Pitt blanks Washington, 3-0, earns trip to college soccer's Final Four

The soccer players who wrote a new chapter to Pitt athletics history don’t have far to go to find out how to handle what’s next.

All they have to do is turn to the sideline, and there he is: coach Jay Vidovich, who has rebuilt the Pitt men’s soccer program over the past five years.

WHO ELSE?!

"Valentin Noel just can't stop scoring!"#H2P pic.twitter.com/A2ihoz1dRN

— Pitt Men's Soccer (@Pitt_MSOC) May 10, 2021

There’s plenty of work still to do, but for a long, satisfying moment Pitt (16-3) will savor a 3-0 victory against Washington (12-4) on Monday in an NCAA Tournament quarterfinal at WakeMed Park in Cary, N.C.

The victory propelled Pitt into the College Cup — soccer’s version of the Final Four — where the Panthers will meet Indiana on Friday night.

Men’s soccer becomes only the second team in the long history of Pitt athletics to reach an NCAA Final Four, joining the 1941 men’s basketball team.

Vidovich has been to four other College Cups from 2006-2009 when he was the Wake Forest coach. His team won the national title in 2007.

What type of wisdom can he lay on his current players? Plenty, actually, but it’s nothing new.

“It’s the same thing we told them (Monday),” he said. “The further you go, the pressure is greater, the rewards are greater, the pain is greater. I think they got on the right side of that (Monday). They executed and found the back of the net when they needed to.”

Then, he said with some authority: “We’ll be ready.”

After outscoring Monmouth and Central Florida by a combined score of 10-1 in the first two tournament games, Pitt met its match in the first half Monday.

The teams were scoreless through 45 minutes, although Pitt’s Veljko Petkovic and Washington’s Ryan Sailor hit the crossbar above the goalkeeper.

At halftime intermission, Vidovich had another message for his players.

“It’s there for us,” he said he told them. “I felt we had to get stronger, more intense, more assertive. We could make the game tighter and more compact defensively.

“After the first minute, we certainly raised our game and created some opportunities.”

Finally, ACC offensive player of the year Valentin Noel jumped high in the air to meet a crossing pass from Jasper Loeffelsend. The header slipped past Washington goalkeeper Sam Fowler at 51 minutes, 32 seconds for his 14th goal of the season and a 1-0 Pitt lead.

Washington kept applying pressure in front of Pitt goalkeeper Nico Campuzano, but it never scored. Campuzano made four saves, all in the second half.

“He’s been fantastic every time he’s been called (this season),” Vidovich said. “Handled the air balls they were throwing in on him.”

Pitt didn’t need any more goals, but Bertin Jacquesson scored unassisted and Petkovic added a third with an assist from Jackson Walti at 87:43 and 88:49.

“I’m very proud of them,” Vidovich said. “I think we did a great job of taking our opportunities and controlling the match, managing it. Washington, they always find a way to win. They make it very difficult. They play off your mistakes. They are very committed to making a scramble in the box and finding their opportunities.

“I thought our guys were exceptional. In those difficult times, they stepped up. People were making blocks. Defenders were making headers.”

That sounds like a lot of activity, and it was. But Vidovich, who should know, put the situation into proper perspective, with the semifinal Friday and a possible title game next Monday.

“We’ve only done half our work,” he said. “They know they are preparing not only for a semifinal, but the possibility they will have two matches in several days.

“The moment you finish one game, you are already preparing for the next one.”