PITTSBURGH — Coming off four straight losses, the last three which were within two goals, Pitt came roaring back with a dominant 17-11 win over Binghamton at Highmark Stadium, Sunday afternoon.
The Panthers (4-4 overall) had another great performance from Petty, who led with five goals against the Bearcats (3-4 overall). Petty has now scored 16 goals in the past four games, and has scored five goals in three of them. Panthers head coach Emily Boissoneault was proud of her team’s performance in the victory, but also said that her team still has work to do to improve going deeper into ACC play.
“We kept talking about focusing on ourselves,” Boissoneault said. “We really wanted to see us clean up quite a bit, like clean up our mental mistakes. I don’t think we were quite there. I think we worked hard and we finished our offensive opportunities and that’s what we needed to do to win. Definitely still need to clean up our turnovers and just little mental mistakes.”
Petty led Pitt in the first period, scoring a hat trick with two goals coming from free positions. Pitt got two more goals to total five in the first quarter, with graduates, attacker Madisyn Kittell and midfielder Julia Foster, scoring a goal a piece.
Binghamton kept the game close in the first period, with junior attacker Kenna Newman scoring two goals and sophomore Kristin Scheidel added another, to make it a 5-3 game.
The Panthers held the Bearcats in check in the second period, outscoring them 4-1 to take a 9-4 lead into halftime. Four different Panthers got on the scoresheet as they team worked the ball around the goal and looked for easy shots. Sophomore midfielder Maureen McNeirney scored from a free position to get her first goal of the season for the Panthers.
Pitt scored four goals to Binghamton’s one to start the third quarter. Senior attacker Kierin Ratliff-Kailbourne scored her second goal of the game in the period and Petty scored her fourth of the game.
Binghamton responded by scoring three goals in the final three minutes of the third period to cut the lead to five, 123-8. First-year attacker Olivia Muscolini scored two goals and Newman scored one as each player finished with three goals to lead Binghamton.
The Panthers settled the game down by scoring four goals to open the fourth quarter, with Petty getting her fifth and first-year attacker Sydney Naylor scoring her first goal as a Panther. The Bearcats scored three goals late, but the Panthers had already settled the game and took the victory to end their losing streak.
Going back into ACC play, Boissoneault is happy that the win gets Pitt back on track and gives them a chance to understand success, especially as the program’s in its first year.
“You learn to lose, but you also need to learn how to win and I think for a starting program that’s really important, Boissoneault said. “I think to feel success, to feel good about what you’re doing and we’ve come pretty close on some tight losses. We’re happy with the way we played, but obviously not satisfied with the final result. So a win just kind of gives us a pat on the back that we’re doing the right things.”
Pitt will look to try and get their first ACC win of the season on Friday Mar. 18 as they travel to take on Virginia at 5 p.m.
