Pitt to Host Liberty in Home Opener

Friday, September 6

Pittsburgh, Pa.

7:30 PM

Pitt

Liberty

Tickets

Photo by: Alex Mowrey/Pitt Athletics

Pitt to Host Liberty in Home Opener

9/5/2019 6:39:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Game Notes ACCNX Live Stats

Panthers to Begin Four Game Homestand with Flames

PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh men's soccer team is set to host Liberty for its home opener Friday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Ambrose Urbanic Field.

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.

GAME PROMOTIONS

Friday's home opener against Liberty will be a part of a Pitt soccer doubleheader, with the women's team set for a 5 p.m. home match against Rhode Island.
The first 200 fans at the women's game will receive a 2019 Pitt Soccer Scarf voucher, which will be redeemable at halftime of the men's match.

LAST TIME OUT

Pitt dropped two highly competitive matches against No. 2 Indiana and Northwestern in the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic last weekend.
The Panthers dropped a 3-2 double overtime contest to the second-ranked Hoosiers in their season-opener Friday, Aug. 30, with junior Edward Kizza collecting two goals while junior Sito Sena and freshman Veljko Petkovic added one assist apiece.
Pitt then fell to Northwestern, 1-0, Sunday, Sept. 1 after seeing some stout defense from the Wildcats' goalkeeper, who recorded eight saves in the contest.
Kizza and Sena were both named to the All-Tournament Team for their efforts, with Kizza also earning the honor of Most Outstanding Offensive Player.

SIZING UP 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 faced No. 2 Indiana in their season-opener, and are set to square off with nine other teams either ranked or receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Poll in No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 5 Duke, No. 7 Virginia, No. 10 Virginia Tech, No. 11 Notre Dame, No. 20 North Carolina, No. 21 Akron, RV Denver and RV Boston College.

SYNOPSIS OF THE SQUAD

Pitt returns 14 players from a season ago in senior Alex Peperak, juniors Alexander Dexter, Edward Kizza and Sito Sena, redshirt sophomores Chad Stout and Tim Townsend, sophomores Rodrigo Almeida, Johan Penaranda, Nyk Sessock, Alexander Steinbach, Chandler Vaughn and Jackson Walti and redshirt freshmen Anthony Harding and Alec Townsend.
Both Kizza and Vaughn earned numerous accolades following the conclusion of the 2018 season, with Kizza being selected to the All-ACC First Team and All-Region Second Team and Vaughn being voted to the ACC All-Freshman Team, while both players earned All-ACC Academic Team honors.
The Panthers also welcome 12 newcomers in senior Braden Kline, redshirt juniors Arie Ammann and Tim Ekpone, juniors Matt Bailey and Bryce Washington and freshmen Lucas Cyriacus, Josh Hesson, Luke Mort, Valentin Noel, Arturo Ordonez, Veljko Petkovic and Sebastian Serpa.
The team's four transfer additions come from Penn State (Ammann), Providence (Kline), Rutgers (Washington) and UMBC (Bailey). Ekpone, who competed for the Panthers in 2017, will be rejoining the team for its 2019 campaign.

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 11^th in points per game (1.67), while ranking first in each category amongst 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.
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.
Through two games, Kizza paces the team in shots (eight), shots on goal (five), points (four) and goals (two).

THE SERIES – LIBERTY

The Panthers and Flames will be meeting for the first time in program history this Friday.
Dating back to his Wake Forest days, head coach Jay Vidovich owns a 2-1 all-time record against Liberty.

SCOUTING THE FLAMES

Liberty enters Friday's contest with a 1-1 record, picking up a 2-1 win over Radford Friday, Aug. 30 before dropping a 1-0 decision to Incarnate Word Sunday, Sept. 1.
The Flames closed out their 2018 campaign with a 7-7-1 overall record, including a 2-3-1 mark against ASUN competition.
Liberty's coached by Kelly Findley, who's in his first season with the team. Findley owns a 122-99-28 career record after spending time at Mars Hill, Butler and NC State.
Through two games, junior Jordan Barbara and sophomore Sebastian Valdez own the team's lone goals on the season with one apiece.
In goal, junior Brogan Engbers has started both matches, allowing two goals while collecting seven saves.

TICKETS NOW ON SALE

Flex season tickets for all nine regular season home matches are available to purchase for $30. The package includes nine tickets that can be used traditionally (one ticket/game) or in any combination (3 tickets/3 games, 9 tickets/1 game, etc). Season ticket holders will also receive a Pitt soccer scarf. Single game tickets for all home matches are now available as well. Purchases may be made online at pittsburghpanthers.com/tickets or by calling the Panthers Ticket Office at 800-643-7488.

UP NEXT