Pitt Men Come Up Short To #2 Notre Dame

 Box Score | Vidovich Postgame | Season Stats

 

PITTSBURGH – The Pitt men’s soccer team (2-6-2, 0-3-1 ACC) dropped a 2-0 decision to No. 2 Notre Dame (7-1-0, 3-1-0 ACC) Friday at the Petersen Sports Complex in ACC action.

 

The Fighting Irish struck in the 22^nd and 87^th minutes. Notre Dame attempted seven shots in the opening half, while shots were fairly even in the second with a 4-3 Irish advantage.

 

Heading into the second half, head coach Jay Vidovich was content with the opening minutes.

 

“We felt that we were on par with where we wanted to be,” Vidovich said. “Obviously we wanted to be even at the half, or ahead, but at that time we felt we were doing okay. They had more pressure down the middle than there was on the flank and we were able to knock down some of their balls. We had enough on the ball that we thought if we can just make a little bit better timing of our runs and better decisions on the ball that maybe something positive will happen.”

 

The Pitt defense held Notre Dame to just five shots on goal.

 

Freshman Luca Mellor was the lone Panther to attempt any shots on the night, taking three total.

 

Junior Jon Gallagher netted both goals for the Irish, his seventh and eighth of the season. In his first goal, Blake Townes sent a ball into the middle of the box from the right side that found the foot of Gallagher, who sent it to the bottom left corner. In the second half, Townes found Gallagher again in the 87^th minute as he chipped the ball over the Panther defense, giving Gallagher a one-on-one opportunity with a Pitt defender. After beating his defender, he drew redshirt freshman Mikal Outcalt out of the goal and pushed the ball into the right corner from the left side.

 

Outcalt made three total saves through the 90 minutes.

 

Pitt returns to Amrbose Urbanic Field Monday, Oct. 3, to host Saint Mary’s at 7 p.m.