Panthers Hit The Road Friday For ACC Battle With Virginia Tech

PITTSBURGH – The Pitt men's soccer team (5-3-3, 2-2-1 ACC) hits the road for an Atlantic Coast Conference contest Friday evening as they head to Blacksburg, VA to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies. Friday's match will air on ACC Network Extra at 5:00 pm.

FOLLOW ALONG

Friday night's contest will be live on ACC Network Extra and can be found online HERE.
Live stats for Friday's game can be found HERE.
Live updates throughout the game will also be posted on Twitter by following the Pitt men's soccer account @Pitt_MSOC.

THE SERIES – VIRGINIA TECH

This meeting marks the 15th meeting of all-time between the two programs with the series tied 5-5-4.
The Panthers have won five straight meetings between the two sides including a pair of meetings last season. Pitt downed the Hokies 2-1 in double overtime in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament at Ambrose Urbanic Field thanks to a pair of goals by Valentin Noel.
Pitt is 1-3-2 all-time against the Hokies in Blacksburg with the lone road win for the Panthers coming in 2021 by the score of 2-1 in double overtime.

SCOUTING THE HOKIES

Virginia Tech enters Friday's match with a 2-9-1 overall record and a 0-5 ACC mark. The Hokies are coming off of a 2-0 loss at North Carolina last Friday.
The Hokies are led offensively by Danny Flores who has four goals, two assists and 10 points on a team-high 26 shots. Conor Pugh has recorded three goals while Misei Yoshizawa has two goals, two assists and six points on 18 shots so far this season.
In goal, Ben Martino has started 11 matches and owns a 1-9-1 record to go along with a 1.78 goals-against average and one shutout while making 35 saves. Connor Jordan-Hyde has made one start and collected a cleansheet win with nine saves against East Tennessee State.

FACING RANKED OPPONENTS

The Panthers are no stranger to nationally ranked opponents. Pitt has played a total of seven nationally ranked opponents through their first 11 games of the season for the first time in program history.
Pitt opened the season with back-to-back wins over top-10 programs for the first time in program history as they downed No. 2 Georgetown 2-1 and No. 6 West Virginia 3-0.
Pitt is 4-0-1 against top-5 opponents over the last two seasons as they downed Georgeotwn (No. 2), Clemson (No. 2), Duke (No. 3) and North Carolina (No. 4) during the regular season and tied Notre Dame (No. 4) in the Elite Eight last season.
Overall, Pitt is 6-2-4 against nationally ranked foes over the last two seasons.
Over the last three seasons, Pitt owns a 10-5-4 record against ranked opponents.
Currently, Pitt has two more ranked opponents remaining on their regular season schedule including next Monday against #25 Duquesne.

SCORING FIRST A MUST FOR PITT

One of the keys to victory for the Panthers over the last four seasons has been scoring the first goal of the match.
Since 2019, Pitt owns a 37-1-2 overall record when they record the first goal of the match.
The Panthers are 4-0 this year when scoring the first goal while being just 1-3-3 when allowing the first goal of the match.
Pitt hasn't lost a game when scoring the first goal since falling to #2 Indiana 3-2 in double overtime on August 30, 2019.

Season             Record             Win %
2022                 4-0-0                1.000
2021                 11-0-2              .923
2020-21            14-0-0              1.000
2019                 8-1-0                .889

UP NEXT

Pitt returns home Monday night as they welcome cross-town rival Duquesne for a non-conference match at Ambrose Urbanic Field.
Monday's match will kick at 7:00 pm and air on ACC Network Extra.
Pitt owns the 9-0-2 record in the all-time series against the Dukes including a 6-0-1 mark at home.
The Panthers have won four straight in the series including a 7-0 victory last season at home in the season opener. Jacquesson, Noel and Almeida each netted goals for the Panthers in the win.

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Panthers Hit The Road Friday For ACC Battle With Virginia Tech

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Valentin Noel

Panthers Hit The Road Friday For ACC Battle With Virginia Tech

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Valentin Noel

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