Men’s, women’s soccer teams return to Pitt winless over the weekend

The Pitt men’s and women’s soccer teams hit the road this weekend, but both returned to Oakland winless. On the women’s side, Pitt fell 4-0 to No. 3 Florida State, and the men played to a scoreless tie with Syracuse. 

Men’s soccer at Syracuse: 0-0

The Panthers (0-6-4, 0-6-2 ACC) were able to hold the Syracuse Orange (8-4-1, 2-4-1 ACC) without a goal Saturday evening en route to earning another ACC point. The match was the second consecutive draw for Pitt, and it doubles the Panthers’ conference point total. In NCAA Division I soccer, teams earn two points for a win, one for a tie and none for a loss.

Eleven saves from sophomore goalie Dan Lynd were the key to holding a potent Syracuse offense to no goals. Entering the match, Syracuse had scored 37 goals through 12 matches, good for an average of more than three goals per game.

In the match, the Panthers were outshot by a 20-1 margin. 

In the 83rd minute, the Orange nearly took the lead when junior midfielder Nick Perea sent a blistering shot toward the corner of the net. But Lynd made a diving save to keep Syracuse off the board. 

Just six minutes later, the Orange almost scored again, this time when Stefanos Stamoulacatos rocketed one of his seven shots of the match off the post in the 89th minute. Following the attempt, neither team had a decent chance to score, and the two squads headed to overtime.

In the final overtime period and with just one minute to play in the match, Stamoulacatos again hit the post with a shot. No other offensive chances came about for either side, and Pitt escaped with one NCAA point and a scoreless tie.

The Panthers’ lone shot of the match missed the net. Syracuse goalie Alex Bono recorded his 16th career shutout and did not record a save in the match.

The result is important because the team continues to eye one of the eight ACC tournament spots. Currently, the Panthers are just five points behind the Orange for the tournament’s No. 8 seed with three conference matches remaining.

Women’s soccer at Florida State: 4-0

The Panthers (4-9-1, 0-9 ACC) fell to the No. 3 Florida State Seminoles (12-0-3, 7-0-2 ACC) 4-0 Sunday afternoon on the road. The Seminoles scored three goals in 13 minutes to hand the Panthers their ninth ACC loss. 

The match was the fourth time in six matches that Pitt played a top-10 opponent, and it was the second consecutive match in Florida.

Pitt stayed close to the highly-ranked Seminoles early in the game. The team did not allow a goal until the 40th minute, when Anna McClung found the back of the Pitt net off a beautiful pass from Yulie Lopez.

Despite allowing 15 shots and four corner kicks, the Panthers were able to hold the Seminoles to just one goal over the first 45 minutes of the match.

Following halftime, the Seminoles broke through on a pair of goals just two minutes apart. The first goal was scored by Dagny Brynjarsdottir off a cross from Megan Campbell.

The second goal was scored by Marta Bakowska-Mathews off a penalty kick.

Following the third goal, the Panthers settled down until they allowed the Seminoles to score their fourth goal with just over two minutes left in the match. The strike gave Florida State a four-goal margin that held through the end of the match.

The Panthers are off until they face their fifth top-10 opponent in six games, when they welcome Virginia Tech to Ambrose Urbanic Field on Sunday for Senior Day. As part of the festivities, the Panthers will honor Dana DelleFemine, Caroline Keefer, Katie Lippert, Alyssa Meier and Morgan Sharick in the last home game of their Pitt careers.