Men’s Soccer: Panthers falter late to Boston College, lose 2-1

Pitt men’s soccer played with a lead through 80 minutes Saturday, but a pair of late defensive lapses cost the team dearly. In the 81st and 89th minutes, Pitt allowed Boston College to score twice in just a nine-minute span — the deciding goals of a 2-1 Panther loss.

“This was very disappointing tonight because we played our best game thus far,” Panther head coach Joe Luxbacher said after the game. “We’re playing top teams every week, and we really need to know how to close out the game. This is a very difficult loss because we get nothing out of it in terms of points.” 

Early on, Pitt (0-2-2, 0-2 ACC) was the aggressor, as the team jumped on Boston College (2-2-1, 1-1 ACC) with a goal by freshman defender Zane Meehan in the 13th minute.

To score the goal, Meehan took a perfect free kick from Ryan Myers and flicked the ball off the inside of his foot and into the net. The goal was the first of Meehan’s career, and the first time Pitt has scored in an ACC game.

“There was a fantastic ball sent in by Myers, and I just streaked in front of the defender and got a piece of it and sent it into the net,” Meehan said.

Following the goal, the two teams played extremely even soccer through the halftime whistle. The most dangerous chance for Boston College came in the 22nd minute, when the ball deflected off the shin guard of freshman Stephane Pierre and bounded toward the net. But sophomore goalkeeper Dan Lynd saw the ball heading toward the back of the net and punched the ball out of harm’s way, allowing the Panthers to clear the ball back to center.

Following the halftime break, the Panthers had ample opportunities to score their second goal of the match and take a commanding 2-0 lead.

In the 66th minute, Myers, a redshirt sophomore, sent a free kick in the direction of Cory Werth, who was able to send a header toward the net. Boston College goalie Keady Segel punched the ball out of play for his lone save of the match.

Senior forward Chris Davis, who registered five shots, credited Myers for his effective free kicks.

“Set plays are extremely important to us, and we’ve been working on them in training,” Davis said. “Ryan has assisted on a couple already, so we’re definitely looking good in that area.” 

Following the attempt, the Panthers went into a shell on defense in an attempt to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard and preserve their 1-0 lead.

It worked for at least some time, as the Panthers staved off a pair of Boston College scoring opportunities. Credit the defensive effort largely to Lynd, who made the two best saves of the match in the 77th and 78th minutes.

But while Lynd saved the Panthers seven times on the stat sheet, he was unable to save them just two minutes later when BC scored the equalizer.

Giuliano Frano sent a ball that found a streaking Atobra Ampadu who corralled the ball and sent a header that eluded a sprawling Dan Lynd and tumbled into the far right corner of the net. 

Following the BC goal, however, Pitt had three separate chances to take the lead.

On the last of the three chances, though, Pitt’s defense got caught. The momentary lapse allowed Diego Medina-Mendez to connect with Frano, who, after securing the ball, fired a shot through a diving Dan Lynd and into the right hand side of the net with just 65 seconds to play.

“We had our chances, but these missed chances determine the outcome of the game,” Luxbacher said. “We had a few, but they made one more than us. We played our most complete game thus far, but you cannot lose focus — even for just a moment.”

The loss was the second consecutive heartbreaker for the Panthers, and the 16th consecutive loss in conference games, a streak that dates back to days in the Big East conference. The Panthers’ next chance to pick up their first conference win will be Sept. 21 against No. 15 Wake Forest University.

Meehan realizes the tough test posed in their next match.

“We played really well all game, but we had two mental lapses in the back that caused the two goals,” Meehan said. “All it takes is two mistakes sometimes, and you lose. We’re not going to face a team worse than [Boston College] in the ACC all year because everyone in this conference is extremely good. So we’re going to have to show up even harder than we did today.”