Pitt beats georgetown
- Thread starter ThePanthers
- Start date
Maybe, but it won't be because they clobbered a mid-table (at best) A10 team. As someone who has seen a lot of A10 women's soccer (although not in the last couple years), those teams are really not good at all.
Georgetown and ND last year were the 2 best teams I've seen play at Pitt in the last 4-5 years. Georgetown was probably the better team on the night, not by much, but they're legit. They just didn't seem to have a finisher, a #9 like ND's Lynn, as they has had their chances. When WVU comes in, I expect them to sit back and defend the whole game and hope to win 1-0 on a counter. I don't know what WVU brought in but we were significantly more talented last year.
Watched the 1st half just now on ESPN Plus. Fell behind so fast, but scored 21 seconds after Georgetown went up 1-0. Jacquesson was trying to cross and the ball deflected slightly off the defender’s foot and went over the GK’s head and went in the far corner. Noel scored less than 6 minutes later off a beautiful feed and a terrific finish.
The possession was pretty even in the 1st Half. However, I thought Pitt had by far the better of the play. Spent far more time in the attacking end and had the best chances.
Van der Saar started in goal, and I didn’t like his ball distribution. I understand it’s the first game he has started but he was very slow in getting rid of the ball. A few times he had it at his feet with the outside backs wide open and just held onto the ball. Pitt likes to play from the back and he just slowed the offense down.
I thought we pressed very well. Their MF gave up the ball a lot. I only remember them having one good scoring chances after their goal. We had 4 or 5, including at least 3 passes which just missed. There were some very good passes from the back to players who were open in the attacking zone. Nice to see. Almeida received one of them on the left side about 40 meters from goal and made a play I didn’t understand at all. He was behind his defender with what looked like a clear run at goal. But, he tried to chip it over the goalie’s head from 40 yards out instead. The GK wasn’t nearly far enough out of goal for that to be effective.
Second half is starting now. I hope we played as well.
UPDATE: Georgetown dominated the second half. They substituted freely the entire game and were much fresher. In the second half, Pitt played a freshman ftom PA at LB and a sophomore from France at RB and Georgetown was able to attack down the wings. It was hot out and the announcers commented that the heat appeared to be getting to the Pitt players and Georgetown had fresher legs. Van der Saar had an excellent 2d half, making 2 or 3 terrific saves, including a reflex save on what looked to be a sure Georgetown goal. Georgetown also had two great opportunities that they failed to get on frame.
Pitt also had some chances on counters, but it appeared they were too tired to take advantage of them. Jacquesson had an incredible long run down the right side where he came from 5 meters behind one Georgetown player to beat him to the ball, then crossed it beautifully, but no Pitt player was there to get on the end of the cross. That run appeared to take a lot of energy out of him.
Samhkow played the #9 position for most of the game, with Noel on the left and Jacquesson on the right, and had a nice game. He had Pitt’s best chance in the 2d half, cleanly beating a defender and was 1-on-with the goalie. But, it was a difficult angle and his shot hit the GK in the face. If he could have chipped it, he would have scored, but I think Messi is the only player in the world who could have chipped it from that spot.
Almeida, who had 7 goals and 6 assists last year playing as an attacking MF, was somewhat disappointing IMO. Last year he had 5 goals in his first 5 starts and then cooled off, so maybe the expectations for this year were too high. He was one of the players who got substituted for and got a decent rest on the bench.
Georgetown won the title in 2019, was a quarterfinalist in 2020 and a semifinalist last year, and the announcers made a point at how differently the teams have been built. We have 6 graduate transfers; they have none. They have 7 freshmen and 15 sophomores and juniors; we actually have 9 freshmen (probably a record for Vidovich) but only 7 sophomores and juniors. The point they were trying to subtly make was that Georgetown’s approach is a better way to build a program if you can do it that way. You always will have players experienced in the program to step in for those who graduate. Vidovich didn’t have that luxury in rebuilding the program from nothing.
Next year, Vidovich is going to have to probably replace 7 starters and will probably have to replace most of them again with transfers. For the second straight year, he will have to replace all 4 defenders. And, as extra Covid years disappear, it will be harder to do with transfers. We might have to expect a down season as he restocks with young players. He didn’t hit Europe hard this past year , so hopefully he can bring in some excellent young Europeans next year. There are three freshmen listed as defenders, but all 3 are short and I suspect they all play LB and RB. No young CBs on the roster.
The possession was pretty even in the 1st Half. However, I thought Pitt had by far the better of the play. Spent far more time in the attacking end and had the best chances.
Van der Saar started in goal, and I didn’t like his ball distribution. I understand it’s the first game he has started but he was very slow in getting rid of the ball. A few times he had it at his feet with the outside backs wide open and just held onto the ball. Pitt likes to play from the back and he just slowed the offense down.
I thought we pressed very well. Their MF gave up the ball a lot. I only remember them having one good scoring chances after their goal. We had 4 or 5, including at least 3 passes which just missed. There were some very good passes from the back to players who were open in the attacking zone. Nice to see. Almeida received one of them on the left side about 40 meters from goal and made a play I didn’t understand at all. He was behind his defender with what looked like a clear run at goal. But, he tried to chip it over the goalie’s head from 40 yards out instead. The GK wasn’t nearly far enough out of goal for that to be effective.
Second half is starting now. I hope we played as well.
UPDATE: Georgetown dominated the second half. They substituted freely the entire game and were much fresher. In the second half, Pitt played a freshman ftom PA at LB and a sophomore from France at RB and Georgetown was able to attack down the wings. It was hot out and the announcers commented that the heat appeared to be getting to the Pitt players and Georgetown had fresher legs. Van der Saar had an excellent 2d half, making 2 or 3 terrific saves, including a reflex save on what looked to be a sure Georgetown goal. Georgetown also had two great opportunities that they failed to get on frame.
Pitt also had some chances on counters, but it appeared they were too tired to take advantage of them. Jacquesson had an incredible long run down the right side where he came from 5 meters behind one Georgetown player to beat him to the ball, then crossed it beautifully, but no Pitt player was there to get on the end of the cross. That run appeared to take a lot of energy out of him.
Samhkow played the #9 position for most of the game, with Noel on the left and Jacquesson on the right, and had a nice game. He had Pitt’s best chance in the 2d half, cleanly beating a defender and was 1-on-with the goalie. But, it was a difficult angle and his shot hit the GK in the face. If he could have chipped it, he would have scored, but I think Messi is the only player in the world who could have chipped it from that spot.
Almeida, who had 7 goals and 6 assists last year playing as an attacking MF, was somewhat disappointing IMO. Last year he had 5 goals in his first 5 starts and then cooled off, so maybe the expectations for this year were too high. He was one of the players who got substituted for and got a decent rest on the bench.
Georgetown won the title in 2019, was a quarterfinalist in 2020 and a semifinalist last year, and the announcers made a point at how differently the teams have been built. We have 6 graduate transfers; they have none. They have 7 freshmen and 15 sophomores and juniors; we actually have 9 freshmen (probably a record for Vidovich) but only 7 sophomores and juniors. The point they were trying to subtly make was that Georgetown’s approach is a better way to build a program if you can do it that way. You always will have players experienced in the program to step in for those who graduate. Vidovich didn’t have that luxury in rebuilding the program from nothing.
Next year, Vidovich is going to have to probably replace 7 starters and will probably have to replace most of them again with transfers. For the second straight year, he will have to replace all 4 defenders. And, as extra Covid years disappear, it will be harder to do with transfers. We might have to expect a down season as he restocks with young players. He didn’t hit Europe hard this past year , so hopefully he can bring in some excellent young Europeans next year. There are three freshmen listed as defenders, but all 3 are short and I suspect they all play LB and RB. No young CBs on the roster.
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I don't understand Pitt's refusal to bring in portable bleachers. They literally have portable bleachers a few feet away in the softball outfield, brought in for the ACC Tournament? Can they not hire a crew to move those to between the soccer and baseball fields? While it's great to see the place packed, they've got to find a better way to host all those people. I mean people were sitting in aisles, standing 3 deep on the railings, and squished in like sardines in the seats.
I don't know what they're going to do for Monday. If there were 2000 there tonight, there may be 4000 there Monday...with only about 900 seats. They may have to seriously consider moving the game to Highmark.
