Women’s Soccer: Pitt falls to Wake Forest, losing streak moves to 11 games

Pitt’s women’s soccer team lost its 11th consecutive game Thursday, 3-1, against Wake Forest. The No. 22 Demon Deacon’s scored twice in the last 10 minutes to break a 1-1 tie.

“It was our best possession game of the year, very good game in terms of keeping the ball,” Pitt head coach Greg Miller said in a press release. “We created some chances in both halves and just didn’t capitalize on them.”The two teams played a scoreless first half that saw Wake Forest (10-4-2, 5-4-2 ACC) outshoot Pitt (4-11-1, 0-11-0 ACC) by a 10-3 margin and generate a pair of great chances.

In the 59th minute Wake Forest finally took the lead when Riley Ridgik found Taylor Waters in the box. Waters, after securing the ball, beat Panther netminder Taylor Francis for the first goal of the match.

The Demon Deacons’ lead would not last long, as just nine minutes later the Panthers tied the score.

Siobhan McDonough found Alex Charlebois with a perfect pass that allowed the junior to rocket a shot past Wake goalie Aubrey Bledsoe. The goal was Charlebois’ team-leading third of the season, only the second ACC goal Pitt has scored and the first goal the Panthers have tallied in six matches.

“The goal we got was accidental,” Miller said. “We had a great buildup, then Alex had the ball and mishit a cross but it went in the goal. When we were down a goal, we continued to fight, compete and battle. That was good to see.”

Following the goal, the Panthers held off the potent Wake Forest attack for a short period of time, but eventually the Demon Deacons were just too much.

In the 82nd minute, Ally Berry slipped past Pitt’s defenders and gave Wake a 2-1 lead, an advantage that was extended two minutes later when Ridgik scored off a perfect feed from Waters.

“On their last two goals, we made a few mistakes, technical things where we mis-cleared balls, missed assignments, nothing monumental, just not taking care of details,” Miller said.

The match against Wake was a school-record seventh time this season Pitt faced a ranked opponent. The previous mark was five, set in 1999 and 2001. Pitt has just two games remaining this season: Oct. 27 at Duke and an Oct. 31 contest at Maryland.

“Overall, I’m pleased with the effort, but we learned that we can’t give up mistakes that cost us goals. … Lots of positives to draw from and we’ll try to put it back together for Sunday at Duke.”