Panthers Travel To No. 2 Duke Friday For Showdown On ACC Network

PITTSBURGH – The Pitt men's soccer team (7-3-3, 3-2-1 ACC) will play their final regular season road match Friday night as they travel to Durham, NC to take on No. 2 Duke at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils and Panthers will kick at 8:00 pm with the game airing live on ACC Network.

FOLLOW ALONG

Friday night's contest will air live on ACC Network and can be found online HERE.
Live stats for Friday's game can be found HERE.
Live updates throughout the game will also be posted on Twitter by following the Pitt men's soccer account @Pitt_MSOC.

THE SERIES – DUKE

This meeting marks the 13th meeting of all-time between the two programs with Duke holding the 6-4-2 advantage in the series.
The Panthers have won four straight in the series including a 3-2 home victory over the Blue Devils last season. Filip Mirkovic netted a pair of goals and Bertin Jacquesson scored the other in the win for the Panthers.
The Panthers have netted 13 goals in the last four matches against Duke.
Pitt is 1-2-2 all-time in games played in Durham with their lone victory coming in 2021 as they earned a 4-3 double overtime road win.

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS

Duke enters Friday's match with a 10-0-3 overall record and a 4-0-2 ACC mark. Duke has won two straight including a 4-0 win over George Washington last time out.
The Blue Devils are tied for No. 2 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Top-25 Poll. They also rank No. 3 in the latest RPI ranking.
The Blue Devils are led offensively by Shakur Mohammed who leads the ACC with nine goals, two assists and 20 points on 38 shots. Mohammed also has a team-high five game-winning goals. Nick Pariano has started all 13 martches and has one goal, a team-high six assists and 14 shots.
In goal, Eliot Hamill is enjoying a great season as he owns a 10-0-3 record to go along with a 0.38 goals-against average, a .891 save percentage and an ACC-high nine shutouts.

FACING RANKED OPPONENTS

The Panthers are no stranger to nationally ranked opponents. Pitt has played a total of eight nationally ranked opponents through their first 13 games of the season for the first time in program history.
Pitt opened the season with back-to-back wins over top-10 programs for the first time in program history as they downed No. 2 Georgetown 2-1 and No. 6 West Virginia 3-0.
Pitt is 4-0-1 against top-5 opponents over the last two seasons as they downed Georgeotwn (No. 2), Clemson (No. 2), Duke (No. 3) and North Carolina (No. 4) during the regular season and tied Notre Dame (No. 4) in the Elite Eight last season.
Overall, Pitt is 7-2-4 against nationally ranked foes over the last two seasons.
Over the last three seasons, Pitt owns a 11-5-4 record against ranked opponents.
Currently, Pitt has one more ranked opponent on their schedule, #2 Duke on Friday night.

SCORING FIRST A MUST FOR PITT

One of the keys to victory for the Panthers over the last four seasons has been scoring the first goal of the match.
Since 2019, Pitt owns a 39-1-2 overall record when they record the first goal of the match.
The Panthers are 6-0 this year when scoring the first goal while being just 1-3-3 when allowing the first goal of the match.
Pitt hasn't lost a game when scoring the first goal since falling to #2 Indiana 3-2 in double overtime on August 30, 2019.

Season             Record             Win %
2022                 6-0-0                1.000
2021                 11-0-2              .923
2020-21            14-0-0              1.000
2019                 8-1-0                .889

SAHMKOW RIDING A HOT STREAK

After fighting injuries early in the season, sophomore Luis Sahmkow has fianlly settled into his important role for the Panthers attack.
Sahmkow has been one of the best players on the pitch for Pitt of late as he has netted a goal in three straight games for the first time in his career. Sahmkow netted the game-tying goal against Denver, the game-winning goal at Virginia Tech and the first goal in a 5-2 win over #25 Duquesne Monday.
The sophomore joins Valentin Noel as the only Panther this season to score in three straight matches.
He finished off his best game of the season Monday with a goal and assist, his first career three-point game in the win over Duquesne.
On the year, Sahmkow has three goals, three assists and nine points on 11 shots. His three goals and three assists are both career-highs.

UP NEXT

Pitt returns home for their regular season finale on Friday, Oct. 28 as they welcome Notre Dame to Ambrose Urbanic Field for a 7pm first kick. Friday's match will air on ACC Network Extra.
Notre Dame owns a 20-7-4 edge in the all-time series and defeated the Panthers in all three meetings last season including a 1-1 tie but advanced on PK's, 4-2, in the Elite Eight.

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