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Albert Thorsen the walkoff hero as Pitt Men’s Soccer moves on to Elite Eight

Photo courtesy Pitt Athletics

Pitt Men’s Soccer punched their ticket to the Elite Eight on Sunday, December 1, coming from behind to beat the Kansas City Roos 3-2 in extra time thanks to a golden goal off the foot of sophomore forward Albert Thorsen.

Charging toward the net amidst a pair of Roos defenders, Thorsen took a feed from Arnau Vilamitjana in the 98th minute, slotting a kick wide to the left of goalie Brandon McGaugh and ending the match in walkoff fashion. “It’s everything I can dream of,” Thorsen said. “This is the first time I’ve ever played a golden goal overtime. So obviously you’re nervous, but it’s a good kind of nervous. Your senses are even sharper, you know it’s win or die. I think we all enjoyed it.”

The Panthers entered Sunday evening with a 2-5 record in matches in which their opponent scored first, with each of the five losses coming via shutout. In keeping with that trend, Pitt has claimed victory in every game they’ve scored in this season.

Play bogged down early after a collision between Panthers’ defender Mateo Maillefaud and Mathias Baucher led to an injury stoppage. Gabriele Galluccio subbed in for the Roos and made it 1-0 98 seconds later on a shot through traffic that trickled just wide of Panthers’ goalkeeper Cabral Carter.

 

Despite the deficit, Pitt managed to maintain their offensive pressure, making the next five shot attempts… including a bid from Albert Thorsen that McGaugh slapped away. Crashing toward the net, Casper Grening slipped away from his defender and knocked the redirect home.

The Panthers came within a heartbeat of pulling ahead in the 61st minute, when a kick from Lasse Dahl rolled to the left of the net. Luis Sahmkow attempted to slide for it, but timed it a moment too late. Another prime chance came less than two minutes later when a pass trickled across the box. Dahl got there first, but not before he had pressure in his face, helping McGaugh make the stop.

Pitt broke through in the 70th minute. Guilherme Feitosa maintained possession with a slippery spin move, breaking loose and lifting a shot that McGaugh managed to leap up and knock away. Arnau Vilamitjana corralled the awkward deflection and fired it home.

Vilamitjana described what goes into his knack for scoring in big games.

“Don’t think about it, you don’t focus on it, just try to play, try to do your best for the team and then they [the goals] come,” Vilamitjana said. “Obviously have been good moments, very important times… but you just have to stay calm, play for the team.”

Big goal or not, the lead lasted all of four minutes, with the Roos’ Guille Munoz playing spoiler and heading a corner kick home.

Pitt put a flurry of shots on goal in the 82nd minute, with each deflected by a Roos’ defender or a helpful goalpost. The referees initiated a replay review to check if any of the shots broke across the goal line, but the Panthers came up empty handed once again.

Sahmkow scored with a second left, but was whistled offside, sending the Panthers to extra time for the first time in 2024. Pitt began with caution, feeling things out before Thorsen pounced with the golden goal on a beautiful feed from Vilamitjana.

Pitt Men’s Soccer advances to host the Vermont Catamounts at 3pm on Saturday, December 7.

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