Men’s Soccer: Blown calls and missed opportunities doom Panthers

The Pitt Panthers (0-5-2, 0-4-0 ACC) lost to the Xavier Musketeers (4-4-2, 0-1-0 Big East) 2-1 Tuesday evening due in large part to multiple missed opportunities.

In the seventh minute, Xavier midfielder Will Walker appeared to have lost the ball out of bounds near the Panthers’ goal after making a nice run. The Panthers’ defense stopped in its tracks, awaiting what seemed like the obvious call from the line judge. The call never came, and the Musketeers took advantage, earning a 1-0 lead.  

Later in the match, the Panthers seemed to have scored the equalizer, but the line judge called the play dead, claiming Panther forward Corey Werth interfered with Xavier goaltender Eric Osswald. Finally, the Panthers missed a penalty kick in the 77th minute. In the end, the mistakes were too much to overcome, and the Panthers dropped their fifth contest of the season.

“This was a game that we had opportunities to win. The first [Xavier] goal was clearly out of bounds,” head coach Joe Luxbacher said. “It was over the end line when he crossed it in, so that clearly shouldn’t have happened. Then we get a goal called back, which [again] I don’t know why. And then we missed a penalty kick.”

In the beginning of the game the teams looked to be evenly matched, as neither side could gain an advantage until the Musketeers received a favorable call in the seventh minute.

After securing the ball near midfield, Xavier midfielder Will Walker made a run up the Panther sideline. He effectively stayed in bounds until he reached the corner where the goalie box meets the end line. Upon reaching the spot, Walker seemed to have dribbled the ball out of play. Anticipating a call that would not come, the Panthers defender instantly froze, allowing Jalen Brown to receive a perfect ball from Walker and give the Musketeers a 1-0 lead.  After the game, Luxbacher insisted multiple times that the ball clearly was out of bounds.

“Again, their first goal was clearly over the end line, the guy stopped running, and the linesman clearly missed the call,” Luxbacher said.

Following the Xavier goal, in the 30th minute, the Panthers thought they had scored the tying goal when Werth, after securing a missed ball by the Xavier goalkeeper, found a streaking Nico Wrobel, who redirected the ball into the back of the net. Shortly after the ball hit the back of the net, the referee signed that the goal was not going to count, as he felt that Werth interfered with the goalkeeper.

“I was a full yard off the guy, and the goalie slid into his own player, allowing the ball to slide right to my feet. I was shocked that they called a foul on me because I didn’t push him or even make contact with him,” Werth said after the game.

Following the halftime break, the Panthers deficit doubled when in the 62nd minute, Xavier scored the second goal of the match. Garrett Halfhill, who scored the goal, snuck a ball past Lynd, giving the Musketeers a 2-0 lead.

After the second Musketeers goal, Pitt looked like a desperate team, and this desperation earned the Panthers a penalty kick in the 77th minute.

With his top two options, Wrobel and Michael Tuhoy, on the bench, Luxbacher decided to go with lefty Ryan Myers. On the ensuing opportunity, Myers took the kick with his right foot and just missed a wide-open left side of the net. The missed shot allowed Xavier to keep its two-goal lead.

“Myers can take them, but he just didn’t make it. In training he makes them all the time, but he just didn’t make it today,” Luxbacher said.

The missed penalty kick loomed largely over  the Panthers, who would only strike for a goal late in the match. That play saw Myers send a perfect corner kick toward freshman Kevin Murray, who was able to redirect the ball into the back of the net for his first career goal. The Panthers’ goal cut the Musketeers lead to one with just 4:51 left.  

Following the goal, the Panthers had multiple chances to score the tying goal but, ultimately, the team fell short.

The loss is disappointing for a Panther team that is trying to find its footing during a transitional season.

The Panthers are off until Friday, when they will travel to face Virginia.

“We had a couple of decisions that did not quite go our way, but the basic thing to take from tonight is that we were not good enough,” Tuhoy said.