Men’s soccer falls to Scarlet Knights

The Pitt men’s soccer team’s woes in Big East action continued in a 3-2 loss to Rutgers on… The Pitt men’s soccer team’s woes in Big East action continued in a 3-2 loss to Rutgers on Saturday night.

The Scarlet Knights (6-6-3 overall, 4-3-1 Big East) were down 2-0 going into the second half. Pitt opened up the scoring on a goal by Marco Carrizales on a penalty kick at the 29:16 mark.

The Panthers (7-7-1, 2-6-1) scored again when Keeyan Young controlled a rebound shot and put the ball past Rutgers goalkeeper Ricky Zinter just four minutes into the second half.

Rutgers was given the opportunity to cut the lead to one as it was awarded a penalty kick at the 47-minute mark.

Pitt goalkeeper Justin Gaul saved the Scarlet Knights’ Josh Gros’ shot to stay on top.

Approximately 30 seconds later, Rutgers’ Scott Gahagan jumped on a through-ball and booted it past Gaul, cutting the Panthers’ lead to one.

“It was a difficult loss. We were up by one in the first half and we are typically a good defensive team,” head coach Joe Luxbacher said. “They got a goal a minute after we scored and that’s the worst time to give up a goal.”

Rutgers tied the game in the 60th minute. Gros gained control of the ball at the top of the box on a corner kick on the right side. Chris Karcz headed the ball over the hands of Gaul on a lofting pass from Gros into the box from approximately eight yards outside.

In the 73rd minute, the Scarlet Knights’ Anthony Schiavino put Rutgers on top 3-2 when his shot deflected into the goal.

Rutgers took 16 shots compared to Pitt’s 11 and Pitt was held to two shots in the first half. The Panthers and Scarlet Knights took eight and nine shots respectively in the second half. Opponents have outshot Pitt 182-156 this season.

“I thought we played one of our better games offensively and they [Rutgers] are a good team,” Luxbacher said. “We went down there and scored a couple of goals. I thought we had as many quality chances to score as they did.”

Karcz led the Scarlet Knights in attempted shots with four. Young and Bryan Hopper led the Panthers in attempted shots with three each.

Carrizales leads the Panthers this season in both attempted shots and points with 33 and 14 respectively.

The Scarlet Knights held an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks. The Panthers have had 49 corner kicks this season compared to 97 corner kicks by their opponents.

Gaul and Zinter both had five saves. Each goalkeeper had a save in the first half and four in the second half.

“Justin [Gaul] has been solid the whole year. He is a good leader,” Luxbacher said. “On the first goal he probably was trying to do too much.”

With the loss, Pitt has dropped five out of its last seven games as its last victory came vs. Notre Dame on Oct. 4. The Panthers have dropped their last four games versus a Big East opponent.

“We’ve played eight ranked teams. Going into those games we felt we would win our share,” Luxbacher said. “We had better chances and we didn’t score. Some losses could have gone either way. We couldn’t make a play and they [the opponents] did and it catches up with you. We can’t seem to put together a complete game.”

Pitt is next in action vs. Cleveland State on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. at Founders Field.

“We have three games left and our goal is to win as many as possible. I purposely schedule games against top notch teams,” Luxbacher said. “It lets you know where you really stand. We are not satisfied with just playing tough against top-ranked teams.”