Women’s soccer defeats City-Rival

If anyone was under the impression that the Pitt-Duquesne rivalry had died, Friday night’s… If anyone was under the impression that the Pitt-Duquesne rivalry had died, Friday night’s women’s soccer game between the two schools at Founders Field did much to dispel that thought.

In a game that featured 45 fouls, 27 of them committed by Duquesne (0-3), Pitt (2-1) used a balanced scoring attack to pull away in the second half, turning a 1-0 halftime lead into a 4-1 win.

“We knew they would come out hard, and it became like a brawl once we got hit out there,” Pitt defender Carli Brill said after the game.

Duquesne’s offense got into the game with set pieces, looking most dangerous on its seven corner kicks. Just over 10 minutes into the game, the Panthers were unable to clear a Duquesne corner, and the ball fell to the feet of the Dukes’ Cynthia Kaylor near the top of the box. Kaylor fired a shot on goal, and only an excellent defensive header by Pitt’s Aimee Romasco saved the goal, redirecting the ball over the bar.

Pitt finally broke the deadlock in the 26th minute on a corner of its own. Cara Senger touched the ball over the goal line after an ensuing scramble from a Jen DeLaHoz corner.

The Panthers doubled their lead in the 50th minute, when Sara Gutting carried the ball in from the left side of the box, past two defenders, to the end line. She began to draw the goalkeeper out and crossed low to Kristina Francois, whose shot was blocked at close range. The ball hopped straight back to Corina Sebesta, who lifted a shot over the players in front and into the open net, giving Pitt a 2-0 lead.

Five minutes later, the score became 3-0, thanks to a half-volley by Francois. Brill played a ball from the back to Sebesta on the left, who crossed toward the right. Francois pounced on the first hop, driving the ball into the back left corner of the net as she tumbled to the ground from a Duquesne tackle.

Both teams began to pick up numerous fouls, as Duquesne’s Faye Rasmussen took a pass and had a step on the Pitt defense. As Rasmussen prepared to shoot from about 15 yards, Brill reached out and held the Duquesne striker, pulling her back and causing her to shoot high and eventually fall down.

Neither the referee nor the linesman signaled a foul, which would have resulted in a penalty kick and Brill’s ejection as the last defender. This sent Dukes’ coach James Walker into a frenzy. To add insult to injury, his tirade caused the referee to come over and issue him a caution.

“I had no choice; I had to stop her somehow, so I reached out and all I got was her arm,” Brill said of her fortunate foul. That play swung momentum to the Dukes, who played an inspired final half-hour.

The rain began to fall and Duquesne pulled one goal back, when Elizabeth Riggs finally finished a Katie Schwager corner for the Dukes in the 62nd minute. Duquesne followed with a series of good chances, pulling the final shot count to 13-12 in favor of Pitt.

With seven minutes left to play, Pitt’s Courtney Wrightson lunged in for a hard foul on Rasmussen from behind, triggering an exchange of words but no card, and further enraging the Duquesne bench and fans.

Minutes later, Rasmussen retaliated with a hard foul of her own, resulting in the second booking of the game for Duquesne, and jeers for the ref from the Duquesne crowd. The ensuing free kick allowed Rachel Vecchio to finish a cross by Erin Hills, giving Pitt a 4-1 lead.

“We’re just building on what we started on Sunday [2-0 win at Bowling Green], and we just want to come out hard each game,” Brill said. Pitt travels to Greensboro, N.C., for their next two games, where they will play UNC-Greensboro on Friday and Old Dominion on Sunday.