Pitt Faces #20 North Carolina Friday

PITTSBURGH -- The University of Pittsburgh men's soccer team [4-3-2, 1-1-1 ACC] is set to host the No. 20 North Carolina Tar Heels [5-2-2, 2-1-0 ACC] for the seventh time in program history Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. at Ambrose Urbanic Field in the Petersen Sports Complex.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Friday's game will be broadcast live on ACCNX and may be viewed by clicking here.
Live stats for Friday can be found here.
Fans can also follow the match with live updates on Twitter.

LAST TIME OUT

The Panthers played their first of a four-game homestand against Denver on Sept. 30.
Pitt outlasted the Pioneers, 3-2, in double overtime in the teams' first meeting.
Denver struck first, finding the back of the net in the 41st minute.
The Panthers responded with two goals within four minutes of each other to go ahead 2-1 to start the second half.
Freshman Valentin Noel scored the first goal off a pass from junior Sito Sena. Sena scored the second goal after receiving help from junior Edward Kizza and sophomore Nyk Sessock.
Kizza scored the game winning goal in the 107th minute. It was Kizza's fifth goal of the season, ending a four-game scoreless streak.
Senior Arie Ammann had another solid performance in goal, ending the night with a 0.714 save percentage.

THE SERIES - NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina leads the all-time series, 6-0.
The teams' last meeting came in 2018, with the Tar Heels securing a 2-1 win in double overtime in North Carolina.
The Panthers have never defeated the Tar Heels, despite head coach Jay Vidovich having a 9-12-6 career record against North Carolina.

SCOUTING THE TAR HEELS

North Carolina heads to Pittsburgh with five wins under its belt, inclduing two over ranked opponents.
In their last time out, the Tar Heels came away with a 2-0 win over UNCW. Senior midfielder Mauricio Pineda and senior forward Jelani Pieters both scored in the win.
Ninth year head coach Carlos Somoana, who owns a 121-30-22 career record, leads North Carolina. Somoana has spent his entire career as a head coach with the Tar Heels.
Junior forward Alex Rose and Pieters lead the team with 12 points this season. Rose leads the team with five goals and has also racked up two assists. Pieters has four goals and is tied for first with a team high four assists.
UNC concluded the 2018 season 14-4-1 overall and 6-1-0 in conference play, losing to Louisville 1-0 in the ACC Championship. The Tar Heels then lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to James Madison, 2-1.

KIZZA COMMANDING ATTENTION

Junior Edward Kizza closed out his 2018 campaign tied for third in program history for single-season goals (15) while ranking fifth in points (30).
Kizza ranked fifth in goals nationally, ninth in shot accuracy (.622) and 11th in points per game (1.67), while ranking first in each category among ACC players.
The historic season led Kizza to First Team All-ACC honors, Second Team All-Region recognition and a spot on the All-ACC Academic Team.
Through nine games, Kizza leads the team in points (12), goals (5) and shots (28).
The Kampala, Uganda, native picked up right where he left off to start the 2019 season, recording a brace against No. 2 Indiana in the squad's season-opener Friday, Aug. 30. In the match, Kizza recorded the fastest consecutive goals in program history after scoring at the 35:24 and 35:31 mark, with the seven-second difference besting the old record of 34 seconds set by Michael Tuohy and John Cordier in 2013. Kizza scored the game winning goal on Sept. 30 versus Denver.

PANTHERS EARN ACADEMIC HONOR

For the fourth consecutive year, the men's soccer team has earned the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award.
Teams had to have posted a team GPA of 3.0 or higher for the 2018-19 academic year.
The award is the seventh overall for Pitt.

FRESHMEN FOCUS

The Panthers freshmen class has made an immediate impact through the first eight games of the 2019 season.
Pitt's starting lineup usually consists of three freshmen in Valentin Noel, Arturo Ordonez and Veljko Petkovic, while Josh Hesson has made five starts thus far.
Petkovic ranks third on the team with eight points after netting three goals and two assists. He's appeared in all eight games and has made four starts.

UP NEXT

Pitt's match up versus North Carolina is the Panthers' second game of a four-game homestand.
Pitt takes on Howard Monday, Oct. 7 and Virginia Tech Friday, Oct. 11.

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Pitt Faces #20 North Carolina Friday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Arie Ammann

Josh Hesson

Edward Kizza

Valentin Noel

Arturo Ordoñez

Veljko Petkovic

Sito Sena

Nyk Sessock

Pitt Faces #20 North Carolina Friday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Arie Ammann

Josh Hesson

Edward Kizza

Valentin Noel

Arturo Ordoñez

Veljko Petkovic

Sito Sena

Nyk Sessock

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