PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The High Point University men's soccer team upset the No. 1 ranked University of Pittsburgh, 1-0, on Monday night to extend its winning streak to eight games. This is the first win in High Point Athletic Department and Big South history over a No. 1 ranked team.
Site: Ambrose Urbanic Field
Score: High Point 1, #1 Pittsburgh 0
Records: High Point (8-2-2, 4-0-0), #1 Pittsburgh (10-3-0, 4-1-0)
Head Coach Zach Haines: "Huge win for the program and for HPU. Anytime that you can go on the road and beat the number one team in the country at this stage in the season, you're doing very well as a team. Our guys worked extremely hard tonight. It was well deserved and I'm just very proud of them. We're thrilled as a coaching staff with the way they're playing, and they came up here with no fear and I love what they did tonight in every category."
High Point started strong with two early corner kicks with two great chances coming from them both.
Frankie DeFrancesco had a ball fall to his feet in the 6-yard box, but Pitt blocked the attempt for a corner. DeFrancesco got his chance again in the 22nd minute as he put the Panthers ahead 1-0 with a stunning up and over header for his fourth goal of the season. A double assist from
Brendan Krueger and
Beau Yantz, as Yantz sent in a perfect cross into the middle of the box as DeFrancesco went over the Pitt defender to send a perfect header ball to the far side of the net.
A few minutes later, Krueger thought he had doubled the visitors lead, but the goal was whistled correctly for a handball.
At the half High Point held a 4-2 shot advantage and 3-2 in corners and took the 1-0 lead into the interval.
The first save of the night for
Josh Caron came in the 48th minute off an easy floater from 20 yards out. HPU continued to dominate with the ball creating multiple chances in the second half. High Point was inches away from taking a two-goal lead in the 65th minute as
Kaya Ignacio took control of a corner kick sent in by
Jefferson Amaya and smashed a volley off the underside of the bar. A few minutes later,
Celestin Blondel was sprung in behind the Pitt line, but Cabral made the sprawling save to keep things at 1-0.
The Pitt Panthers created a few chances towards the end, off a few restarts, but Caron and the defense were able to control the game and make a few momentum stops when needed.
Pitt's best chance of the game came with just 15 seconds on the clock, but the head fizzed wide of the post as
Alfred Baafi ushered it wide. It would be the last play of the game for Pitt as the High Point Panthers defeat the No. 1 ranked University of Pittsburgh in the Steel City.
On his birthday, Caron recorded a clean sheet making two saves in the second half as Pitt only got off eight shots the entire 90 minutes.
"This has been my dream since I've been little kid playing at a number one ranked school playing division one soccer," Caron said. "It means everything to me. As a program, I think High Point has come so far in the last couple of years and I think this just puts us with the big dogs. We are not here to just compete with these teams, we are here to come and win. I think tonight shows it."
The Panthers now own the largest winning streak in the country (8) and is ranked No. 14 in the TopDrawerSoccer National Rankings. The United Soccer Coaches poll is released on Tuesday afternoon.
Up Next: High Point will stay on the road as they travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to continue Big South play at Winthrop University on Friday, October 18 at 7 p.m.
#GoHPU
