Pittsburgh Panthers men's soccer

Pittsburgh Panthers men's soccer is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's soccer (association football) team of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pitt men's soccer competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and plays their home games at Ambrose Urbanic Field in the university's Petersen Sports Complex. Pitt soccer players have had eight selections as All-Americans and multiple former Panthers have gone on to play professionally. The Panthers have appeared in six NCAA tournaments and have reached the College Cup twice. The Panthers have been coached by Jay Vidovich since 2015. History The Pitt men's soccer program has it origins in 1951 when Leo Bemis, who was then serving as Pitt's director of men's intramural sports, created a pick-up team at the university which played Slippery Rock University to a 1–1 draw. Through 1953, Bemis continued coaching the team which competed intercollegiately as a non-varsity club sport. However, Bemis was able to convince then Pitt athletic director Tom Hamilton to elevate the club team to varsity status in 1954. Despite starting with no scholarships and no feeder system in place to recruit players, Pitt's first team went 8–1 in 1954, and by 1955, the program had its first All-American selection, Jerome Bressanelli. For the first 20 years of the program, Pitt played their games at various facilities including Trees Field, Forbes Field, Kennard Field in the lower Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and even various high schools, with occasional games played at Pitt Stadium, which at the time was primarily reserved for Pitt's football team. In 1961, the soccer program received funding to provide its first scholarships, and in 1962, Pitt earned its first bid to the NCAA soccer championship tournament, where it lost to Maryland, 3–4. Pitt again qualified for the NCAA soccer tournament championship in 1965, but lost 0–2 on a late goal to East Stoudsburg in game played in muddy conditions at Pitt Stadium. Beginning in 1970, Pitt began play in the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Soccer Conference (also known as the West Penn Intercollegiate Soccer Conference, or WPISC), a conference that Leo Bemis helped to found and in which he would eventually lead Pitt to a conference championship in 1981.