Pitt soccer coach Pat Narduzzi had a message for the AP top-25 voters following his group’s 35-33 win over Virginia Tech on Friday night time: put his team in the rankings.
They’re greater than deserving after occurring the street and securing an exciting come-from-behind win towards the Hokies, bettering their report to 5-0 general and 2-0 within the ACC.
It’s already their third win towards a power-four convention group.
Pitt’s issues, nonetheless, may be extra important than the place they rank on Monday morning.
It’ll be the standing of beginning quarterback Mason Heintschel.
Pitt loses beginning quarterback Mason Heintschel in expensive ACC win
Heintschel was injured on the primary collection of the second half when he was making an attempt to scramble for a primary down and took a giant hit on the sidelines. He instantly grabbed his knee and remained on the sector for a number of minutes earlier than being helped off. He was unable to place any weight on it as he walked off and was seen watching the rest of the second half from the sidelines on crutches.
He was changed by backup Holden Geriner.
Whereas Geriner was capable of handle the offense and make some performs, together with a 29-yard landing to Blue Hicks within the fourth quarter, there was a noticeable drop within the offense and a restrict to the play-calling.
That’s going to be a priority if Heintschel has to overlook prolonged time, because it seems he might need to.
Heintschel was placing up huge numbers this season, having thrown for 1,304 yards, 14 touchdowns and just one interception in four-and-a-half video games this season. That features a pair of video games with no less than six touchdowns in every of them. The true sophomore is one of the reasons that Pitt should have had optimism about its probabilities to compete in a really wide-open ACC this season.
Now there’s going to be some query as to when he will likely be out there once more. It actually didn’t look good when he exited.
It was almost a irritating loss for Pitt on condition that it had an 11-point lead, with the soccer, within the fourth quarter and was a plus-four in turnovers. However a late security, a Virginia Tech landing on the following drive, and the Hokies getting down properly into kicker John Love’s vary made it appear as in the event that they have been going to discover a option to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Love’s kick, nonetheless, barely missed over the appropriate upright as time expired.
