Box Score
CHICAGO – A goal in the final second was the difference in a BIG EAST match on Friday afternoon at Wish Field. Pittsburgh’s Keeyan Young knocked in the game-winner at 89:59 to give the Panthers a 1-0 victory over the DePaul Blue Demons.
Neither team could find the net through 89 minutes of soccer with both teams taking nine shots. Pittsburgh (2-4-1, 2-1-0 BIG EAST) put together a flurry of offense with 20 minutes left in regulation, but DePaul keeper Brian Visser came up with a save on each opportunity.
Pittsburgh’s 10th shot by Young proved to the difference. With nine seconds on the clock, the ball deflected off a Blue Demon defender and across the endline. Matt Baker quickly lined up the corner kick and sent a serve across the net. Mike McDade knocked it over to an open Young who drilled a liner from 12 yards to the right side.
The afternoon played even with both teams generating first-half opportunities. Just over 10 minutes into the match, Joe Sondag’s header was knocked away by a diving Andy Jorgenson for Pittsburgh. The Panthers returned the favor with three consecutive chances, but the DePaul defense repelled the attack on each occasion.
Pittsburgh’s best chance of the first period came off the foot of Orane Gordon with just under six minutes on the clock. His shot to the lower left corner was knocked away by DePaul’s Nathan Feltz at the goalline.
DePaul (2-4-2, 1-2-0 BIG EAST) nearly scored in the 82nd minute as Sondag’s shot from the top of the box rolled just wide of the left post past a diving Jorgenson.
Pittsburgh attempted eight corner kicks to four for DePaul while Visser finished the afternoon with four saves. Jorgensen totaled two stops for the Panthers.
DePaul wraps up the BIG EAST weekend with a Sunday afternoon match against West Virginia. The Mountaineers and Blue Demons kickoff at 12:30 p.m. followed by the DePaul women’s team against Loyola-Chicago at 4 p.m.
Match Notes: The Blue Demons are now 17-11-5 in the last four-plus seasons at Wish Field… the shutout was the fifth of the season suffered by DePaul and the second in-a-row… Pittsburgh now leads the series, 2-0-0… the Panthers have won both games by a 1-0 score.
