The Virginia men’s soccer team (7-3, 3-1) was riding high Friday night coming into Pittsburgh to face the #10 ranked Panthers team (5-3-1, 2-2). Just six days prior, the Wahoos left Syracuse with a 1-0 upset win over the #3 ranked Orange.
Virginia carried their momentum into this game and immediately put it on display with Phil Horton scoring an unassisted goal less than a minute into the contest. Both teams struggled back and forth, until Pitt’s Valentin Noel scored the tying goal at the 28-minute mark, assisted by Henrique Gallina. The game would go into the half still tied up at 1-1.
After the break, Reese Miller was able to score a go-ahead goal at the 61-minute mark, assisted by Phil Horton and Leo Alfonso, to give the Hoos a 2-1 lead. At the 73-minute mark, Phil Horton would put the nail in the coffin, earning his second unassisted goal and fifth point of the night to give Virginia a 3-1 lead. This lead would stand for the rest of the game, earning UVA their third conference win of the season.
Thanks to this win, Virginia now sits at second place in the ACC Coastal division, behind #4 Duke, who is 3-0-1 in conference play. Pitt, who has now lost two in a row, will host #17 Clemson next Friday night, October 7th. UVA will return to Klöckner Stadium to host #13 Denver at 6 PM on Tuesday night, October 4th, looking for their third win in a row against a ranked opponent.
