Men’s soccer suffers home loss to St. Johns

With only four conference games remaining and stuck in 10th place in the Big East, Pitt’s… With only four conference games remaining and stuck in 10th place in the Big East, Pitt’s men’s soccer team knew it needed to elevate its play down the stretch to be one of the eight teams in the conference tournament.

But it doesn’t come easy when the first of those four games is against a finalist of the 2003 national championship.

Despite an impressive defensive effort by the Panthers, coupled with near-flawless goalkeeping from Justin Lowery, Pitt lost a 1-0 contest to St. John’s (9-3-4, 6-1-3 Big East) on Saturday at Founders Field, dropping the Panthers to 4-6-3 overall and 2-4-1 in the conference.

“We definitely thought we could win this game, and we played well,” Lowery said after the game. “Their goal was unbelievable.”

Sebastian Alvarado-Ralph scored that unbelievable goal for the Red Storm in the 76th minute on a play that was as frantic as the finish was spectacular.

It began when Pitt was unable to clear its penalty area, and a hard shot from the right side of the penalty area began the sequence of events. With players from both teams crowding the box, Lowery was able only to parry the first shot down in front of the goal.

As Pitt players tried to clear and St. John’s players scrambled for the rebound, the ball came to the foot of Alvarado-Ralph, who again fired on goal from the left of the penalty spot. His first shot struck a Pitt player in the leg on its way to goal, returning the ball in his direction.

His second shot would produce the game-winning goal, as he unleashed a rocket to the upper right corner of the goal, striking the support beam in the rear corner and ricocheting back out of the goal.

There was no controversy, however, as the both the referee and the linesman clearly saw the ball cross into the goal before rebounding out, and the Red Storm had what would prove to be the game’s only goal with just 14 minutes left to play.

“I thought we deserved to win, but we didn’t capitalize on our chances, and the ball didn’t bounce our way,” said Pitt forward Dwayne Grant-Higgins.

St. John’s controlled play from the start and ended with a 16-4 advantage in shots. Lowery ended with six saves for the game, while his counterpart, Bill Gaudette, was forced to save all four of Pitt’s shots.

None of Gaudette’s saves was more impressive or crucial than his final one, when the Panthers earned a free kick from just outside the top left corner of the penalty area.

After two Pitt players faked the kick, Jeffrey Tidd, just in the game as a substitute, fired a shot that seemed to have the lower right corner of the net picked out. Only a full-extension dive by Gaudette would keep the ball out, and his deflection forced the ball wide of the post.

The Panthers never threatened again, as St. John’s effectively killed much of the last 10 minutes by working the ball deep into the Pitt corners and playing keep-away from the Panthers.

Pitt travels to Morgantown tonight to face heated rival West Virginia. The game is essentially a must-win for the Panthers, as a loss would leave them between four and six points adrift of 8th place, depending on UConn’s result, with only two games remaining.

“I didn’t think the rivalry would carry over to soccer, but we found out it definitely did,” Lowery said, referring to last year’s game against WVU, which included three players being sent off. “We’re both fighting for the same position, and we need to come out with three points.”