Pitt battles No. 10 UNC to 2-1 loss in #ACC opener

From University of Pittsburgh athletic department report

University of Pittsburgh men’s soccer team dropped a hard-fought 2-1 decision to No. 10 North Carolina Saturday night at Ambrose Urbanic Field. 

With the loss, the Panthers move to 2-3-0 overall and 0-1-0 against ACC opponents, while the Tar Heels improve to 4-1-0 overall and earn their first conference win of the year.

“I’m proud of the guys, we did a tremendous job today,” head coach Jay Vidovich said. “We posed our game on a fantastic team. I think we served notice that we’re an ACC team.”

“I’m happy with that and I’m very proud of the fact that were in it until the very last second of the match. We stayed strong and took opportunities to keep pushing and pressing the game. The other side of it is that I’m disappointed because that’s not enough. I know we are strong enough and we’re going to learn from these lessons tonight. You can’t fall asleep during different moments of the game. We have to capitalize on opportunities and turn this around.”

In a back-and-forth conference battle, North Carolina finished the match with a 6-4 advantage with shots on goal, while Pitt out-shot the Tar Heels overall 14-9.

The Panthers drew a season-high eight corner kicks to the Tar Heels three, but were unable to capitalize on those opportunities.

North Carolina struck first in the 11^th minute of action as Jelani Pieters netted his fourth goal of the season.

Pitt responded in the 31^st minute off the foot of freshman Edward Kizza to tie it 1-1. Senior Pol Planellas sent Kizza a long ball from midfield into the box and poked it right past the UNC keeper.

The Tar Heels added the game-winner in the 55^th minute.

The Panthers resume action Saturday, Sept. 16 when they make the trip to Winston-Salem, N.C., to take Vidovich’s former team, No. 2 Wake Forest at 7 p.m.