Matchday: Pitt (men) at Notre Dame, 7 p.m.

Pitt (8-5-2, 4-2-1 ACC] at Notre Dame [8-6-1, 2-5-0 ACC].

Friday, November 1  | 7 p.m.  |  Alumni Field in Notre Dame, Ind.

LIVE STREAM  |   LIVE STATS

 

LAST TIME OUT

·         The Panthers recorded their first win in program history over the Duke Blue Devils in dramatic fashion Friday, Oct. 25 at Ambrose Urbanic Field.

Pitt storms back from 3-0 deficit to beat Duke; remain in contention for ACC Coastal title

·         Pitt went down, 3-0, in the 37^th minute, but a goal in the 41^st minute by junior Edward Kizza would give the team some hope entering the half. The Panthers came out and rattled off three unanswered goals in the 56^th, 63^rd and 86^th minutes to win it.

·         Freshman Veljko Petkovic and juniors Jackson Walti and Alexander Dexter were Pitt’s three goal scorers in the second half to lift the Panthers to victory.

·         Pitt finished with a slight advantage in shots, 12-11, as well as corners, 5-4.

 

THE SERIES – NOTRE DAME

·         The Panthers and Fighting Irish meet for the 24th time in program history Friday with Notre Dame leading the series, 17-4-3.

·         For the second consecutive season, Pitt will conclude the regular season with the Fighting Irish. The two teams last met a year ago in Pittsburgh where then-ranked No. 23 Notre Dame escaped with a 1-0 win.

·         Since facing each other for the first time in 1955, Pitt has only won three meetings.

·         Head coach Jay Vidovich is 1-4-0 all-time versus Notre Dame.

SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH

·         Notre Dame enters Friday’s game 8-6-1 overall and 2-5-0 against ACC foes.

·         In their last time out, the Fighting Irish upset No. 2 Wake Forest, 1-0, at Spry Stadium in Winston Salem, N.C. It was Notre Dame’s first win in its last three games.

·         Sophomore Jack Lynn leads Notre Dame with 17 points on eight goals and one assist. Graduate student Felicien Dumas is second in points with nine, coming off three goals and three assists.

·         Notre Dame is led by second year head coach Chad Riley and is 62-33-17 all time.

·         Notre Dame finished the 2018 season 11-7-2 overall and 4-3-1 in conference play.

 

DEXTER GARNERS WEEKLY AWARDS

·         After netting the winning goal against Duke, junior Alexander Dexter captured three weekly awards: College Soccer News National Team of the Week, TopDrawerSoccer Men’s Team of the Week, and Pitt Student-Athlete of the Week.

 

A CHANCE TO WIN THE COASTAL DIVISION | ACC TOURNAMENT COMING TO THE BURGH

·         For the first time in program history, Pitt men’s soccer will host a round of the 2019 Men’s Soccer ACC Championship.

·         The Panthers could host either a first round or quarterfinal game depending on results from Friday night’s matches. 

·         If the Panthers win on Friday, coupled with a Virginia loss to North Carolina, Pitt will win the Coastal Division regular season title — and be a top two seed in the ACC Championship. Brackets and ticket information will be announced Friday night after the conclusion of all ACC games.

MORE FROM FINAL NIGHT OF ACTION IN ACC

The ACC men’s soccer regular season comes to an exciting conclusion Friday night with six league matches.

Clemson and Virginia each are in position to win division titles. Clemson leads Wake Forest by one point in the Atlantic Division and can clinch at NC State. Virginia holds a three-point edge over Pitt in the Coastal Division and has the opportunity to clinch at home against North Carolina. The two division champions earn the top two seeds in the upcoming ACC Championship.

In a matchup of ranked foes, No. 7 Wake Forest visits No. 25 Louisville at 6 p.m. Friday in a match that will air on ACC Network. In addition, No. 22 Virginia Tech travels to Duke, Syracuse visits Boston College.

Friday, Nov. 1
No. 7/14 Wake Forest at No. 25/25 Louisville | 6 p.m. | ACCN
No. 22/- Virginia Tech at Duke | 7 p.m. | ACCNX
North Carolina at No. 4/3 Virginia | 7 p.m. | ACCNX
Syracuse at Boston College | 7 p.m. | ACCNX
No. RV/20 Pitt at Notre Dame | 7 p.m. | ACCNX
No. 2/6 Clemson at No. RV/19 NC State | 7 p.m. | ACCNX
**End of regular season**

ACC CHAMPIONSHIP
Tuesday, Nov. 5/Wednesday, Nov. 6
No. 12 seed at No. 5 seed | ACCN
No. 11 seed at No. 6 seed | ACCN
No. 10 seed at No. 7 seed | ACCN
No. 9 seed at No. 8 seed | ACCN
**game times are 2 and 4 p.m. both days, to be announced Friday night (Nov. 1)

All times Eastern

PITT IN THE RPI

·         The NCAA released the third RPI of the 2019 season Monday, Oct. 28.

·         The Panthers moved up to No. 31 after previously sitting at No. 35.

·         Pitt’s highest RPI in program history came in October of 2017 at No. 14.

·         The Panthers have defeated three teams inside the top 25 in the RPI including #2 Virginia, #8 Virginia Tech and #23 Boston College.

·         Four ACC schools are among the top 10 including No. 2 Virginia, No. 5 Wake Forest and No. 7 Clemson and No. 8 Virginia Tech.

 

KIZZA COMMANDING ATTENTION

·         Junior Edward Kizza leads the Panthers with 22 points on the year after netting nine goals and recording four assists.

·         The 20 points rank him 28th in the nation and seventh in the ACC.

·         Kizza ranks 44th in the NCAA and seventh in the ACC with 0.60 goals per game.

·         Kizza has scored in seven of the 13 games this season, including two double-scoring games.

·         Kizza closed out his 2018 campaign tied for third in program history for single-season goals (15) while ranking fifth in points (30).

·         The historic season led Kizza to First Team All-ACC honors, Second Team All-Region recognition and a spot on the All-ACC Academic Team.

·         The Kampala, Uganda, native picked up right where he left off to start the 2019 season, recording a brace against No. 2 Indiana in the squad’s season-opener Friday, Aug. 30. In the match, Kizza recorded the fastest consecutive goals in program history after scoring at the 35:24 and 35:31 mark, with the seven-second difference besting the old record of 34 seconds set by Michael Tuohy and John Cordier in 2013.

 

FRESHMEN FOCUS

·         The freshmen tandem of Veljko Petkovic and Valentin Noel has accounted for nine of Pitt’s 32 goals this year.

·         Petkovic ranks second on the team with 17 points with six goals and five assists. He’s recorded two or more points on six occasions this season.

·         Noel is tied for third with nine points of three goals and three assists.

·         In addition to Petkovic and Noel, Josh Hesson has also made an impact this season. He’s appeared in 12 games and has one goal and one assist.

·         Rounding out the impact freshmen is Arturo Ordonez who’s started in 13 games this season in the back line.

 

UP NEXT: THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIP

·         The Championship will be a 12-team single elimination tournament.

·         Seeding for the Championship will be determined by the regular season conference game results using a point system where a win is three points and a tie is one point.

·         The first round of the 2019 ACC Men’s Soccer Tournament is slated for Tuesday, Nov. 5 or Wednesday, Nov. 6 at campus sites.

·         The Championship Final will be held Sunday, Nov. 17 in Cary, N.C.