Pitt Hosts Denver Monday

PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh men's soccer team [3-3-2, 1-1-1 ACC] is set to host the Denver Pioneers [1-5-2, 0-0-1 Summit] for the first time in program history Monday, Sept. 30 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 Monday can be found here.
Fans can also follow the match with live updates on Twitter.

LAST TIME OUT

The Panthers continued road ACC play as they faced Syracuse Friday, Sept. 27 in New York.
Pitt and the Orange played to a 1-1 double overtime draw.
Syracuse struck first, finding the back of the net in the 18^th minute.
The Panthers responded in the 37^th minute as freshman Veljko Petkovic received a pass from junior Edward Kizza in the box through traffic and buried the ball into the left corner.
The Orange outshot the Panthers 6-1 through both overtime periods, but neither team was able to score.
Senior Arie Ammann had another solid performance in goal, making a season-high nine saves.

THE SERIES – DENVER

Monday will be the first meeting between Pitt and Denver.

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS

Denver heads to Pittsburgh with just one win under its belt, which came against Cal Sept. 15.
In their last time out, the Pioneers opened Summit League action with a 0-0 double overtime draw with Eastern Illinois.
Denver is led by fifth year head coach Jamie Franks, who owns a 62-17-12 career record. Franks joined the Pioneers' staff in 2012 as an assistant coach.
Junior forward Josh Drack leads the team with five points this season after netting two goals and one assist.
Denver concluded the 2018 season 15-4-2 overall and 4-0-1 in conference play, capturing the Summit League Championship. The Pioneers then lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Air Force, 2-1.

COMING FULL CIRCLE

Prior to his success at Wake Forest over the course of 21 years, Vidovich began his coaching career at Denver.
While at Wake Forest, current Wake Forest head coach Bobby Muuss was an assistant coach under Vidovich until the 2007 season. That year, Muuss took the head coaching position at Denver while current Denver head coach Jamie Franks was in his junior season at Wake Forest. In 2007 Wake Forest won the College Cup.
In 2009, Franks joined the Wake Forest coaching staff as the Director of Operations, followed by a two-year stint as a volunteer assistant coach.
Franks then joined Muuss at Denver as an assistant coach.
In 2015, Vidovich stepped away from college soccer to join the Portland Timbers, Muuss returned to Wake Forest as the head coach and Franks became the youngest head coach in Division I soccer at Denver.
Things came full circle for Vidovich when he returned to college soccer after accepting the head coaching position at the University of Pittsburgh.
In 2016, Muuss and Franks squared off in the NCAA College Cup. READ: Vidovich Disciples Head to Final Four

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 four starts thus far.
Petkovic ranks second 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.

THE 2019 SLATE

Pitt faces some tough competition in the 2019 season, with a schedule that includes 10 NCAA Tournament teams and two NCAA College Cup squads from a year ago.
The Panthers have already faced then-ranked No. 2 Indiana, No. 1 Wake Forest and RV Akron on the season, and are set to square off with six other teams either ranked or receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Poll in No. 5 Virginia, No. 11 North Carolina, No. 15 Duke, No. 16 Notre Dame, No. 17 Virginia Tech and RV Boston College.

UP NEXT

Monday's game opens a four-game homestand for Pitt as the team hosts North Carolina Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m.
The Panthers then take on Howard Monday, Oct. 7 and Virginia Tech Friday, Oct. 11.

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