NCAA Tournament Notebook: Pitt looks to shake postseason home losing streak, WVU’s Dan Stratford ‘We’re at our best when we’re underestimated’

The NCAA Tournament’s first round completed in the wee hours of Friday morning (for those of us in Eastern Time), with some surprises and some expected results.

NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament: First Round Scoreboard (11/20/2024)

As the tournament reaches the second round with all 16 matches set to be played on Sunday, the top 16 seeds will get to host winners of the first round matches.

By Sunday night, the field will be narrowed down to the Sweet 16.

Sunday’s full schedule can be found below.

Pitt Draws Cornell. Look to Shake Postseason Home Losing Streak

Pitt found out that they’ll be hosting a Cornell side that had an impressive four-goal outburst to overtake Atlantic 10’s Fordham, 4-2, on Thursday.

The Panthers have had a lot of time between matches, as it will be two weeks between matches, as they last played on Sunday, November 10, losing to Virginia, 2-0 in the ACC Quarterfinal Round.

Despite losing its last two matches, and five total losses this season, the Panthers (12-5-0) still earned the tournament’s No. 2 overall seed from the committee primarily because they played the toughest competition this season — both out of conference and in the brutally tough ACC.

The Panthers also raked in Conference awards as Jay Vidovich earned ACC Coach of the Year, defender Casper Svendby earned ACC Defensive Player of the Year and seven Pitt players earned All-ACC honors. Svendby, midfielder Guilherme Feitosa and forward Luis Sahmkow earned first-team honors, midfielder Casper Grening earned second-team honors, goalkeeper Cabral Carter and defender Jackson Gilman earned third-team honors and forward Lasse Dahl and defender Niklas Sorensen earned All-Freshman honors.

Svendby started in 15 games this season, 16 appearances, and scored eight points (three goals and four assists).

Pitt will have to be ready for a fight vs Cornell, who showed they can score in bunches.  The Panthers also lost to another Ivy League school this season, Penn, on short rest after beating Penn State in early September.  Ironically, The Big Red did not play Penn this season, but lost to Princeton, 3-2, in Ivy League tournament.

Pitt has not won a postseason match in its last three tries — having lost both ACC tournament and NCAA tournament first round matches in 2023 in addition to this month’s loss to Virginia. All losses came at home.

You have to go back to 2022 Elite Eight extra time thriller against Portland at Ambrose Urbanic Field, for Pitt’s last postseason win.

This week, Pittsburgh Soccer Now‘s Griffin Floyd caught up with two key pieces to the Panther attack, Svendby and Albert Thorsen, as they’ve known each other since they were both youngsters, growing up in Norway.

Three teams, two continents: how Casper Svendby and Albert Thorsen landed at Pitt

Despite the more recent run of tough luck in the postseason, the Panthers are loaded with experience and boast a strong group of seniors who are determined use potential home field advantage through the first three rounds of the NCAA tournament to their advantage.

If Pitt does advance, they’ll take on the winner of Missouri St-Kansas City.

“It makes your job easier, it allows you to do different things. That means they’re taking care of a lot of the dirty work. This team is self-policed, it really does take care of a lot of the dirty work you don’t have to do,” Vidovich said of his group of seniors.

“When individually they’ve got that ambition to also police themselves, and then when the collective is doing it, that’s when you have something magic. And we’re hoping to get there.”

WVU Heads to Charlottesville with chip on its shoulders

Another team that enters the second round with a bit of a chip on its shoulders, is West Virginia. The Mountaineers (13-1-7 overall, 5-0-4 in Sun Belt) took care of business in their first round 2-0 win vs North Florida in Morgantown on Thursday.

Graduate student Sergio Ors Navarro and junior Marcus Caldeira each scored for the Mountaineers to provide the offense. Junior Felix Ewald and freshman Isaac Scheer both had assists for WVU.

In goal, redshirt-senior Marc Bonnaire made three saves to earn the victory.

In his post match press conference, Head Coach Dan Stratsford shared that his group is looking forward to the challenge of playing on the road, at No. 11 seed Virginia, but didn’t hold back from sharing how he really felt about the seeding process.  Stratsford, who won a Division II National Championship at Charleston (here in Pittsburgh, in 2019) and led his alma mater to College Cup a year ago, not happy with having to play on the road despite one loss all season, is using this as fuel for his team to prove the NCAA seeding committee and doubters wrong.

Dan Stratford: "I have been associated with this university for 20 years. And I think West Virginia is best when it is underestimated."

WVU visits No. 11 Virginia Sunday in Rd. 2 of the NCAA Tournament. pic.twitter.com/EE5V7BQRgK

— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) November 22, 2024

WVU, which finished with one loss (13-1-7) and were winners of the Sun Belt Conference tournament, beating in-state rivals Marshall, in a penalty kick shootout, now face that same Virginia side that came to Ambrose Urbanic Field and beat Pitt in the ACC tournament quarterfinal a few weeks ago.

If WVU were to advance, they would take on the winner of Penn-UMass.

Many of the usual suspects remain in the field, including eight ACC schools. Clemson are the defending champions, who are looking for their third National Title in four years.

John Krysinsky

John Krysinsky has covered soccer and other sports for many years for various publications and media outlets. He is also author of 'Miracle on the Mon' -- a book about the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, which chronicles the club, particularly the early years of Highmark Stadium with the narrative leading up to and centered around a remarkable match that helped provide a spark for the franchise. John has covered sports for Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, DK Pittsburgh Sports, Pittsburgh Sports Report, has served as color commentator on Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC broadcasts, and worked with OPTA Stats and broadcast teams for US Open Cup and International Champions Cup matches held in the US. Krysinsky also served as the Head Men’s Soccer Coach at his alma mater, Point Park University, where he led the Pioneers to the first-ever winning seasons and playoff berths (1996-98); head coach of North Catholic boys (2007-08), associate head coach of Shady Side Academy boys (2009-2014).