The top-ranked Pitt men’s soccer team faced Duke in a quarterfinal matchup in the ACC tournament on Sunday night, returning from a multi-week pause prompted by the team’s need to comply with COVID-19 protocols. However, the Panthers did not appear to suffer from rust and were able to deal the Blue Devils a 2-1 loss in their own metro area, as the “home game” was played in Raleigh, North Carolina, some 30 minutes from Duke’s campus in Durham.
The Panthers were the first to strike, as Pitt midfielder Valentin Noel found fellow Pitt midfielder Jackson Walti at the top of the box.