Nov. 3, 2004
Contact: Brian McCann
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Pittsburgh's Keeyan Young scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner on a breakaway in the 96th minute to give the Panthers a 3-2, come-from-behind win in overtime over Cleveland State on Wednesday night at Pitt's Founders Field.
"This loss is difficult to take because we squandered numerous goal-scoring opportunities that would have put the match away long before overtime," head coach Pete Curtis said. "We've struggled to put scoring opportunities away all season long. The circumstances of this game were like just about every other game this year."
"I told the guys in the locker room after the game that they could take the tape of any of our 17 games this year, change the uniform color of our opponent and the results would be the same.
The Vikings opened the scoring at the 16:03 mark when defender Alex Vickers, who earned a start in the contest, made a solo run after gathering the ball in at midfield. He worked his way through several defenders before launching a shot from 18 yards out that Panther goalie Andy Jorgensen was able to get a hand on but not stop from going into the net. It was the first goal of the year for Vickers, a native of Independence, Ohio who made the team as a walk-on.
Pittsburgh came right back, tying the match at 1-1 when Young scored on a penalty kick that was awarded at the 27:05 mark following a Viking foul inside the box.
CSU claimed a 2-1 advantage at halftime when David Stewart scored in the 35th minute on a direct free kick from 30 yards out. Stewart played the ball into the box and although a large crowd in the penalty area attempted to either clear or redirect the shot, it somehow eluded the masses to find the net.
The lead would hold until the 72nd minute when Pitt's Billy Brush out-jumped Viking goalie Chris Black for a cross from Tyle Bastianelli and headed it into the goal.
The match would remain tied into overtime before Young took a pass from Brush and broke free at the to score the game-winner at the 95:11 mark.
"The really tough part of the last goal was that it was the only time all night long that they were able to break free towards the goal," Curtis said.
The overtime loss allowed the Vikings to tie the school record of seven overtime matches in a season, which was originally set in the 1980 season. CSU, which is just 1-4-2 in overtime this year, played just three overtime matches in the first four years under head coach Pete Curtis.
"The number of overtime games that we have played is a reflection of our ability to play with teams and stay in games," Curtis said. "These guys have proven that we can play with anybody. We just need the player to take control in front of the goal."
The loss was the fifth straight by the Vikings, dropping their record to 5-11-2 on the year. Pittsburgh improved to 6-8-3.
The match was originally scheduled to be played on Tuesday night (Nov. 2), but had to be pushed back a day to allow the Panthers the ability to reschedule their league match with Syracuse, which was originally slated for Sept. 17 but postponed because of Hurricane Ivan.
With an opening round game at UW-Milwaukee in the Horizon League Championships slated for Saturday (Nov. 6) Curtis elected to play his bench, resting several starters, including goalie Amir Kettani, defender Dave Preseren and midfielders Cormac Finn and David Prentice.
