# 2021 Pittsburgh Panthers men's soccer team

The 2021 Pittsburgh Panthers men's soccer team represented the University of Pittsburgh during the 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The Panthers were led by head coach Jay Vidovich, in his sixth season. They played home games at Ambrose Urbanic Field. This was the team's 68th season playing organized men's college soccer and their 9th playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Panthers finished the season 13–5–2 overall and 5–2–1 in ACC play to finish in a tie for first place in the Coastal Division. They won a tiebreaker with Duke to be awarded the first overall seed in the ACC Tournament. They earned a bye into the Quarterfinals where they defeated Virginia Tech before losing to eventual champions Notre Dame in the Semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and were awarded the fifth overall seed. After a First Round bye, they defeated Northern Illinois in the Second Round and Hofstra in the Third Round before losing to Notre Dame on penalties to end their season.

## Background

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. The ACC also held a mini-season during the spring of 2021.
The Panthers finished the fall season 7–1–0 and 4–0–0 in ACC play to finish in first place in the North Division. 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.
At the end of the season, one Panthers men's soccer player was selected in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft: Edward Kizza.

## Player movement
### Players leaving

Departures :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Alexander Steinbach | 1 | GK | 5'11" | 168 | Sophomore | Frankfurt, Germany | — |
| Bryce Washington | 4 | DF | 6'2" | 163 | Senior | Atlanta, GA | Graduated |
| Anass Amrani | 6 | MF | 5'8" | 153 | Sophomore | Rabat, Morocco | — |
| Luis Lara | 7 | FW | 5'9" | 167 | Freshman | Mexico City, Mexico | Transferred to Stetson |
| Sebastian Serpa | 22 | DF | 5'8" | 158 | Freshman | Miami Beach, FL | — |
| Vinicius Belon | 23 | DF | 5'7" | 145 | Freshman | Curitiba, Brazil | — |
| Dominic Reiter | 26 | DF | 6'0" | 175 | Freshman | Sewickley, PA | — |
| Nathan Stricker | 28 | MF | 5'5" | 140 | Freshman | Sinking Spring, PA | — |

### Players arriving

| Name | Nat. | Hometown | Club | TDS Rating |
| Luis Shamkow FW | USA | Plano, TX | Solar Soccer Club | |

## Squad
### Roster

    As of February 9, 2022
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 0 | GK | ESP | Nico Campuzano |
| 1 | GK | NED | Joe Van der Sar |
| 2 | DF | GER | Jasper Löeffelsend |
| 3 | DF | FRA | Raphaël Crivello |
| 4 | DF | JOR | Mohammad Abualnadi |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Arturo Ordoñez |
| 6 | MF | BRA | Lucas Rosa |
| 7 | MF | BRA | Guilherme Feitosa |
| 8 | MF | FRA | Valentin Noël |
| 10 | FW | FRA | Bertin Jacquesson |
| 11 | MF | BRA | Rodrigo Almeida |
| 13 | FW | USA | Alexander Dexter |
| 14 | DF | ESP | Sito Sena |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 15 | FW | USA | Luke Mort |
| 17 | FW | USA | Luis Sahmkow |
| 18 | MF | JPN | Soshun Shigaki |
| 19 | MF | SRB | Veljko Petkovic |
| 20 | MF | USA | Matt Bailey |
| 21 | MF | SRB | Filip Mirkovic |
| 22 | DF | USA | Max Brown |
| 23 | FW | USA | Cade Hagan |
| 24 | MF | SUI | Jackson Walti |
| 26 | MF | USA | Michael Sullivan |
| 27 | DF | USA | Anthony Harding |
| 28 | MF | ENG | Louis Spicer |
| 32 | GK | USA | Andrew Noel |

### Team management

| Position | Staff |
| Athletic Director | Heather Lyke |
| Head Coach | Jay Vidovich |
| Assistant Coach | Michael Behonick |
| Assistant Coach | Rich Costanzo |
Source:

## Schedule

Source:
| Date Time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (Attendance) City, State |
| Exhibition ||||||
| August 14* 7:00 p.m. | No. 3 | Robert Morris | W 4–0 | — | Ambrose Urbanic Field Pittsburgh, PA |
| August 21* 7:30 p.m. | No. 3 | at Maryland | L 1–2 | — | Ludwig Field College Park, MD |
| Regular season ||||||
| August 26* 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 3 | Duquesne | W 7–0 | 1–0–0 | Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,310) Pittsburgh, PA |
| August 30* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 3 | at West Virginia | L 1–2 | 1–1–0 | Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium (1,316) Morgantown, WV |
| September 3* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 3 | Lehigh | W 2–1 | 2–1–0 | Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,060) Pittsburgh, PA |
| September 6* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 3 | at No. 19 Akron | L 1–2 | 2–2–0 | FirstEnergy Stadium (1,955) Akron, OH |
| September 10 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 15 | No. 4 North Carolina | W 4–0 | 3–2–0 (1–0–0) | Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,115) Pittsburgh, PA |
| September 13* 7:00 p.m., FS1 | No. 15 | at Penn State | W 1–0 | 4–2–0 | Jeffrey Field (1,518) State College, PA |
| September 17 8:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 5 | at Wake Forest | L 1–3 | 4–3–0 (1–1–0) | Spry Stadium (2,176) Winston–Salem, NC |
| September 25 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 15 | at No. 2 Clemson | W 2–0 | 5–3–0 (2–1–0) | Riggs Field (2,231) Clemson, SC |
| October 1 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 16 | Syracuse | W 3–2 $^{2OT}$ | 6–3–0 (3–1–0) | Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,097) Pittsburgh, PA |
| October 5* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 13 | Cleveland State | W 4–0 | 7–3–0 | Ambrose Urbanic Field (430) Pittsburgh, PA |
| October 9 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 13 | No. 3 Duke | W 3–2 | 8–3–0 (4–1–0) | Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,409) Pittsburgh, PA |
| October 16 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 7 | at Notre Dame | L 0–1 $^{2OT}$ | 8–4–0 (4–2–0) | Alumni Stadium (385) Notre Dame, IN |
| October 22 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 10 | at Virginia | T 2–2 $^{2OT}$ | 8–4–1 (4–2–1) | Klöckner Stadium (0) Charlottesville, VA |
| October 25* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 10 | Massachusetts | W 5–1 | 9–4–1 | Ambrose Urbanic Field (713) Pittsburgh, PA |
| October 29 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 12 | No. 21 Virginia Tech | W 4–1 | 10–4–1 (5–2–1) | Ambrose Urbanic Field (900) Pittsburgh, PA |
| ACC Tournament ||||||
| November 7 4:00 p.m., ACCN | (1) No. 6 | (8) Virginia Tech Quarterfinals | W 2–1 $^{2OT}$ | 11–4–1 | Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,443) Pittsburgh, PA |
| November 10 5:00 p.m., ACCN | (1) No. 5 | (5) No. 20 Notre Dame Semifinals | L 0–2 | 11–5–1 | Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,626) Pittsburgh, PA |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| November 21 4:00 p.m. | (5) No. 5 | No. 19 Northern Illinois Second Round | W 5–2 | 12–5–1 | Ambrose Urbanic Field (881) Pittsburgh, PA |
| November 27 4:00 p.m. | (5) No. 5 | No. 13 Hofstra Third Round | W 4–0 | 13–5–1 | Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,079) Pittsburgh, PA |
| December 4 5:00 p.m. | (5) No. 5 | (4) No. 20 Notre Dame Quarterfinals | T 1–1 (2–4 PKs) | 13–5–2 | Alumni Stadium (1,303) Notre Dame, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern. ||||||

## Awards and honors

| Recipient | Award | Date |
| Valentin Noël | Preseason All-ACC Watchlist | August 18, 2021 |
| Jasper Löeffelsend | Preseason Hermann Trophy Watchlist | August 26, 2021 |
| Valentin Noel | Preseason Hermann Trophy Watchlist | August 26, 2021 |
| Veljko Petkovic | ACC Offensive Player of the Week | August 31, 2021 |
| Matt Bailey | ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week | September 28, 2021 |
| Guilherme Feitosa | Co-Offensive Player of the Week | October 13, 2021 |
| Jay Vidovich | ACC Coach of the Year | November 10 |
| Jasper Löeffelsend | ACC Defensive Player of the Year | November 10 |
| Jasper Löeffelsend | All-ACC First Team | November 10 |
| Rodrigo Almeida | All-ACC Second Team | November 10 |
| Bertin Jacquesson | All-ACC Second Team | November 10 |
| Valentin Noel | All-ACC Second Team | November 10 |
| Arturo Ordoñez | All-ACC Second Team | November 10 |
| Veljko Petkovic | All-ACC Second Team | November 10 |
| Jackson Walti | All-ACC Second Team | November 10 |
| Nico Campuzano | All-ACC Third Team | November 10 |
| Guiherme Feitosa | ACC All-Freshman Team | November 10 |
| Valentin Noel | ACC All-Tournament Team | November 15 |
| Arturo Ordoñez | ACC All-Tournament Team | November 15 |

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Final |
| United Soccer | 3 (1) | 3 (3) | 15 | 5 | 15 | 16 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 6 | 5 (2) | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | 6 |
| TopDrawer Soccer | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 8 |

## 2022 MLS Super Draft

| Player | Team | Round | Pick # | Position |
| Arturo Ordoñez | Houston Dynamo | 2 | 39 | DF |
| Jasper Löeffelsend | Real Salt Lake | 3 | 81 | DF |
Source: