The Pitt women’s soccer team struggled to find an offensive spark last season, but this… The Pitt women’s soccer team struggled to find an offensive spark last season, but this year, the team has had no problem in that department.

Pitt (2-1) had no trouble offensively, or defensively, for that matter, in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over the University of Maryland-Baltimore County at Founders Field.

Senior Netta Agredano and sophomore Erin Hills led the way for Pitt with a goal and an assist each.

Sophomore Jennifer DeLaHoz notched Pitt’s third goal of the afternoon. Also contributing to the scoring were sophomore Sara Gutting and freshman Corina Sebesta who each had an assist.

“I’m really happy with the win. We played together very well and [the team] deserved to win,” head coach Sue-Moy Chin said. “We worked hard for 90 minutes, which we have worked on, keeping the intensity and focus for the entire game, and we did that today.”

The defensive group of Jacqueline Reuter, Carli Brill and Courtney Wrightson had a stellar performance, as they only allowed eight shots to reach sophomore goalkeeper Jamie Pelusi. Pelusi had five saves in the game and only allowed one goal, which was on a penalty kick.

Pitt came out firing and was able to strike first in the game on a goal by Agredano in the ninth minute of play. The goal was scored off of a corner kick that went to the far side of the goal. The UMBC goalkeeper committed to Sebesta and Agredano booted the ball in from inside the six-yard line.

The Panthers dominated the ball in their offensive end throughout the half, and any chance that the Retrievers (1-2) had to move the ball was quashed by Pitt’s defense and cleared back to the offense.

The intensity of both teams heightened after the first goal, and the game became very physical for the next 20 minutes. The Panthers took control of the game when they scored their second goal, in the 32nd minute of play, on a free kick from Hills to DeLaHoz.

Hills booted a free kick from 40 yards out to DeLaHoz, who controlled the ball and made a strong run to the goal. DeLaHoz hammered the ball to the left side of the goal past the outstretched arms of the diving goalkeeper.

Pitt maintained its momentum during halftime, and, although the Retrievers attempted to get scoring chances early in the second half, the defense remained solid.

Although Pitt was not as dominant early in the second half, it did tack on a goal in the 51st minute. Agredano retrieved the ball on the fly and made a race to the goal against a single UMBC defender.

The defender held strong to an alert Agredano, who dropped a pass to a charging Hills. Hills took the pass in stride and blasted a shot from 22 yards out to the top right of the goal, extending Pitt’s lead to 3-0.

Pitt continued to stop all advances by the Retrievers until the 71st minute, when UMBC received a penalty kick after an off-the-ball foul occurred inside the 18-yard line. Missy Moore booted the ball to the right, past Pelusi, making the score 3-1.

The penalty kick brought a new intensity to UMBC, but Pitt equaled its intensity, returning to the form they had in the first half by dominating the ball for the remaining 24 minutes of the game.

“We scored on two set pieces today, a corner kick and a free kick. At halftime, I said, ‘Let’s get one in the run of play,’ and we were able to do that, which I was very pleased about,” Chin said.

The Panthers controlled the contest for nearly all of the 90 minutes, holding the advantage in shots, 10-8, and corner kicks, 3-1.

Pitt returns to action on Sept. 12, when they travel to Lehigh for the first game of a six-game road trip.