Men’s Soccer: Pitt plays to scoreless draw with Longwood

After a tie Friday evening, Pitt men’s soccer faced off against the Longwood Lancers Sunday afternoon at Ambrose Urbanic Field.

“Today we dominated the game, out-shooting them 20-5. We had a bunch of quality opportunities, but we just didn’t finish” head coach Joe Luxbacher said.

As a result, Pitt (0-0-2) tied with Longwood (0-1-1) to open its season with two consecutive draws.

Early on, the Panthers dominated play, as the team had two great opportunities to score. The first occurred in the seventh minute when Ryan Myers sent a shot toward net that just barely got blocked.

Later in the first half Nico Wrobel sent a great ball toward Chris Davis on the run. Davis after two touches was fouled from behind.

On the ensuing free kick, the Lancers were able to clear, squashing the Panthers’ scoring opportunity.

The teams would each have a few minor chances to score before the whistle blew for half time, but none of the opportunities came to fruition.

Coming out of the half, the Panthers backline got a little bit sloppy.

In the 47th minute freshman Stephane Pierre turned the ball over deep in his own defensive zone. The Lancers almost took advantage of the turnover, but the Panther backline recovered, and safely cleared the ball out of bounds.

Just two minutes later, the Panthers got sloppy once again, but sophomore goalie Dan Lynd made a big save on a Lee Martin shot.

Later in the second half, the Panthers had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the 65th minute when Nick Wysong sent a perfect ball ahead to Dan Prete. Prete then sent the ball on a line to Nico Wrobel who just barely missed a wide-open net.

The opportunity was one of a handful the Panthers squandered Sunday.  

For the rest of the second half, the teams played even soccer with both sides having a chance or two to take the lead.

So as the two teams took the field for the first overtime period, just 20 minutes separated the two teams from a draw. Early in the overtime period, Dan Lynd had to bail the Panthers out of trouble once again, when Lynd left his net to make a diving save on an Anthony Ugorji.

Behind Lynd, the Panthers were able to hold off the Lancers, and take the game into a second overtime.

“Dan Lynd had a fantastic weekend, and he has become a great leader for us” captain John Cordier said.

In the second overtime the Panthers had a plethora of great opportunities to score. The best of which came with just one minute remaining in the contest, when a Panther corner kick, fell perfectly to the boot of Nico Wrobel. Unfortunately for Pitt, Wrobel was unable to hit the net, as his shot rose high and out of bounds, causing the game to end in 0-0 tie.

And while the Panthers did not get the result they wanted, Cordier found a few positives.

“In the second half today we were really able to dictate play. We learned that we need to play quicker, and that we cannot slow the game down,” Cordier said. “If we can do these things we will be ready for NC State.”

As Pitt prepares for the first ACC game coming up on Friday, Luxbacher knows exactly what his Panthers need to improve on.

“All of these games are going to be decided by two or three plays,” Luxbacher said. “If we play well defensively we’ll be in the game. When you get good chances you have got to capitalize on them.”