No. 21 Seton Hall falls to Panthers

The Pitt men’s soccer team poured on the defense against No. 21 Seton Hall when it needed it… The Pitt men’s soccer team poured on the defense against No. 21 Seton Hall when it needed it the most — ahead 2-1 with 10 minutes remaining and in the midst of a rain storm.

But one particular play clouded the game-winning goal netted by Justin Genes.

Panther goalkeeper Justin Lowery stood alone between the pipes, with all eyes focused on him, and the 1-1 score lit up on the scoreboard behind him. Seton Hall forward Jerrod Laventure stood about 15 yards out with the ball settled in front of him.

Laventure began to move toward the ball to attempt the free penalty kick he received after being taken down en route to the goal seconds prior. He swung his right foot, connected with the ball, and sent it flying toward the lower right corner.

What Laventure didn’t know was that Lowery knew exactly where to go. Before the ball was even kicked, Lowery started to move to his left. From there, he dove to catch the ball and keep it from crossing the goal line.

He had a scouting report that stated that Laventure, on a prior penalty kick earlier this season, shot the ball to the right side of the goal.

“I had a 50-50 chance of him going there,” Lowery said, smiling over the fact that he was 100 percent correct.

The save ignited the crowd at Founders Field, as well as Pitt’s offense (3-2-3 overall, 1-1-1 Big East).

Five minutes after the crucial save, Pitt worked the ball into Seton Hall’s (6-3-1, 2-2-0) zone. Forward Keeyan Young passed the ball across the box to Genes. The ball went right by Genes, and midfielder Tyler Bastianelli went chasing after it. He beat every Pirate defender to the ball, spun and kicked it on net from the left side.

Pirate goalkeeper Ian Joyce dove and made the save, but he let a rebound out to his left. Genes swept in, and, in true pirate fashion, plundered the ball away from the Seton Hall defenders who surrounded him. Before Joyce could recover, Genes kicked the ball to the back of the net for the score that would eventually win them the game.

“No one ever really follows up a ball, and I saw [Bastianelli’s] shot coming,” Genes said. In reference to the number of Seton Hall players who did not get to the loose ball, he said, “[The defenders were] there. I just put it in.”

And he also propelled his team to its first Big East win of the young season.

Pitt’s first goal came at the 63:54 mark after a well-executed play. Sophomore midfielder Mike Cunha passed the ball in from midfield to Young. Young redirected Cunha’s pass, moving it on to forward Dwayne Grant-Higgins, who was streaking on net from the left side.

“Keeyan just gave me a great ball,” Grant-Higgins said. “I made a great run, and then it was just magic pretty much.”

The magic he speaks of is how he used his right foot to move the ball to the left side of the goalkeeper.

The second-half comeback was needed after Seton Hall played strong in the first half and Pitt missed on several chances.

Laventure scored the Pirates’ lone goal when he headed a shot from midfield just over the outstretched hands of Lowery.

“We needed this,” head coach Joe Luxbacher said about the rough streak of games Pitt just played, where they allowed late game-winners and late game-tying goals. “It starts to wear on you.”

The win on Saturday was very important to the team. Even before the game, the starters huddled together in the Panthers’ zone and prepped themselves for the game with some words of encouragement. Out of the murmurs came, “We need this one!”

And Pitt got that one.

The Panthers will go after their next Big East win on Thursday at 7 p.m. when they travel to South Bend, Ind., to take on No. 23 Notre Dame.