Men’s Soccer

The Pitt men’s soccer team (0-7-4, 0-5-2 ACC) was defeated by the William and Mary Tribe (6-3-1, 1-1 Colonial Athletic Association) by a score of 2-0 on Tuesday evening. The match, which took place at Ambrose Urbanic Field, was the fourth consecutive match that the Panthers have been held scoreless and the eighth time this season the Panthers have been shut out. Pitt has scored only one goal in their last seven matches.

“We know our effort tonight was just not good enough. We can make excuses that we’re tired, but our performance was nowhere near the level of our previous two performances” junior midfielder Michael Tuohy said.

The Panthers started out well, but were unable to sustain their early success, allowing William and Mary to strike for a goal in the 23rd minute. Chris Albiston, the goal scorer, readied himself in the box and sent a drive toward the right corner of the net that eluded diving goalie Dan Lynd.

After the Tribe goal, the Panthers were unable to produce any push throughout the remainder of the first half.

Following the halftime break, the Panthers, desperate to try and score the equalizer point, became much more aggressive. This strategy would eventually backfire because it allowed William and Mary to strike for their second goal of the match just 5 minutes into the second half.

“We got stretched out a bit in the second half down a goal because we tried to press. We pushed guys forward, which allowed them to score the second goal. We knew this was a good team coming in, but the effort level was just not there,” Coach Joe Luxbacher said.

Following their second goal, the Tribe continued to sustain pressure in the Panthers’ half of the field, which almost resulted in another goal when Reilly Maw sent his third shot of the game toward the Panthers net and forced Lynd to make a diving save. This save was one of four in the evening for Lynd.

The match was the third that Pitt has played in a week and snapped the Panthers’ two-match conference point streak.

“We got outplayed tonight, but it’s because a few of our guys did not show up with their ‘A’ game tonight. We’ve tried many different things to score, but it’s just not happening. The main thing we [constantly] tell the guys is that we do not go forward when we have a chance. There are times when we have a chance to take a shot, but we pull it back and start again. You’ve got to take your chances and take shots in the offensive third, and we’ve got to shoot more,” Luxbacher said.

Pitt has four matches remaining this season, and just one of those is a nonconference matchup. Three of the final four matches for the Panthers will be played at Ambrose Urbanic Field, with the lone road game scheduled for this Friday evening against No. 16 Clemson. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Riggs Field in Clemson, S.C.

“We all believe that [the ACC Tournament] is still a possibility, and we know that the next three games are very crucial for us. We know that we need to win at least two, but more likely all three. Going forward, it’s going to depend on other teams some, but we have got to look to ourselves to get three wins,” redshirt junior forward Cory Werth said.