BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s soccer team hung tough with ACC-foe Pitt for the first 69 minutes of a Sunday afternoon game at Ulrich Sports Complex until the Panthers rattled off three goals in six minutes to capture a 3-0 victory. Lehigh falls to 1-1 with the loss, while Pitt improves to 1-0-1 with the win.

 

“The result is obviously disappointing,” said head coach Dean Koski. “It was evident to us that we were tired coming off a game less than 48 hours earlier and not having more than three subs on the bench caught up to us. We were a little bit disconnected in the first half and you could clearly see we were tired in the second half.”

 

The Mountain Hawks put together the first offensive attack of the game just two minutes in with a corner kick that was followed by a shot from senior Jamie Luchini that sailed high over the crossbar. Freshman Donovan Perayeff got a head on a free kick from Luchini just minutes later, but the header flew just high.

 

Lehigh controlled possession for much of the first ten minutes until a shot from Pitt’s Kevin Murray was blocked by Lehigh’s backline. The Panthers controlled tempo for a majority of the rest of the first half, firing off six more shots in the next 30 minutes, two of which were stopped by Lehigh junior keeper Jacob Gottwald. The Mountain Hawks picked up pace towards the end of the half with two shots and a corner kick, but the contest went into halftime scoreless.

 

Lehigh had the first scoring opportunity of the second half, but a header from senior Austin Decker sailed high less than two minutes into the half. Luchini fired Lehigh’s first shot on goal of the game in the 58th minute, but Pitt keeper Dan Lynd was there to make the stop. Pitt’s Patrick Dixon got off a shot on goal shortly after, but Gottwald made a diving save to deflect the ball over the crossbar to keep the game scoreless.

 

Gottwald was forced to make two more saves in the next two minutes, but Dixon struck in the 70th minute when he sent the ball into the upper left-hand corner of the net. Less than a minute later, Dixon fired a bullet from just outside the 18-yard box into the upper middle of the net past the reach of Gottwald to quickly put the Panthers ahead 2-0. In the 76th minute, Pitt’s Curren Page added another goal on a missile from 30 yards out that soared across the box and straight into the far upper corner of the net. Lehigh had one more chance in the 78th minute on a shot from junior Danny Gonzalez, but a Pitt defender bicycle kicked the ball off the goal line to keep Pitt’s shutout alive as the Panthers claimed a 3-0 win.

 

Pitt held a 19-7 shot advantage, including 10-2 shots on goal edge. Gottwald finished the game with seven saves compared to Lynd’s two stops.

 

Next up, the Mountain Hawks travel to Manhattan on Wednesday Sept. 2 before hosting Cornell at the Ulrich Sports Complex on Sept. 7.

 

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