Women’s Soccer: Pitt squanders early lead, falls to Virginia

Pitt women’s soccer hung with top-ranked Virginia for the early part of Sunday afternoon’s match. In the end, however, Virginia’s talent prevailed and led the Cavaliers to a 3-1 win.

“We knew that we didn’t match up too well with them in terms of athleticism, but we put together a pretty good game plan and tried to hang in the game for as long as we could,” head coach Greg Miller said. 

The afternoon started out promising for the home squad, as Pitt (4-5-1, 0-4-0 ACC) dominated Virginia (9-0-0, 3-0 ACC) and tallied a goal in the 11th minute.

After gaining the Cavaliers’ side of the field, midfielder Roosa Arvas passed to Dana DelleFemine, who was able to stay onside and elude the Virginia back. DelleFemine then fired a perfect shot into the back of the net.

The goal was 1-of-3 shots on goal for the Panthers in the game and was the first conference score for the team.

“It happened so fast, so I was more shocked than anything else,” DelleFemine said. “But my first hope was that I was onside. After that I just made sure to keep my focus and wait for the perfect time to shoot.”

The goal gave Pitt a surprising 1-0 lead and a little bit of momentum. The lead, however, would be short-lived, as just a few minutes later Virginia tied the game.

On the Cavs’ goal, junior forward Danielle Colaprico was able to out-dribble the Panthers’ defense and gain a passing lane. Colaprico took advantage of the space, as she sent a pass to junior midfielder Morgan Brian, a member of the U.S. women’s national team. Brian scored, sending a rocket toward the Pitt net that was barely out of goalie Nicole D’Agostino’s reach. The goal was Brian’s sixth of the year and tied the game with about 20 minutes to play in the first half.

For the rest of the half, the Cavaliers came dangerously close to taking the lead, but the stout Pitt defense was able to hold Virginia at bay, and the teams went into the half tied at one.

Shortly after the halftime break, though, Virginia would strike for its second goal of the match. 

The play started out harmlessly, as Virginia earned a corner kick. Off the kick, the Panthers were unable to clear the ball out of the zone, and Brian passed to a darting Makenzy Doniak, who corralled the ball and sent it into the back of the net.

Following the Doniak goal, Virginia continued to pepper the Panthers with shots, ultimately grabbing its third goal.

Redshirt freshman defender Kristen McNabb sent a pass from the middle of the field to Doniak, who took one touch and nailed the far corner of the net.

The goal gave the visiting team a 3-1 margin, a score that held for the remainder of the game.

Virginia finished the game with 37 shots on goal, which led D’Agostino to collect a career-high 10 saves.

“Our defense was phenomenal today,” she said. “They barely let the players get in behind them, and they blocked a lot of shots, alleviating the amount of challenging shots I had to deal with.”

The loss dropped the Panthers under the .500 mark for the first time this season. The Panthers’ challenges won’t get much easier next game, as the team has to face the defending national champion, No. 2 North Carolina, at Ambrose Urbanic Field this Thursday. But Miller thinks his team will be up for the challenge.

“North Carolina is similar in terms of the amount of athletes they have and the talent level, but they present a little bit different of a challenge,” he said. “They come after you a little bit more and put a lot more pressure on you, attacking with more of a purpose. We have to do our homework as a team and a staff and come up with the best game plan we can.”