Pitt men’s soccer bests Boston College 2-0

The Pitt men’s soccer team traveled to Newton, Massachusetts, on Friday to take on Boston College in its second ACC match of the season, and despite facing a hot team that had won four of its previous five matches, the Panthers were able to shut out the Eagles in a 2-0 win.

Pitt midfielder Veljko Petkovic, a freshman, opened up the scoring by converting on a free kick from 26 yards out. That goal came toward the end of the first half in the 38th minute and provided Pitt with a 1-0 lead heading into the break. The second half was also largely quiet until the 86th minute, when Petkovic set up Pitt forward Alexander Dexter for a goal to put the match away. It was Dexter’s second goal in as many games, as he also scored the game-winner against Akron on Monday.

Goalkeeper Arie Ammann also put on a clutch performance for Pitt, as he recorded his second clean sheet in as many games. This time around, he came up with four saves, including three in the second half.

”I’m proud of our guys’ growth and getting two results this week,” Pitt head coach Jay Vidovich said in a postgame interview. “Our habits are improving, and tonight, we had a difficult opponent and environment. I’m happy with the collective effort, team defense and the bench guaranteeing the win. ... We had intelligent and skillful goals by the team tonight.”

With the win, Pitt improves to 3-3-1 on the season and 1-1-0 in conference. The Panthers will look to maintain their momentum on the road on Friday, when they head to Syracuse, New York, to take on the Orange. Syracuse has struggled early due to the difficulty of its schedule. The team has played four ranked teams so far this season, losing two and drawing two. As a result, Syracuse sits at 2-2-3 overall and 0-1-1 in conference. Kickoff for the Pitt-Syracuse match at SU Soccer Stadium on Friday is set for 7 p.m. ET.