GREELEY, Colo. – The University of Pittsburgh women’s soccer team (1-1-1) fell on the road at Jackson Stadium to the Northern Colorado Bears (2-1-0) in their second overtime affair in the season’s first three games.

“In the first half, the game started off fairly evenly but then we didn’t do a great job connecting passes,” said head coach Greg Miller. “We were carelessly giving the ball away and were slow to transition to defend. In the second half we were a different team. For a majority of the half we put pressure on them and were a lot more organized defensively.”

The game’s momentum see-sawed slightly in the early stages of the first half until UNC was able to build a consistent attack and rattle off what would be six unanswered shots to close the period, nine overall, before freshman Sarah Krause snapped the streak with a try in the 51^st minute.

Pitt then recorded three shots quickly from the 51^st to 55^th minutes early in the second half, but was unable to find the back of the net. It would be the Panthers’ best chance to score until junior Siobhan McDonough had an attempt sail high in the 68^th minute and senior Roosa Arvas took back-to-back corner kicks in the 79^th minute.

Minutes into overtime, a pass from McDonough to freshman Juliana Vazquezwas intercepted near midfield and taken in for the score on a breakaway after drawing in two Pitt defenders and passing to a supporting teammate to finish it off.

Junior goalkeeper Taylor Francis was called upon to make a season-high six saves over the game’s duration, including several on a series of four shots sent in by the Bears in rapid succession in the final minute of regulation to preserve the tie.

Six Panthers recorded a shot, led by sophomore Taylor Pryce’s two. Pitt lost the shots battle for the first time this season, 18-7, and allowed a season-high seven shots on goal.

“We’ve got to regroup and make more of a collective effort to play together,” said Miller. “We’re doing things on an island instead of together. We’ve got to be better with that.”

Up next, the Panthers will face Colorado College on Sunday at 1 p.m. EST in Colorado Springs, Colo. before heading back to Ambrose Urbanic Field for a three-game homestand.

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