Inside The Panthers

No. 1 Pitt Men's Soccer Falls to High Point

Pitt Panthers men's soccer lost to non-confernence foe, High Point at home.

Dominic Campbell

Pitt Men's Soccer in a huddle before kickoff
Pitt Men's Soccer in a huddle before kickoff / Courtesy of Pitt Athletic

PITTSBURGH -- The No. 1 Pitt Panthers struggled offensively and fell to High Point, 1-0 at Ambrose Urbanic Field.

Pitt (10-3) dropped their second straight match, as they also lost to ACC foe Cal back on Oct. 12, 1-0. This also the first loss for Pitt against High Point (7-2-2), as they won their previous meeting back in 2014 in overtime at home, 1-0.

High Point took a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute to stun the hosts. Junior defender Beau Yantz put a cross into the box and freshman forward Frankie DeFrancesco rose up and headed it in past Pitt junior goalkeeper Cabral Carter. He managed to get that header by jumping on Pitt freshman defender Niklas Sørensen, but the referee did not call a foul.

Pitt struggled to create real chances in the first half, as High Point sat back and worked to cut off all chances they had. Pitt had just two shots throughout the period.

Carter kept Pitt in the game with an incredible kicksave in the 52nd minute, as High Point forward Celestin Blondel was through on a one-on-one attacking threat, keeping it at 1-0.

He came up big again in the 53rd minute, stopping Blondel again, and then diving to his right to stop a shot from DeFrancesco in the 57th minute.

Pitt had two corners soon after, but junior defender Jackson Gilman saw his shot blocked off the crossbar in the 60th minute.

The referee did go to the monitor to look for a penalty check in the 63rd minute for High Point, but didn't see anything in it.

High Point almost doubled their lead in the 66th minute, as graduate student forward Kaya Ignacio hit a powerful shot right off the crossbar.

Pitt would have two chances in the 77th minute and 82nd minute. Freshman forward Lasse Dahl crossed it into senior forward Luis Sahmkow, but High Point redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Josh Carron got onto it just before he got there. Senior midfielder Michael Sullivan rose for a header in the box, but it went over the goal.

Sahmkow almost scored in the 84th minute, as he just missed getting on a cross from senior midfielder Guilherme Feitosa. He then had a header in the 86th minute, but it was soft and Caron easily saved it.

Freshman defender Daniel Gamboa Gonzalez had the final chance on a header off a corner and it went wide in the 90th minute.

Pitt will head back into ACC play for the final three matches of the regular season, traveling to face No. 7 North Carolina on Oct. 19 for a 6:00 p.m. kickoff.

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Dominic Campbell
DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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