Women’s soccer remains winless in Big East play

It only takes a spark to get a fire going. A spark is exactly what the Pitt women’s soccer… It only takes a spark to get a fire going. A spark is exactly what the Pitt women’s soccer team was in search of when it hit the road to take on Notre Dame and Seton Hall.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, the spark came, but on the wrong side of the ball, and as a result, Pitt dropped a 5-0 decision to the Irish Friday in South Bend, Ind.

On Sunday, the Panthers followed that with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Pirates from Seton Hall. The losses marked the eighth and ninth in a row for the Panthers, dropping their overall record to 3-10-0, and their Big East mark to 0-7.

Notre Dame 5, Pitt 0

Early in the day, heavy rains soaked the field in South Bend, Ind., but as the Panthers entered the stadium, the rain subsided and the sun peeked through the clouds.

The Irish found the net in the seventh minute of play. Jenny Walz pressed the Panther defense before finding an open Candace Chapman, who took it top shelf on Pitt goalkeeper Jamie Pelusi.

Nearing the half only down a goal, Pitt tried to prevent any further damage on the scoreboard. The Irish had other plans.

With less than three minutes to go until the break, Maggie Manning netted the second goal of the contest for the Irish. Amy Warner dropped a pass off to Manning, who then sent it home just inside the lower right post.

With the first half in the books, Pitt looked to take control and claw its way back into the game, but yet again the Irish proved too much for Pitt. Amanda Guertin sent a hooking corner kick into the box and found the head of Cat Sigler who headed the ball past Pelusi raising the score to 3-0 in favor of the Irish.

The rest of the half was the same way for the Panthers, as Pelusi faced a relentless barrage of shots in the second half from the charging Irish offense.

Amy Warner, who had an assist on an earlier goal, found the net when she took a crossing pass from Candace Chapman in the 60th minute of play. Warner finished the pass, sending it inside the far post to put the Irish up 4-0.

The scoring was capped in the 74th minute of play, when Guertin chipped the ball from 16 yards out to place the ball into the upper left corner of the net to finish the scoring.

The Irish out-shot the Panthers in lopsided fashion, 32-3, and also held the advantage on corners, 8-2. Pelusi turned away 13 Irish shots while Lauren Kent faced only one shot on net from the Panthers in the contest.

Seton Hall 3, Pitt 1

The Panthers looked to get back on track after a tough day in South Bend, Ind., but South Orange, N.J., proved no better for Pitt. The Pirates took control early when Katie Herr chipped the ball ahead to Carley Piagentini who finished the ball from 20 yards out.

The Panthers fought back. In the 25th minute of play, Jacqueline Fix booted a free kick into the box, and Lauren Sciocchetti headed the ball into the net, tying the score at one apiece. The goal by Sciocchetti ended a Panther scoring drought that lasted nearly 400 minutes of play.

But that would be the last goal Pitt would score in the contest. In the 53rd minute of play, the Pirates took a 2-1 lead when Piagentini blasted home a loose ball near the goal.

Then in the 78th minute, Katie Herr broke through the Panthers’ defense and sent the final goal of the contest home to end the scoring at 3-1 Pirates.

Pelusi ended the game with four saves compared to the two saves of Pirate keeper Buffy Wojciehowski. Seton Hall held the edge in shots, 22-10, as well as corners, 7-6.

“We continue to play too inconsistent,” head coach Roland Sturk said. “Talking isn’t going to fix things at this point, we need someone to take action and lead us by taking responsibility for stepping up.”

Sturk also pointed out the key issue in the Panthers’ scoring problems.

“We need to make the final pass in the attacking third of the field,” Sturk said. “We have pressure but our final pass isn’t there and if it is, it’s uncontested or an unplayable ball.”

The Panthers will return to action this weekend when they travel to Providence on Friday and Boston College Sunday.