Men’s soccer opens season with two shutout victories

The Pitt men’s soccer team went to the St. Bonaventure Adidas Men’s Soccer Classic to begin… The Pitt men’s soccer team went to the St. Bonaventure Adidas Men’s Soccer Classic to begin its season during the weekend, and ended its two days in New York with duplicate 1-0 victories. The Panthers are now 2-0 after Saturday’s win against the State University of New York at Oneonta Red Dragons, and Sunday’s triumph over the Bowling Green Falcons.

Justin Gaul, Pitt’s goalkeeper, a senior from Huntingdon Valley, Pa., registered the shutouts. He faced six shots over the two games, including four on Sunday.

Pitt senior midfielder Bryan Hopper, of North Versailles, Pa., had assists on both Panther goals. The first came in the 39th minute against Oneonta State when Hopper sent the ball across the goal area to Marco Carrizales. Carrizales, a sophomore from Missouri City, Texas, took Hopper’s pass and put it in the net past Red Dragons’ goalie Jack Potter.

The Panthers outshot Oneonta by a 6-4 margin, but gave up a 6-4 corner kick advantage. The Panthers received the only two yellow cards of the contest.

Nate Montgomery, a senior midfielder from McMurray, Pa., scored the winning goal in the Bowling Green contest off a Hopper assist. Montgomery goaled in the sixth minute of the second half against BGSU goalkeeper Dave DeGraff.

DeGraff made six saves on Panther shots, as Pitt again took more shots than its opponent in spite of having significantly fewer corner kicks (7-1). Pitt players drew three yellow cards to five by the Falcons.

Oneonta State and Bowling Green both ended their weekends 0-2.

The Panthers are coming off a disappointing 2001 season. They are looking to return to the form of 2000, when they were 13-5, their 11th winning season in Joe Luxbacher’s 18 years as head coach. That season saw them rise to as high as 7th in the national poll.

“My philosophy has always been to play an aggressive, attacking style of soccer,” Luxbacher said. “I think it’s what the fans like to see, and I think that’s the type of game today’s players want to play.”

“Everything starts with defense, though, and the kids realize that sets the tone for the rest of the game,” he said. “In soccer, everyone plays a part on defense.”

Pitt opens its home season against Niagara University on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Panthers will face their first Big East opponent when they travel to Philadelphia to take on Villanova on Sunday.