Pitt still unbeaten after defeating Villanova and Robert Morris

The Pitt men’s soccer team preserved its undefeated record last week with close road wins… The Pitt men’s soccer team preserved its undefeated record last week with close road wins over both Villanova and Niagara universities. During the two game span, team-leading scorer Marco Carrizales posted all three Panther goals, while senior goalkeeper Justin Gaul stopped 19 of 20 shots.

Pitt 2, Villanova 1

With the Panthers one minute away from their first season loss, coach Joe Luxbacher’s squad found a way to squeak by the Villanova Wildcats 2-1 Saturday on the heels of two late goals by Carrizales.

After a scoreless first half in which the Panthers were out-shot 6-2, the Wildcats scored a goal that broke streaks for both squads.

In the 60th minute of regulation, junior Scott Rodemer struck first when he put a shot behind Gaul, who conceded his first goal of the season after three consecutive shutouts.

While the tie-breaking goal broke Gaul’s impressive shutout streak, Rodemer’s efforts also put a stop to a Wildcats’ two-game scoreless streak, which spanned more than 195 minutes of playing time.

Villanova held the lead until 1:03 was left on the clock, when a handball foul against the Wildcats was called in the box.

Because of the nature of the foul and its proximity to the goal, a penalty kick was awarded to Carrizales, who sent the match into overtime when he blasted a shot into the left corner of the goal behind Wildcat goalkeeper Jon Williams.

After nine minutes of play in the extra session, Carrizales scored the golden goal off a feed from Big East Rookie of the Week Keeyan Young, who found a way to get Carrizales the ball behind the Wildcat defense.

With a defender closing ground, Carrizales nailed a shot past Williams in the 99th minute of the match.

The victory kept the Panthers undefeated for the season while the Wildcats suffered their second loss of the season.

Pitt 1, Colonials 0

Pitt faced a Robert Morris team yesterday that had 22 players returning from its Northeast Conference championship team one year ago.

In a match marked by stifling defense and missed opportunities, Carrizales broke a 0-0 tie in the 30th minute on a strike from a dead ball placed 25 yards out from the goal.

Facing a wall of Colonial defenders lined along the top of the penalty kick line, Carrizales threaded a shot through the players and past goalie Mike Ozdinec into the lower left corner of the net.

The goal was Carrizales’ third in two games – two of which have been game-winners last week.

While Luxbacher praised Carrizales for the shot, he also emphasized his other skills on the field.

“Marco played well for us today,” Luxbacher said after the game, “and played well all around, not just the goal.”

Although Carrizales put just one goal up on the board, he consistently kept the Colonials on their heels whenever he was within 15 feet of the ball. Carrizales finished the match with seven shots on goal, several of which were within inches of hitting the back of the net.

The Panthers registered 14 shots while Robert Morris tested Gaul 10 times. The Colonials’ shot output matched the highest number faced by Gaul this season, when Villanova put up the same amount Saturday.

Gaul, however, did not let one past him yesterday.

With the Colonials holding a decided advantage in time of possession, Gaul was forced to continually cover the large radius surrounding the goal cage – especially with the amount of corner kicks the Colonials were given.

Robert Morris ran six corner kicks as the result of offensive pressure yesterday, and each time Gaul was in position to keep the ball out of danger.

Gaul earned his fourth shutout in five Panther contests this season.

“We rely on Justin to be solid in the goal,” Luxbacher said, “and today, he had a few that he smothered. [Justin’s] one of our leaders.”