Moon Township, Pa. / North Athletic Complex-The Robert Morris University men's soccer team fell in its season opener, 3-1, to the Pitt Panthers Tuesday afternoon at North Athletic Complex. The game was the first of the season for both teams.
Pitt had the majority of the opportunities in the first half. Terry Boland ripped a shot from 12-yards out that RMU freshman goalkeeper Toba Bolaji (Vaughn, Ontario / Maple) tipped off the crossbar and out of danger with 16 minutes left in the first half. Bolaji came up big again with 10 minutes left in the half, sprawling to his left to make a stop on Alex Betancourt before recovering and stopping a pair of chances on the other side of the field by Chris Wilcox.
The Colonials seized the momentum early in the second half and could have easily scored twice if not for solid Panther goaltending and some friendly woodwork. Zack Matthews reacted quickly to his left on a diving header by sophomore David Torrance (Glasgow, Scotland / Langside College) in the 67th minute.
Moments later, Pitt got on the board in the 68th minute on an indirect kick from the short right corner. Matt Baker played a hard, low ball to the penalty spot where it was deflected off of a body and into the Colonials net.
Torrance was the robbed again in the 70th minute, this time by the left post. Dribbling toward the middle of the field from the left sideline, his right-footed laser was just wide of the target, bouncing hard off the woodwork and well out of danger.
Michael McDade pushed the margin to 2-0 in the 73rd minute when a ball deflected off a Colonial defender directly to him. The senior took one touch before ripping a shot low right past a diving Bolaji.
Alex Fischetti was the benefactor of nifty tight-quarter passing by Baker and Boland on the Panthers third goal. Boland spun past a defender on the endline before feeding Baker inside the penalty box. Baker fed the ball back to the top of the box where Fischetti hammered a strike into the top left corner for a 3-0 lead in the 87th minute.
Robert Morris freshman Sam Colosimo (McKees Rocks, Pa. / Montour) broke the shutout and netted his first career marker in the 88th minute. Senior Kyle Mc Ivor (Diego Martin, Trinidad / Queen's Royal College) carried the ball down the left sideline and fed it across, finding Colosimo wide open for the score.
Pitt held a slim edge, 18-16, in shots while both squads registered five corner kick chances. Bolaji finished the game with six saves while Matthew turned away seven chances.
The Colonials travel to the UNLV Nike Tournament this weekend where they take on UC-Davis in a 4:30 p.m. (local) contest Friday, September 4.
