Men's Soccer uses Hat Trick to top Syracuse 3-2
11/2/2003
Junior forward Billy Brush became the 11th player in Pittsburgh history to record a hat trick.
Box Score
PITTSBURGH--Junior forward Billy Brush recorded his first career hat trick as the Pittsburgh Men’s Soccer team topped visiting Syracuse 3-2, on Sunday afternoon at Founders Field in Indianola, Pa.
Brush’s (Olney, Md./Sherwood/Virginia Wesleyan) hat trick marked the first hat trick since the 2000 season when then Panther Spencer Barton recorded three goals against Notre Dame. The three goals by Brush, make him the team’s second leading scorer for the season, second on the team in goals scored with five and gives him his first career multi-goal game.
Syracuse (4-8-1 overall, 1-5-4 Big East) opened the scoring in the 25th minute as Kirk Johnson crossed the ball to Jeff Evans who finished the ball past a diving Panthers’ goalkeeper Justin Lowery (Atlanta, Ga./Paideia School) for the 1-0 lead.
Pittsburgh (6-11-1, 3-6-1) answered back in the 44th minute when freshman midfielder Jeff Tidd (Strongsville, Ohio/Strongsville) passed the ball ahead to Brush, who blasted the ball from 25-yards out on a sharp angle, just curving it inside the far post.
In the 52nd minute, Syracuse answered back when Frank Bruno finished the cross of Ilias Calaitzidis inside the far post for the 2-1 lead.
Just over a minute later, Brush got loose in the Syracuse defense again and this time finished the ball in the top corner of the net for his fourth goal of the season and a 2-2 tie.
In the 60th minute of play, Brush would make Pittsburgh history as he took a feed from sophomore forward Keeyan Young (North Wales, Pa./Haverford School) and finished his third goal of the game over Alim Karim the already committed Syracuse goalkeeper. With the hat trick, Brush became the 11th Pittsburgh player to ever score three goals and it was the 17th time that Pittsburgh recorded a hat trick.
Pittsburgh senior captain Clay Haflich (Fort Collins, Colo./Poudre), playing in his final career game, made his 71st consecutive career start. With time winding down late in the game and leading only by a goal, Haflich headed away a would-be scoring attempt to seal the game for Pittsburgh. Haflich finishes his Pittsburgh career with six goals and two assists.
Lowery finished the game with four saves on 11 shots, while Karim denied one of 11 shots. Pittsburgh and Syracuse matched each other with 11 shots, while the Panthers held the edge in corner kicks 7-1.
Pittsburgh closed its 2003 season with a 6-11-1 record overall including a mark of 3-6-1 in Big East Conference play.
--30--
