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Pitt men to embark on another challenging schedule in 2019

Pitt men’s soccer team finished off the 2018 season with an 8-10-1 record (2-6 in the ACC) — but more importantly — advanced to the Quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament before falling in penalty kicks to Duke.

On Thursday, Head Coach Jay Vidovich announced Pitt’s 2019 schedule Thursday morning and it will begin with an exhibition match against Duquesne on August 16 at Ambrose Urbanic Field at 7 pm.

2019 PITT MEN’S SOCCER SCHEDULE 

The Panthers will travel to James Madison for another exhibition match on August 23 before beginning the 2019 season at the Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic over Labor Day Weekend.

It will be a test for this year’s Pitt squad right off the bat at the Classic in Bloomington, Indiana, as they will play against two of the stronger Big 10 squads in Indiana (August 30) and Northwestern (September 1).

The Hoosiers finished the 2018 season 20-3-1 (8-0 in the Big 10) including winning the Big 10 Tournament with a 3-0 victory over Michigan and advancing to the NCAA College Cup before losing to #15 Maryland 2-0.

And the Wildcats finished the 2018 season 6-9-5 (3-4-3 in the Big 10) and fell to Indiana in OT 2-1 in the Big 10 Tournament.

“We’re looking forward to the 2019 season,” said Vidovich in a Pitt Athletic Department release. “Our schedule provides us with a lot of opportunities to test ourselves and measure the progress we’ve made. Our fans are going to get the chance to see some high quality soccer with the types of teams we’re welcoming to Ambrose Urbanic Field this season, but we’re also going to be road tested. I really think this schedule will test the character of our team and help bring out the strengths of our program. Our guys have been working hard in preparation for this season with the goal of competing in the NCAA Tournament, so we expect to producer some positive results this year.”

The Panthers return home after the Classic for a 4-game homestand that begins with Liberty (Sept.6) and includes matches against Delaware (Sept. 9), ACC foe Wake Forest (Sept. 13) and will close out the homestand against College Cup runner up Akron (Sept. 16).

After a two game road trip to Boston College (Sept. 20) and Syracuse (Sept. 27), Pitt returns home for another 4-game homestand that starts against the University of Denver (Sept. 30), followed up with two ACC matches against North Carolina (Oct. 4) and Virginia Tech (Oct. 11), with a match against Howard sandwiched between those two matches on October 7.

After this 4-game homestand, Pitt heads back out onto the road to take on in-state rival Penn State (Oct. 15). The Panthers did not play Penn State during the regular season last season, they played Duquesne and Penn State in Exhibitions in 2018.

After a game at Virginia (Oct. 18), Pitt returns home to close out there home portion of the 2019 schedule against the team that knocked them out of the ACC Tournament last season in the Duke Blue Devils on October 25.  They will close out the regular season on the road at Notre Dame on November 1.

The ACC Men’s Soccer Tournament will begin on Novermber 5.

The Panthers will be led by their leading goal scorer last season, Junior Edward Kizza, who had 15 goals, including 4 game winners.

Also returning from last season, the third leading scorer, Junior Alexander Dexter who played in 18 matches, started 13, and scored 2 goals, assisted on 5 for 9 points on the season in 2018.

Sophomore Goalkeeper Johan Penaranda will be back for his second season between the pipes for the Panthers as he started 17 games in 2018 and finished with a 6-9-1 record. He gave up 21 goals (1.25 Goals against) and made 41 saves (66% save percentage) as a freshman.

Sophomore Alexander Steinbach, Goalkeeper, and he started 2 games last year, appeared in 3, and finished with a 2-1 record while allowing 4 goals (1.60 ERA) and making 13 saves (77% save percentage).

The Panthers will welcome five newcomers to the team this season in Brandon Cline (Senior, Transfer from Providence), Arie Ammann (RS Junior, Transfer from Penn State), Matt Bailey (Junior, Transfer from UMBC) and two Freshman, Luke Mort and Veljko Petkovic.

The 2019 Pitt Women’s Soccer Schedule was released last week and you can read about it here: https://pittsburghsoccernow.com/2019/07/03/pitt-womens-soccer-schedule-released/

 

Glory on the Grass

Riverhounds MF Kenardo Forbes

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