Hamburg, NY -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Men's Soccer team returned to winning ways on Tuesday, as they picked up an 8-0 victory over AMCC foe Hilbert College.
The Panthers were unable to take advantage of numerous early chances to move ahead of the Hawks, but exploded midway through the first half, as they scored 3 goals in under 3 minutes to go ahead of the hosts. In the 24th minute, Pitt-Bradford used a set play off of a free-kick to jump-start the scoring. Thomas Kelly made a dummy run over the ball and was quickly played behind the defense by Brent Kennedy. Kelly took the pass and rifled a shot off the crossbar and into the side netting. Just about a minute later, the Panthers played a throw into the box which Kennedy headed towards goal and off of the crossbar. After a failed clearance by the Hilbert defense, Chase Rider collected the ball and played it into the open net to double the Panther lead. Rider scored his brace just 62 seconds later. Kelly received a throw-in and turned to find Rider making a run behind the defense. He played a through ball with the outside of his foot, which Rider quickly tucked away.
With just under 10 minutes to go in the first half, Ugwunna Amadi scored the Panther's fourth goal with a terrific solo effort coming off the right wing. Amadi trapped a throw-in and quickly dribbled between two defenders, with two more Hawks closing in on him, Amadi quickly cut the opposite direction with a stepover move to get behind the Hilbert line. He then finished the move with a low shot to the keeper's right to score his 2nd of the season.
To start the second half, Rider finished off his hat trick on another feed from Kelly after just 2 minutes. Despite a blocked cross to start the attack, the Panthers were able to regain possession of the ball and play to Kelly down the right wing. Kelly played a dangerous cross into the middle of the box which Rider was able to head into the top right corner.
The Panthers went on to dominate possession for the remainder of the game, scoring three more goals. Scott Compson scored the 6th goal for Pitt-Bradford after he took advantage of a handling error by the goalkeeper. After the Hilbert keeper fumbled a long ball forward, Compson was in the right place at the right time as he calmly collected the ball, dribbled into some space and slid a shot into the net. Amadi scored his second of the game with about 15 minutes to go. He ran onto a long ball that was misplayed by the Hilbert defense and skillfully chipped a shot over the goalkeeper to make it 7-0. Freshman Pearson Liddell closed the scoring for the day with his first goal in a Panther uniform. From 25 yards to goal, he expertly bent a free-kick over the defensive wall and into the top left corner of the goal.
With his hat trick, Chase Rider moved his goal count to 8 on the season, putting him in a tie for 2nd in the AMCC. Kelly's goal and two assists put him at 19 points this season, which is tied for the most in the conference. Pitt-Bradford amassed 34 shots in the game with 12 of them finishing on frame. The Panthers allowed their opponents to only take 11 shots with three of them on target. Goalkeeper Dominick Giannini made 3 saves on the way to a shutout in his first action of the season.
The win over Hilbert moves the Pitt-Bradford men to 6-4 on the season and 2-1 in conference play. They will return to action on Wednesday, October 9th, when they host the Alfred State Pioneers for more AMCC action. The game is slated to start at 2:00 PM on the Soccer Field at the Kessel Athletic Complex
