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GAME NOTES

BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech men's soccer team will play their second of three games on the road on Friday night at 7 p.m. as they take on Pittsburgh.

Virginia Tech is coming off a 2-0 victory at home against the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Hokies got goals from Som Essome and Reece Alexander. Daniel Lauretano and Merlin Baus each had an assist on the goals, respectively.

In a battle of who has an edge, the Hokies are 3-1-1 on the road this season so far while Pittsburgh is 4-1 at home and 0-1 at home in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Offensively, the Hokies ranked T-29th in shots on goal per game at 6.60. The are also T-41st in total goals (18) and T-42nd in scoring offense (1.80).

Merlin Baus ranks T-32rd in the country in points per game at 1.44. Ricardo John is T-38th in the nation in shots on goal per game at 1.60. The Hokies currently are ranked 53 in the NCAA RPI Rankings. The ACC has all 12 teams in the top-58 in RPI and no teams with an overall winning percentage below .500.

Opponent History...

The Hokies have never lost to the Panthers in their five meetings in the series. The two teams have met twice since they were members of the Big East with a 0-0 2OT draw being the result in both 2013 and 2014. The Hokies’ edge in the series is by virtue of a 2-0-3 record. Both wins came in Big East play between 2001-2003. Tech is 1-0-1 in games being played in Pittsburgh.

About Pittsburgh...

The Panthers are coming off a 4-0 win vs. VMI, which is one of two opponents the two teams have in common so far this year. The other being Boston College.

Pittsburgh is led by Patrick Dixon who has two goals and three assists on the season. Tobias Heyman and Raj Kahlon each have two goals and two assists. Five other players have each scored a goal also. Dan Lynd has played every minute in goal for the Panthers and has a 1.17 goals against average along with a .703 save percentage on 26 saves. He has six shutouts on the year.

Pittsburgh is T-13th in the country in shutout percentage at 0.55 percent. The Panthers also are a physical team, as they rank 37th in the nation in fouls per game at 10.27.

For updates on Virginia Tech men's soccer, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_MSoccer