Friday, September 3
Pittsburgh, Pa.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
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Pittsburgh
2-1-0, 0-0-0
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Lehigh
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Photo by: Matt Hawley
Mountain Hawks can't overcome early deficit, fall to No. 3 Pitt on the road
9/4/2021 12:05:00 AM | Men's Soccer
PITTSBURGH – The Lehigh men's soccer team fought tooth and nail, but couldn't quite overcome the firepower of No. 3 Pitt, falling 2-1 to the Panthers Friday night at Ambrose Urbanic Field. The Mountain Hawks (0-3-0) scored late in the 86th minute from Bratislav Petkovic, but Pitt's defense held the deficit to just one goal.
"We knew going into the game against one of the best teams in the country that we didn't want to open up the game against them because that's counterintuitive to how they wanted to play," said The Ingrassia Family Men's Head Soccer Coach Dean Koski. "So, we knew that we had to be defensive and to look to counter whenever we had chances, and it worked the way we hoped it worked early on. We were okay with them having the better of the ball. We just wanted to make sure that we didn't expose ourselves.
"Frustratingly, I thought we did everything we needed to do until the last 30 seconds of the first half when we didn't track down a runner, they got in behind us and scored a goal late. That was a bit of a backbreaker because we really wanted to get out of the half at zeroes so we could regroup and put pressure on them heading into the second. To our guys' credit, they regrouped and came out in the second half and made some changes."
Lehigh's offense got the upper hand early thanks to a shot on goal from Josh Luchini in the 13th minute, followed just seconds later by a chance from Perry Kingson. Four Pitt shots in a span of 15 minutes went off target as the score went 0-0 until the very end of the first half.
Senior goalkeeper Noah Sutherland made two saves in the 44th minute, while Veljko Petkovic found the back of the net in the 45th to give Pitt a 1-0 lead heading into the locker room.
Pitt led the way in first half chances with 10, opposed to Lehigh's three. Sutherland stopped three shots in that period.
Luchini registered his second shot on goal of the game, a team save that kept the Mountain Hawks off the board in the 49th minute.
Three straight Pitt shots in the following nine minutes went off target, while Bertin Jacquesson missed out top right in the 63rd.
Rodrigo Almeida put the Panthers up 2-0 in the 76th minute off the assist from Jasper Loeffelsend, but it was Bratislav Petkovic who brought the Mountain Hawks within one on the unassisted strike in the 86th.
"Bratislav's goal was a counterattack and he picked up the ball at midfield and to his credit, he drove at the backs, they dropped and when he got into the shooting range, he slotted the ball really nicely down low to the far post," said Koski. "He did a great job with that, his instincts were good and I think it was fun for Bratislav to score especially when his younger brother (Veljko) scored as well. I was really happy for Bratislav tonight. We're not celebrating a loss, but we know made some progress today."
Pitt's defense held Lehigh without a shot for the final five minutes, coming away with the 2-1 win.
The Panthers, bouncing back from a shocking 2-1 defeat to West Virginia on the road on Monday night, earn their second win over the Mountain Hawks dating back to the NCAA Tournament in 2019. Pitt improves to 2-1-0 in the early goings.
Lehigh was out-shot 16-5, including 6-3 in shots on goal. Sutherland saved four shots to Pitt's one, while the Panthers led the way in corner kicks (6-1) and fouls (12-8).
Luchini led the way with two shots, while Kingson, Petkovic and Michael Tahiru each had one.
We're making progress and I think that every game, if we take a step forward, that's a good thing," Koski said. "Certainly, coming out here and playing Pitt was an important game for us to have. We're glad we had this game and we'll continue to challenge our program. And also, it was really good to get Trevor Koski back out on the field for the first time this season. The last time he played was in 2019 on this very field.
"Just getting him some minutes and trying to get him game fit, he certainly settled us down out there. I think the more Trevor plays, the more we can play the way we want to play."
The Mountain Hawks head back on the road next Friday to take on Rutgers, still searching for their first win of the 2021 campaign. Lehigh is looking to avoid its first 0-4 start to a season since 2012 (0-7).
"Heading into the Rutgers game, we've just got to continue to do what we've been doing week in and week out," said Koski. Show up to practice, work hard, try to work on the things that we need to improve, have a good mentality, put team first and just put the time in to get better, put the time in to work hard.
"Not every game is going to be about who's the best team on the field. It's sometimes about who's going to work harder, who's going to defend better and who wants it more. If we can get our guys all on board with that, I think we can have success not only moving forward with our nonleague games, but with our league games too. Every game has to provide us an opportunity to grow and get better."
Like Lehigh Men's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.Gallery: (9-3-2021) Men's Soccer at Pitt, 9/4/21
"We knew going into the game against one of the best teams in the country that we didn't want to open up the game against them because that's counterintuitive to how they wanted to play," said The Ingrassia Family Men's Head Soccer Coach Dean Koski. "So, we knew that we had to be defensive and to look to counter whenever we had chances, and it worked the way we hoped it worked early on. We were okay with them having the better of the ball. We just wanted to make sure that we didn't expose ourselves.
"Frustratingly, I thought we did everything we needed to do until the last 30 seconds of the first half when we didn't track down a runner, they got in behind us and scored a goal late. That was a bit of a backbreaker because we really wanted to get out of the half at zeroes so we could regroup and put pressure on them heading into the second. To our guys' credit, they regrouped and came out in the second half and made some changes."
Lehigh's offense got the upper hand early thanks to a shot on goal from Josh Luchini in the 13th minute, followed just seconds later by a chance from Perry Kingson. Four Pitt shots in a span of 15 minutes went off target as the score went 0-0 until the very end of the first half.
Senior goalkeeper Noah Sutherland made two saves in the 44th minute, while Veljko Petkovic found the back of the net in the 45th to give Pitt a 1-0 lead heading into the locker room.
Pitt led the way in first half chances with 10, opposed to Lehigh's three. Sutherland stopped three shots in that period.
Luchini registered his second shot on goal of the game, a team save that kept the Mountain Hawks off the board in the 49th minute.
Three straight Pitt shots in the following nine minutes went off target, while Bertin Jacquesson missed out top right in the 63rd.
Rodrigo Almeida put the Panthers up 2-0 in the 76th minute off the assist from Jasper Loeffelsend, but it was Bratislav Petkovic who brought the Mountain Hawks within one on the unassisted strike in the 86th.
"Bratislav's goal was a counterattack and he picked up the ball at midfield and to his credit, he drove at the backs, they dropped and when he got into the shooting range, he slotted the ball really nicely down low to the far post," said Koski. "He did a great job with that, his instincts were good and I think it was fun for Bratislav to score especially when his younger brother (Veljko) scored as well. I was really happy for Bratislav tonight. We're not celebrating a loss, but we know made some progress today."
Pitt's defense held Lehigh without a shot for the final five minutes, coming away with the 2-1 win.
The Panthers, bouncing back from a shocking 2-1 defeat to West Virginia on the road on Monday night, earn their second win over the Mountain Hawks dating back to the NCAA Tournament in 2019. Pitt improves to 2-1-0 in the early goings.
Lehigh was out-shot 16-5, including 6-3 in shots on goal. Sutherland saved four shots to Pitt's one, while the Panthers led the way in corner kicks (6-1) and fouls (12-8).
Luchini led the way with two shots, while Kingson, Petkovic and Michael Tahiru each had one.
We're making progress and I think that every game, if we take a step forward, that's a good thing," Koski said. "Certainly, coming out here and playing Pitt was an important game for us to have. We're glad we had this game and we'll continue to challenge our program. And also, it was really good to get Trevor Koski back out on the field for the first time this season. The last time he played was in 2019 on this very field.
"Just getting him some minutes and trying to get him game fit, he certainly settled us down out there. I think the more Trevor plays, the more we can play the way we want to play."
The Mountain Hawks head back on the road next Friday to take on Rutgers, still searching for their first win of the 2021 campaign. Lehigh is looking to avoid its first 0-4 start to a season since 2012 (0-7).
"Heading into the Rutgers game, we've just got to continue to do what we've been doing week in and week out," said Koski. Show up to practice, work hard, try to work on the things that we need to improve, have a good mentality, put team first and just put the time in to get better, put the time in to work hard.
"Not every game is going to be about who's the best team on the field. It's sometimes about who's going to work harder, who's going to defend better and who wants it more. If we can get our guys all on board with that, I think we can have success not only moving forward with our nonleague games, but with our league games too. Every game has to provide us an opportunity to grow and get better."
Like Lehigh Men's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
PITT
Goals
1
2
Shots
5
16
Shots on Goal
3
6
Saves
4
1
Corners
1
6
Fouls
8
12
Scoring Plays
Veljko Petkovic (3)
Assisted By: Jasper Loeffelsend , Filip Mirkovic
GOAL by PITT Petkovic, Veljko Assist by Loeffelsend, Jasper and Mirkovic, Filip.
44:26
Rodrigo Almeida (2)
Assisted By: Jasper Loeffelsend
GOAL by PITT Almeida, Rodrigo Assist by Loeffelsend, Jasper.
75:27
Bratislav Petkovic (1)
Assisted By: Josh Luchini , Euan Forrest
GOAL by LEHIGH Petkovic, Bratislav Assist by Luchini, Josh and Forrest, Euan.
85:44
Game Leaders
Shots
1
SOG
1
Goals
1
Assists
0
Shots
2
SOG
2
Goals
0
Assists
1
Shots
0
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
1
Shots
1
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
0
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Soccer
M
/ Men's SoccerF
/ Men's SoccerF
/ Men's Soccer
GK
/ Men's SoccerF/M
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