of the Friars, but Pitt led 6-5 in shots on goal.

Despite the win, which moves the Panthers to 5-7-3 overall and 3-5-1 in the Big East, Pitt was eliminated from conference tournament contention because of Georgetown’s shocking 4-0 victory at Seton Hall on Saturday. The Friars drop to 0-15, and remain pointless at 0-9 in the Big East.

The Panthers finish their Big East schedule on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. with their senior night, at home against Syracuse.