Oct. 4, 2001

PITTSBURGH- The Pittsburgh men's soccer team gained its second consecutive victory Wednesday night with a 2-1, double-overtime victory at Cleveland State. Senior forward Mark Sikora (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) tallied his second goal of the season in the 115th minute of the contest.

It was the Panthers' first win away from home in five road or neutral games and lifted their record to 3-6 on the season.

Sikora took the shot from 30 yards away and snuck the ball into the left corner of the net behind Viking goalkeeper Josip Novkovic. Pittsburgh had a 1-0 lead for most of the game after Chris Churchill (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley), playing his second game at the forward position since moving from defense, scored his third goal of the year and second in two games at the 4:20 mark on a rebound. Bryan Hopper (North Versailles, Pa./East Allegheny) took the original shot and it caromed off the post to Churchill, who put the ball past Novkovic.

Cleveland State evened the game at 1-1 with just 19:42 remaining in the game on a goal by Josh Lidala. Lidala picked up a loose ball and put it behind Panther keeper Justin Gaul (North Huntingdon, Pa./William Tennent). Gaul made 10 saves in the Panthers' victory, his second of the season. Both teams had numerous chances for more scoring but Gaul and Novkovic kept the game tied at 1-1 for over 100 minutes.

The Vikings outshot the Panthers, 29-22, with Hopper leading the Panthers with a career-high eight attempts. Adam Musser had a game-high nine shots for the Vikings.

The Panthers will get back to conference play when they visit Syracuse on Saturday. Game time is 1 p.m.