Cincinnati lost in a tough battle against No. 22 ranked Pittsburgh this Sunday afternoon in Gettler Stadium that came down to the very last minutes. With the score of 2-1, this moved the Bearcat’s record to 1-4-2 as they advanced to conference play next week. Pittsburgh advanced to a 7-1-0 record.
The first half finished with a 0-0 score, Senior goalkeeper Anna Rexford had 2 saves. Rexford said at halftime, “we thought that we were doing really good tactically of just keeping them up and we decided at halftime we would let them come at us a little bit and just stay organized.”
In the second half, Pittsburgh’s Samiah Phiri scored in the 63rd minute. This did not kill the Bearcat’s energy and in the 86th minute of the game sophomore Megan Smith scored a one time banger from the top of the box to tie the game. However, this was shortly followed by another goal from Phiri slipping it right past Rexford on the counterattack with two minutes left to take the win.
Rexford said she believes the loss came down to the team’s individual responsibilities. “I think the back line just didn’t do their part on the second goal, myself included,” said Rexford, “We play 90 minutes and coach spoke about that earlier in the week. It’s 90 minutes. Not 82, 83, but 90 and we took a second off.”
This was Cincinnati’s last non-conference game before they take on Kansas State on Thursday. This will also be their first conference game as a part of the Big 12. “We know that every game is going to be crazy, every conference always is no matter what conference you’re in. But we are ready for the challenge and excited for it,” added Rexford.
| Cincinnati | Pittsburgh | |
| Shots | 8 | 16 |
| Shots on Goal | 3 | 9 |
| Saves | 7 | 2 |
| Corner Kicks | 4 | 9 |
| Fouls | 11 | 9 |
Top Performers
CINCINNATI:
#33 Anna Rexford: 90 minutes | 7 saves | tied her career-high number of saves
#2 Megan Smith: 90 minutes | 1 goal | 1 shot
PITTSBURGH:
#23 Samiah Phiri: 51 minutes | 2 goals | 6 shots
Written by Lilly Stelzer
Cover Image via Cincinnati Athletics