Inside The Panthers

Pitt Men's Soccer Defeats Georgetown in Season Opener

Pitt Panthers men's soccer upset No. 16 Georgetown in their season opener at home.

Dominic Campbell

Pitt Men's Soccer forward Luis Sahmkow celebrates with the fans after scoring a goal in the 2-0 win over No. 16 Georgetown at Ambrose Urbanic Field
Pitt Men's Soccer forward Luis Sahmkow celebrates with the fans after scoring a goal in the 2-0 win over No. 16 Georgetown at Ambrose Urbanic Field / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers men's soccer team played an incredible game against No. 16 Georgetown in front of a sold-out crowd at Ambrose Urbanic Field Thursday night, winning 2-0 in the season opener.

The Panthers (1-0-0) get revenge on the Hoyas (0-0-1), who dominated them last season in Washington, D.C., 4-1. They also defeated the Hoyas in their last meeting at home in the 2022 season opener, 2-1.

"Just really happy," Panthers head coach Jay Vidovich said on the win. "I think overall, the guys competed well...Overall I just think they competed well and competed intelligently and did a really good job. They weathered the storm of the second half. Georgetown is a quality team. The way they started the second half put us on the back foot, but we recovered and got some good looks."

Pitt played some fantastic soccer throughout the first half, with players working together, combining passes and showing off their finesse and technqiue.

The first big chance for the Panthers came in the 17th minute between seniors in midfielder Guilherme Feitosa and forward Luis Sahmkow, who did some great passing moves, but Sahmkow's shot went right at Hoyas junior goalkeeper Tenzing Menske.

Pitt senior midfielder Casper Grening, who transferred in from Kentucky, had an incredible first half, taking on any Georgetown defender that stood in his way.

He made a run and put in a cross into the middle of the box to junior defender Casper Svendby, a Dayton transfer, who completely miskicked it in the 20th minute.

Panthers sophomore forward Albert Thorsen put in a good cross to Grening, who blasted a volley, but saw it blocked in the 25th minute.

Pitt would open the scoring in the 27th minute, with Grening moving into the box and putting in a cross to Thorsen, who headed it down to left of Manske and into the net for the goal.

Thorsen also scored the first goal of the season as a freshman in 2023, tying the game up against rival Penn State for a tight and physical 1-1 draw.

"I mean, that's every attacker's dream," Thorsen said. "Just score goals, help the team win and the fact that I was able to do it this season as well is just an incredible start for both me and the team to go on this season and do better than last year."

Grening had another chance in the 29th minute, after some great team passing, but Manske dove to his right and made the save.

Pitt almost doubled their lead on another scoring opportunity in the 39th minute. Grening dribbled at his defender and put a cross in that Manske got his foot onto. The ball presented itself right to freshman midfielder Miguel Bertran in the box, but he shot it right off the crossbar and out for a goal kick.

Senior Michael Sullivan filled in for junior Jackson Gilman at centre-back for the Panthers, after Gilman had to sit out the game due to a red card he received in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

Sullivan made a great clearance on a cross in the 61st minute and then made a slide tackle block on Hoyas freshman forward Mitchell Baker in the 67th minute.

Georgetown had one of their best opportunities to score in the 71st minute, as junior midfielder Max Viera had the ball for him at the top of the box, but he put his shot way over the bar.

Grening came back out onto the pitch in the 72nd minute and just three minutes later, almost scored, blasting a curling shot that just went over the bar.

"I thought he was electric," Vidovich said on Grening. "I thought one-on-one in the first half, he turned the corner several times and just asked a lot of questions of Georgetown. They tried to solve it with four, five guys all over him...He's very dynamic.."

Carter would make another great diving stop, pushing out a shot for a corner in the 77th minute.

Sahmkow doubled Pitt's lead in the 78th minute, with some nifty footwork and placing a curling shot into the net past Manske. He would then run over to the sold-out home crowd and celebrated with them.

He missed a great scoring opportunity just a few minutes prior when Feitosa put him through on goal, but he miss hit it. When he got this opportunity, he had his defender to the right, trusted his foot and knew it was going in once he shot it."

"It feels good," Sahmkow said on the win. "It feels good. We knew we had a strong team coming into this game and like I said, just sticking to that goal and just buying in together. I think that's the huge thing."

Pitt will stay home for their next game against Mercyhurst, who recently made their move from Division II to Division I prior to the start of this season.

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Dominic Campbell

DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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