Panthers start six-game road trip with two losses

The Pitt women’s soccer team began a string of six consecutive road games last weekend in… The Pitt women’s soccer team began a string of six consecutive road games last weekend in disappointing style, coming up on the short end of two shutouts. The Panthers fell to Lehigh, 2-0, on Friday night and lost on Sunday to St. Francis, 1-0.

The losses dropped Pitt’s record to 2-3 on the season and left head coach Sue-Moy Chin’s expectations unfulfilled.

“We looked flat all weekend,” Chin said. “[The coaches] were disappointed from the effort.”

Lehigh 2, Pitt 0

Pitt went into Bethlehem, Pa., on Friday with a two-game winning streak, during which they had averaged four goals per contest.

Offense would prove to be hard to come by against the Mountain Hawks, however. Lehigh played stellar defense, holding the Panthers to just three shots.

“This was the closest to 90 minutes of perfection we’ve had so far,” Lehigh coach Manny Oudin said of her team’s performance.

Midfielder Gina Lewandowski put the Mountain Hawks on the board early, scoring in the fourth minute. The Panthers were unable to clear a bouncing ball away from their own net, giving Lewandowski the opportunity to crash in and chip the ball into the left corner.

The game tightened after the early goal, and Lehigh took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

The Mountain Hawks didn’t waste much time in the second half, however, as Lewandowski added her second goal of the game in the 53rd minute. Lewandowski received a pass and blasted it past Pitt goalkeeper Jamie Pelusi from 25-yards out.

St. Francis 1, Pitt 0

Pitt created more opportunities on Sunday afternoon against St. Francis, registering 10 shots. However, none of the shots found their way past Red Flash goalies Kelly Boyle and Melanie Stockman – the Panthers continued their goal-scoring drought.

The lone goal of the game came in the 31st minute, when St. Francis’ Cassie Taylor scored off of a corner kick from two yards out.

Bright spots for the Panthers were Pelusi, who was once again solid in net, and back Jacqueline Reuter, whom Chin said played well in both games over the weekend.

Pitt will try to right the ship on Friday night, when they visit St. Johns in a Big East conference game.