Women's Soccer Falls 2-1 at Pitt in First Loss of Season

Sunday, August 28

Pittsburgh, Pa.

1 p.m.

Xavier University

2-1-1, 0-0-0

University of Pittsburgh

1-2-1, 0-0-0

Xavier

Pitt

Women's Soccer Falls 2-1 at Pitt in First Loss of Season

08.28.16 | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Statistics (PDF)Box Score (PDF)

Samantha Dewey gets first tally of the season as Xavier moves to 2-1-1 overall

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

PITTSBURGH - Xavier women's soccer cut a two-goal halftime deficit in half, but the Musketeers were unable to score the equalizer, falling 2-1 at Pittsburgh on Sunday. Xavier moves to 2-1-1 on the season, the program's best record through four games since 2013.

PITT STRIKES FIRST

The Panthers got a pair of tallies in the first 25 minutes of the match, both coming from Alex Wright. Wright's first goal came in the third minute after the ball was saved off the line, finding Wright in front of the net. She buried the ball to the left side of the goal to put Pitt up 1-0.

Wright picked up a second goal after goalkeeper Rachel Piccus made a save in the 24th minute. Wright found the ball on the rebound and buried it to put the Panthers up 2-0.

Piccus collected seven saves on the day to keep the Musketeers within striking distance. Courtney Kobashigawa played the full 90 minutes on the backline and Carly Alfano played 85, helping limit the Panther offense.

DEWEY GETS FIRST OF SEASON

After the Musketeers fell behind 2-0 in the first half, Samantha Dewey struck for her first goal of the season in the second, cutting the lead in half. In the 59th minute, Courtney Kobashigawa played the ball up the field, feeding it in front of the net from just outside the box. Dewey got behind the defenders and buried the ball in the goal from inside the six yard box, cutting the Pittsburgh lead to 2-1.

XU had a number of opportunities for the equalizer, getting a pair of corner kicks after forcing the Pitt goalkeeper to collect two of her seven saves in the last 15 minutes of the game, but were unable to find a clean look at the net.

The Musketeers out-shot the Panthers, 16-9, on the day, with Tori Doss leading the way with four attempts, including one on goal. Dewey finished with three shots, with a pair of those on goal, including her goal midway through the second half. Ellie Eckerle, Maddie Tierney and Jessica Miller also finished with shots on goal.

FROM COACH SHERWOOD

"First off congratulations to Greg Miller and his staff. He had his team very well prepared, they are organized and attack well, there's a reason why they're in arguably the best conference in the country. That being said, I told our team that was the proudest defeat I've probably ever had. For us to have to go 110 minutes on Friday night while Pitt had an extra day of rest, playing Thursday, I was concerned we wouldn't have enought gas in the tank but we certainly brought it for 90 minutes today. We were clearly the better team on the day. Two abnormal, costly errors in the first half on situations that should have been completely harmless and next thing you know, we're down 2-0. Our kids played great for 75 of the 90 minutes and honestly deserved a better result than they got."

UP NEXT

Xavier plays the final road match of a four-game road swing on Friday, Sept. 2, as Xavier heads up the road to old Atlantic 10 Dayton to take on the Flyers at 5:00 p.m. The match marks the first time the two programs have matched up in an official contest since the Musketeers joined the BIG EAST in 2013. Xavier will then return home to host NKU on Tuesday, Sept. 6, at 6:30 p.m.