The 2020 Pittsburgh Panthers men's soccer team represented University of Pittsburgh during the 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The Panthers were led by head coach Jay Vidovich, in his fifth season. They played home games at Ambrose Urbanic Field. This was the team's 67th season playing organized men's college soccer and their 8th playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The teams' 2020 season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which curtailed the fall season and caused the NCAA Tournament to be played in spring 2021. The ACC was one of the only two conferences in men's soccer to play in the fall of 2020, during which conference competition was organized in North and South divisions followed by a conference tournament. The ACC also held a mini-season during the spring of 2021 which was organized according to the more typical Atlantic and Coastal divisions and was followed by a one game playoff between the division champions to determine who received the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The Panthers finished the fall season 7–1–0 and 4–0–0 in ACC play to finish in first place in the North Region. In the ACC Tournament they defeated Duke in the Quarterfinals and Notre Dame in the Semifinals before losing to Clemson in the Final. They finished the spring season 6–1–0 and 5–1–0 in ACC play, to finish in first place in the Coastal Division. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament because they lost the automatic bid play-in game to Clemson. As the second seed in the tournament, they defeated Monmouth in the Second Round, UCF in the Third Round, and Washington in the Quarterfinals before losing to Indiana in the Semifinals to end their season.
Previous season
The 2019 Pittsburgh men's soccer team finished the season with a 10–8–2 overall record and a 4–3–1 ACC record. Pitt were seeded fourth–overall in the 2019 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament. The Panthers won their first round match up against NC State, but fell to Clemson in the semifinals. The Panthers earned an at-large bid into the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, making it their first berth into the NCAA Tournament since 1965. Pitt defeated Lehigh in the first round, before losing to the eventual national champions, Georgetown, in the second round.
Preseason Preseason rankings ACC Media Poll The ACC men's soccer media poll was released on September 8, 2020. Pitt was picked to finish second in the ACC North Division.
Coaches' Poll 1 Virginia 59 (9) 2 Pitt 44 (2) 3 Virginia Tech 35 4 Syracuse 30 5 Louisville 29 6 Notre Dame 28
Player movement
Players leaving Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Johan Peñaranda 0 GK 5'11" 172 Sophomore Long Island, NY Transferred to FIU Nyk Sessock 2 DF 5'7" 148 Sophomore Philadelphia, PA Transferred to Indiana Chandler Vaughn 3 DF 5'9" 142 Sophomore Woodbridge, VA Transferred to St. Louis Lucas Cyriacus 6 MF 6'0" 172 Freshman Munich, Germany Transferred to Manhattan Braden Kline 7 MF 6'1" 160 Senior Lancaster, PA Graduated Edward Kizza 9 FW 5'9" 170 Junior Kampala, Uganda No longer with team Josh Hesson 12 FW 5'11" 168 Freshman Wolverhampton, England Transferred to Delaware Louis Spicer 17 MF 5'10" 168 Freshman Cambridge, England Transferred to Maryland Tim Townsend 18 MF 5'8" 155 Sophomore Hummelstown, PA Alex Peperak 21 MF 5'10" 170 Senior Connellsville, PA Graduated Chad Stout 25 MF 5'9" 163 Sophomore Lewisberry, PA Tim Ekpone 28 DF 6'0" 160 Junior Germantown, MD Transferred to Syracuse Arie Ammann 32 GK 6'0" 180 Junior Round Hill, VA
Players arriving
Name Nat. Hometown Club TDS Rating Curitiba, Brazil SIMA Atlanta, GA Atlanta United Academy York, PA PA Classics Academy Pittsburgh, PA Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Sewickley, PA Beadling SC Tokyo, Japan SIMA Sinking Spring, PA PA Classics Academy
Squad Roster
Updated October 28, 2020
Team management Position Staff Athletic Director Heather Lyke Head coach Jay Vidovich Assistant Coach Michael Behonick Assistant Coach Rich Costanzo Volunteer Assistant Coach Bryce Cregan
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Schedule
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!colspan=7 style=""| Fall Exhibition
!colspan=7 style=""| Fall regular season
!colspan=7 style=""| ACC Tournament
!colspan=6 style=""| Spring Exhibition
!colspan=6 style=""| Spring regular season
!colspan=7 style=""| NCAA Automatic Bid Play-In
!colspan=7 style=""| NCAA Tournament
Awards and honors Arturo Ordoñez ACC Defensive Player of the Week September 28, 2020 Veljko Petkovic ACC Offensive Player of the Week October 12, 2020 Valentin Noël ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week October 19, 2020 Nico Campuzano All-ACC Tournament Team November 22, 2020 Veljko Petkovic Valentin Noël Veljko Petkovic MAC Hermann Trophy Watchlist January 28, 2021 Valentin Noël Valentin Noël ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week March 22, 2021 Jackson Walti ACC Defensive Player of the Week March 29, 2021 Jay Vidovich ACC Coach of the Year April 14, 2021 Valentin Noël ACC Offensive Player of the Year Jasper Löeffelsend ACC Defensive Player of the Year Bertin Jacquesson ACC Freshman of the Year Nico Campuzano All ACC First-Team Jasper Löeffelsend Valentin Noël Bertin Jacquesson All ACC Second-Team Veljko Petkovic Jackson Walti Alexander Dexter All ACC Third-Team Arturo Ordoñez Bertin Jacquesson All ACC Rookie Team Filip Mirkovic
Rankings
Fall 2020
+ Ranking movementLegend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes. Poll Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Final United Soccer 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2
Spring 2021
+ Ranking movementLegend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes. PollPre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Final United Soccer None Released 4 8 7 5 3 (1) 1 (13) 1 (16) 3 (1) None Released 3 (2) TopDrawer Soccer 3 3 3 3 3 7 6 5 4 4 3 6 5 1 3
2021 MLS Super Draft
Edward Kizza New England Revolution 1 24 FW
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References