The Pitt News
The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | October 10, 2017 | Volume 108 | Issue 43
Pitching POLICE INVESTIGATE STUDENT HOMICIDE against the clock Pittsburgh police are investigating the death of Pitt junior Alina Sheykhet who was found dead in her Cable Place apartment Sunday morning. | by The Pitt News Staff
Madeline Gavatorta, Caroline Baroque and Janine Faust
The Pitt News Staff In the corner of the O’Hara student lobby Saturday morning, Jacob Saletsky practiced his pitch for an app, stopping to listen to the critiques and suggestions of his teammates. “You speak too much on this slide,” Veysel Gokbel said. “Can I just — real quick — we never directly asked that, maybe just say we were able to ascertain,” Andrei Mihailescu said. The junior mechanical engineering major would then resume his speech about Tag Along: The Plus One Shopping App, a peer-topeer shopping network that would allow users to pay someone to pick up groceries they forgot to get. Saletsky and his teammates — junior chemical engineering major Mihailescu, junior mechanical engineering major Praveen Vulimiri and School of Education and grad student Gokbel — were preparing their last pitch as finalists in Pitt’s Innovation Institute’s Fall 2017 24-hour Startup Blitz, which ran from 5 p.m. Friday night to 3 p.m. Saturday. First place went to Maternal Assistance Programming — an algorithm designed to detect bleeding in pregnant women. Common Sense — a team that pitched a portable, handheld breath sensor to detect cancer — came in
A memorial sits outside the Cable Place residence where Pitt student Alina Sheykhet was found dead Sunday morning in an apparent homicide. John Hamilton CONTRIBUTIING EDITOR
A homicide investigation is underway after Pitt student Alina Sheykhet was found dead in her Oakland apartment Sunday morning. As of Monday night, Pittsburgh police are looking for 21-year-old Matthew Darby — Sheykhet’s ex-boyfriend whom she filed a protection-from-abuse order against in September. See Startup on page 2 Detectives are asking for the public’s as-
sistance with locating Darby and said to call the Violent Crime Unit at 412-323-7800 with any information. It is unclear what police want to ask him about, but they say there are no current suspects, motives or charges in this case. “We do not believe at this time that this was a random act of violence,” Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said in a statement. “There is no continued threat to Oakland
residents and the University communities.” The Allegheny County medical examiner’s office called the death a homicide Monday and said the cause of death was “sharp/ blunt trauma of the head.” Police and paramedics were first dispatched to the scene Sunday at 8:56 a.m. They arrived at a residence on the 3500 block See Homicide on page 2
News Homicide, pg. 1
of Cable Place and discovered a female victim on the second floor of the residence. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene, according to a release. Weeks earlier, on Sept. 26, Darby was arrested for breaking into Sheykhet’s Cable Place residence, according to a Police statement. Darby was a student at Pitt’s Greensburg campus but withdrew from the University earlier this month, according to Pitt spokesperson Joe Miksch. Sheykhet wrote in the restraining order request that Darby climbed up the gutter on the side of her house and broke through the second-floor window because she stopped returning his calls after they broke up. She also described past incidents of “grabbing, pushing” and “emotional abuse.” The temporary restraining order was is-
sued Sept. 21 with a final hearing set for Oct. 5, but it’s unclear from Allegheny County’s online records if the hearing took place. Darby was arrested Sept. 26 and posted the $10,000 bail — but that bail was revoked for a violation of bail release conditions on Sunday, the day Sheykhet was found dead. Darby was also arrested in March on charges of rape and sexual assault in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He posted the $10,000 bail March 23 in the active case. Darby’s attorney, David Shrager, told The Pitt News he is currently investigating and is not ready to comment on the case. The Sheykhet family declined to comment when The Pitt News contacted them Monday evening. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Yan Sheykhet, Alina’s father, discovered her body when he and his wife were picking her up to go on a breast cancer awareness walk in Allison Park.
“She didn’t answer the phone. She didn’t text us,” Mr. Sheykhet told the Post-Gazette Monday. “So we tried to open the door. It was locked. I pushed the door and I found her laying on the floor.” The University expressed condolences to Sheykhet’s family and said they are focused on cooperating with police and supporting the Pitt community. “The University of Pittsburgh community is heartbroken over the loss of Alina Sheykhet, and we send our deepest sympathies to her family and all who knew her,” Miksch said. “The University Counseling Center will be open for walk-in appointments beginning Monday and can be reached around the clock at 412-648-7930.” Hunter Smith, a Slippery Rock junior political science major, first met Sheykhet when they took a musical theater class together when they were about 13 years old. They became closer friends when they both
attended Montour High School, and Smith said their friendship continued through college. “She was always the person that someone wanted to be around. She was always the one who was happy and laughing and smiling,” Smith said. “People just gravitated toward her. And she was friends with everyone. I don’t think I could name anyone that was like ‘oh, I don’t like her.’” Johnny Abel, a junior sports management major at West Virginia University, was friends with Sheykhet all four years of high school. He said those who knew her will miss her enthusiasm and ability to lighten everyone’s mood. Abel said he was shocked to hear of Sheykhet’s passing. “I couldn’t believe it. I was devastated,” Abel said. “It just doesn’t seem real to me.” Contributed reporting by Rachel Glasser, John Hamilton and Ashwini Sivaganesh.
Startup, pg. 1 second, and Ghost Trekkers, with an idea for a YouTube show devoted to ghost hunting, came in third. The Startup Blitz is a business innovation competition held every fall and spring and is open to all Pitt grad students and undergrads. Participants show up the first night, some with their own pitches, others looking to see which pitches pique their interest. Once people present, their peers vote to select the 10 most intriguing and well-presented pitches. If a person’s idea isn’t chosen or they didn’t pitch, then they can join up with one of the winners to work on their idea. Participants then have the rest of that night and the next morning to research their idea and prepare a PowerPoint presentation to be judged by a group of business professionals. First, second and third place winners receive $1,500, $1,000 and $500, respectively, and are allowed to move on to the Blast Furnace Competition — the Innovation Institute’s student accelerator that provides student entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills they need to commercialize their ideas — without application. Tag Along was one of nine pitches voted from the original 19 pitches on Friday to move on to Saturday’s final round — the disparity between ninth and 10th most popular pitches was too large to go with 10. Competition narrowed to eight when one student with a pitch became ill Friday night and chose not to proceed to the next round. Ideas allowed to move on ranged See Startup on page 3
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Junior mechanical engineering major Andrei Mihailescu and his teammates entered the shopping network app, “Tag Along,” in Pitt’s Innovation Institute’s 24-hour Startup Blitz. Courtesy of Andrei Mihailescu
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Startup, pg. 2 from a device for predicting PTSD episodes to a tool that tests a person’s saliva for traces of food they are allergic to. Mihailescu said the Tag Along team is looking for as many ways as possible to get publicity and funding for their idea — Startup Blitz being one of them. “It’s something [Saletsky, Vulimiri and I] started maybe two or three weeks ago, honestly, so it’s something very new that we have,” Mihailescu said. “Given the opportunity and some sort of funding, we’d really like to make this a reality.” Gokbel came to assist the three engineering undergrads with their pitch after they presented it Friday night. He originally came to the Blitz to pitch his own idea for an app that connects students with available freelance proofreaders and editors. His idea did not move to the next round, so he stuck around to lend a hand to the Tag Along team. But Gokbel is currently participating in the Blast Furnace program and credits the Institute’s programs with helping him develop his idea. “We have a lot of ideas that are killed in our minds,” he said. “[Institute events] provide an
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environment for motivation, strategy and networking to bring them to life.” Babs Carryer, director of education and outreach at the Innovation Institute, said students from across the University — from the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences to the School of Public Health — come to participate in the Blitz and bounce their ideas off people with different skill sets than their own. “[A lot of students] don’t have the chance to interact with students outside of their discipline, and so this gives them a platform to do that,” Carryer said. Four entrepreneurs-in-residence — Don Morrison, Randy Eager, Jeanine McCreary and Joanna Sutton — were present both days to help students understand what should go into their presentations and finalize their pitches. Eager is a first-time Blitz EIR and said pitching in the business world is “like the oxygen” needed to keep an idea alive. “It’s everything — certainly you have got to run the company but the pitch is used to raise money, the pitch is used to find and attract employees,” Eager said. “It’s used for a whole lot of things.” McCreary said this is her second year serving as an EIR and she was thrilled by how hardworking and invested students were in
their ideas. “I was asked by students who wanted to work with me to do conference calls at 10, 11 p.m. [Friday night],” she said. “It’s a challenge … but they wanted to work so I’m supportive.” McCreary started her first business — a shopping service — while she was in college, and said the approach to student business has changed since the years she did it. “Not a lot of people did this kind of thing when I was in college, and now you have students coming up with ideas in tech and medicine,” she said. “They’re gonna change the world.” Judging began at 1 p.m. Saturday. Presentations were examined based on three categories — how remarkable the idea is, its marketability and the team’s presentation. The winning pitch earned co-founders Michelle Pressly and Kutay Sezingel — graduate students in chemical engineering — $1,500 to further develop their idea, which will utilize an algorithm to predict and prevent maternal hemorrhaging during childbirth. Pressly said the idea originated at a conference in the spring of 2016, when a clinician approached Pressly about taking her research on modeling how blood clots and applying it to treatment of actual patients.
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After approaching Sezingel about joining the endeavor, Pressly sought advice from her professors and academic advisers, who referred her to the Startup Blitz to advance the pitch. “I wanted to do this because it would force me to get better at communicating the idea, and that’s exactly what I need to do for grants, for start-up reasons,” Pressly said. The duo took on two new members on the first night of the Startup Blitz — Toby Sheung, a senior neuroscience major, and Alex Wallace, a senior mechanical engineering major. “It’s really good to have other people come in that are more skeptical, that haven’t read as many papers as you about it,” Pressly said. “You have to get them up to speed in a way that’s tangible and accessible, and they helped me get there.” Carryer said passion is a key element in being able to pitch an idea and then make something out of it, but besides that, aspirational entrepreneurs need to have intelligence and grit. “You do need to have passion … but it’s not the key component,” Carryer said. “You’re gonna need to have the smarts to be able to do it, you’re gonna have to have a lot of tenacity and what I call stick-to-itness where you don’t give up.”
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Opinions column
from the editorial board
On Columbus Day, teach explorer’s whole history Pitt students undoubtedly enjoyed yesterday’s day off — officially the University’s designated fall break. Unofficially, however, the day’s status as Columbus Day has long created more controversy than calm. Columbus Day — named after the Italian-born, Spanish-financed explorer from the 15th century known as one of the first Europeans to reach the Americas — has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1971. Before this designation, the holiday was long-popular among marginalized Italian immigrants in the country as an expression of ethnic pride. But despite its lengthy history and popularity among some, the holiday has increasingly come under fire from some groups, including many Native American groups, who consider it offensive. And while it’s unclear how best to resolve disagreements over Columbus Day, it’s important to recognize Christopher Columbus’ entire legacy — not just the good parts — and what that legacy means in today’s cultural context. Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, became two of the largest cities in the country to announce this year they would stop celebrating Columbus, renaming the day “Indigenous Peoples Day.” “This motion, let me be clear, is not about erasing history,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor, Hilda Solis, at a public meeting discussing the change. “This is about understanding that for centuries, America’s ancestors oppressed certain groups of people.” The controversy isn’t just outside Pittsburgh, however. In Schenley Park, vandals targeted a statue of the explorer last weekend. And the annual Columbus Day Parade in Bloomfield — a neigborhood that’s cen-
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tral to Italian culture in the city — is considering renaming itself and moving weekends, angering some. “Our history keeps going out the window,” Bloomfield resident Deborah Biacno told CBS Pittsburgh. “Everybody keeps getting rid of parts of our history. We need to be known.” Still a charged figure in our society even hundreds of years after his death, Columbus undoubtedly treated the American Indians he met with extraordinary cruelty. And it’s important that our country’s education system acknowledges the complexity of the explorer’s legacy — something it doesn’t do with overly simplistic lessons about Columbus sailing the ocean blue. But much of the resistance to changing Columbus Day comes from individuals with a personal connection to the holiday. For some Italian-Americans in particular, the day still holds ethnic significance. “Columbus Day is a day that we’ve chosen to celebrate who we are,” Basil Russo, president of the Order of Italian Sons and Daughters of America, told the Los Angeles Times. “And we’re entitled to do that just as they are entitled to celebrate who they are.” Opponents to the continued celebration of Columbus Day have a very strong case to make — as it currently stands, public discourse and education about Columbus in the United States is closer to mythology than actual history. But it’s unlikely they’ll make much progress unless they recognize the connections with the holiday many Americans still have. Columbus shouldn’t be treated as a cartoon hero or a cartoon villain. If the issue will ever be resolved, we need realistic education and contextualization of his place in American history.
WBC MESSAGE FAILS TO DIVIDE PGH COMMUNITY
Local activist Ciora Thomas led the Trans Liberation counter protest against Westboro Baptist Church at CMU Thursday. Sarah Cutshall STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Sarah Shearer
For The Pitt News Donning a rainbow flag in the rain at a counter protest last Thursday on the corner of Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard, Hannah Riley said the Westboro Baptist Church’s planned visit to Pitt wasn’t shaping up to be violent. “I think this one, if it happens, will be more intense because WBC is [angrier],” Riley, a first-year Pitt student, said. “I
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don’t think it will be violent.” The WBC likes to make noise, but their failure to appear on Pitt’s campus spoke louder than any protest could have — not only did it speak volumes about their priorities, it also gave a stronger voice to the groups counter-protesting on campus. One WBC member in Pittsburgh, Jael Holroyd, tweeted that afternoon to announce the main reason they cut their See Shearer on page 5
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Shearer, pg. 4 tour short. “We were soaked with media presence at first event,” Holroyd said, adding that the weather Thursday affected the group’s decision to skip events in Pittsburgh on its schedule later in the day. For those who don’t already recognize how deeply troubling Westboro’s ideology and preaching methods are, Holroyd’s tweet should easily expose the group’s twisted priorities — their thirst for attention and money over sharing their beliefs. If the group’s motive for Thursday’s protest was actually to spread what they believe to be the true word of God, no amount of rain would have deterred them from sharing that message with us. As Holroyd seemed to admit, her group’s real intentions weren’t so much to talk to college students as they were to enrage us and profit from the controversy. The so-called church generates a large part of its income from lawsuits against people and organizations that oppose its right to demonstrate, and media attention goes a long way in helping the group get
there. But if the hate group simply hoped to get a rise out of college students at Thursday’s protests, they must have been sorely disappointed. Far from it, Westboro’s visit successfully united students and other community members, loving and supporting one another. The group’s absence also handed the WBC’s self-appointed duty to share their religious agenda over to Christians at Pitt’s counter protests. These Christian representatives came to share who Jesus really is and demonstrated just how hypocritical Westboro’s version of Christianity is. Westboro’s last target in Oakland was religious — St. Paul Cathedral — where four protesters stood holding multiple signs each on the street corner. One counter-protesting man, rosary beads in hand, faced picketers and loudly recited prayers while a Westboro protester shouted at him through police guarding the members of the hate group. A few people also attended the counter protest as a part of Cornerstone, a university ministry based at Bellefield Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue. One of Cor-
nerstone’s ministers, Bobbi Perkins, said the interactions they had with protesting students were “amazing.” “Even amid something so inflammatory, the student body came together … to love and care for each other,” Perkins said. “We chose to be present so we could listen to, care for and serve the students of Pitt, while offering a true perspective of Jesus.” Across the street from WBC’s picket at St. Paul’s, local activist Ciora Thomas led the Trans Liberation protest, organized by SisTers PGH. Thomas founded the organization, which aims to serve transgender people of color through outreach and shelter. Standing amid crowds of people who gathered at the corner of Bigelow Boulevard and Forbes Avenue, awaiting WBC’s arrival and showering each other with encouragement, I found it easy to forget that it was raining at all. They came to respect and love their neighbors — and it was powerful. The environment was so encouraging that it’s unlikely there would have been violence even if WBC had appeared. Although police arrested one man at the corner of Forbes and Morewood avenues
for attempting to reach and destroy a WBC sign, the vast majority of counter protesters were not violent. And just as protesters appeared unlikely to instigate harm, Pittsburgh police maintained a mostly calm relationship with the crowd for the duration of the event as well. Pittsburgh counter protesters should be proud of themselves for prioritizing each other over the comfort of staying dry. All too often, protesters on college campuses frame situations as adversarial — “us” versus “them.” But since WBC failed to appear on campus Thursday, all that was left were groups of people armed with signs, flags, cookies — united. The hate group eliminated themselves from the equation, and effectively turned what could have been a shouting match between protesters and counter protesters into what was essentially a pride rally. Last week, I urged the University to let our words and actions speak love over a group spreading the opposite. It turns out, we didn’t even have to shout to be heard. The rain helped us fight the battle. Write to Sarah at srs165@pitt.edu.
The Pitt News SuDoku 10/10/17 courtesy of dailysudoku.com
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Culture
THE NATIONAL PLAYS TO PENSIVE CROWD Sarah Morris Staff Writer
A
s The National lead singer Matt Berninger held up his drink between songs, he said being in Pittsburgh makes him feel like he’s “almost home.” The Cincinnati-based band played the outdoor venue at Stage AE Saturday to a full crowd of fans — mostly young adults
Matt Berninger is the lead singer of The National — an indie rock band from Cincinnati. TNS in their twenties and thirties, many of whom were dedicated enough to be sporting band clothing. The National is touring for their latest album, “Sleep Well Beast,” which was released Sept. 8, and played most of the album across the course of the 22-song set.
Before The National even hit the stage, the crowd was graced with the presence of indie darling Daughter, who is on a short tour with The National. Daughter played a short eight-song set primarily composed of slow-ambient tracks, but closed with the jam “Fossa,” which allowed the band to
show off their more versatile guitar skills. The National opened to an audience that was quiet but rapt with attention. Berninger seemed to be feeding on the anxiety of the crowd, walking up to the foot of the stage and just staring blankly out into the sea of unfamiliar faces. Even the scene set as the band came out contributed to these nerves — a display of lights and a screen done in moody blues and grays began playing over the stage as soon as the crew started setting up for the band. There was even a timer that started counting up and tracking the minutes that passed as the crowd waited for the band after Daughter. No one knew what minute the timer was counting up to, but everyone was waiting for it to stop. The the air of nervousness is fitting — the band’s new album is a stressful one. The National always deals with dark themes in their music, but “Sleep Well Beast,” could win the prize for some of their most anxiety-inducing tracks. The opening song of the album, “Nobody Else Will Be There” — also used to open the show — deals with the fear of being alone with a person you care about, and Berninger’s performance of it felt See The National on page 7
Swaying in solidarity:
Point Park students dance for Las Vegas in wake of shooting
Sarah Morris Staff Writer
As the clock in Market Square reached 12:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, about 115 young adults dressed in jeans and white T-shirts began flowing in around the perimeter of the square, moving their arms and hands in a series of intricate and repeated gestures. “It’s a flash mob,” a man on a corner of the square yelled as group comprised largely of student dancers joining in a planned performance. In the aftermath of the mass shooting that took place in Las Vegas last week, a number of
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students at Point Park University came together to create an artistic demonstration as a show of unity. Angelica Luna, a senior dance major at Point Park, said a number of students who danced in the performance have connections to Vegas. “There’re 12 Point Park University students in the dance program from Las Vegas, and after the tragedy that had happened, [these students] came in a little distraught and our dance community really came together and wanted to do something for us,” Luna said. That something turned into the demon-
stration Downtown Monday. The group, after forming the circle, began a series of movements in sync that often involved all of them joining hands and moving around the square in a circle. Many in the crowd were unaware what was transpiring — there was no sound to the performance. No music, and no audible explanation. “I think we just decided on doing something that was simple and beautiful,” Luna said. “Something that can honor the lives that were lost and the people that are still fighting for their lives.” The focus of the piece was unity, and Eric
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Lobenberg, another senior at the university, felt that solidarity, even across the distance between Pittsburgh and Vegas. “As the seniors in the dance department, we decided to do something with our art to showcase unity from 3,000 miles away for our home,” Lobenberg said. “I have some friends who are in the hospital right now from the shooting and just, the Vegas community is so connected back home that all of us in the department are from different areas of Vegas, but we’ve all been connected and know people from all over.” See Point Park on page 7
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The National, pg. 6 reserved. In fact, the first few songs of the set all felt somewhat reserved. But the show hit its stride five songs in when the band played a sequence of “Don’t Swallow the Cap,” a hit from their 2013 album “Trouble Will Find Me,” followed by “Afraid of Everyone,” from their 2010 album “High Violet.” The crowd ate up the older songs, and Berninger played into it. He tossed his drink high into the air in a momentary loss of control, then apologized before beginning the next song. The concert continued at its heightened pace with a good mix of classics and tracks from the new album, the tension remaining high in the crowd as Berninger gave his all over to the music. After the band finished playing “Day I Die” — a track from the new album reflecting on what one will achieve in a lifetime — Berninger thanked the audience and exited the stage then almost immediately came back out to keep playing. He apologized to the crowd — he unknowingly left the stage a song early and
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thought he was playing the encore, but they weren’t actually there yet. Everyone forgave him easily, happy to have the band keep playing. The tension built up over the course of the show finally found its release in the encore. Sudden loud bangs rang out through the venue near the end of the concert. But after immediate reactions of panic and questioning whispers in the crowd as to what it could be, people settled down and realized it was just fireworks shooting from the Penguins game. As the sky lit up, the band went into “Mr. November,” and Berninger lept earnestly into the crowd. As a member of the crew carefully fed him wire from the mic, Berninger tore through the people, singing directly to them as the crowd got the loudest it had been all night, cheering and shouting the lyrics back to the band. Once Berninger made it back to the stage, the band closed out the show with “Terrible Love,” the song that stands out as probably their biggest mainstream hit. But “Mr. November” remained the climax of the concert — the final song served instead as the falling action for the crowd to calm down before ending the night.
Point Park, pg. 6 And this show of unity was a large one — over a hundred students put the performance together in a matter of days, a difficult feat considering the dancers’ busy daily schedules. “Honestly, it was just insane seeing the amount of people that were so willing ... to do it and come forward and comfort those who were going through the tragedy,” Luna said. “It is so hard being away from home and something happening at home.” The demonstration also served to connect the students from Vegas with their community back there, helped by efforts from another Point Park senior, Jennifer Romano. “Today I was helping to livestream everything so it can be shared with our friends and families,” Romano said. Romano wanted her friends and family in Las Vegas to see that other parts of the country are still grieving with them, and that she and the other dancers want to help in any way they can. The dancers’ sense of unity is very significant to Lobenberg, who said he was grateful for all of the people — civilians, police officers and first responders — in Vegas who risked their own lives to save others and that the performance was as much for them as it was for the victims.
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The crowd grew steadily to about a hundred people as the performance took place, and people passing through stopped to spectate. After the 10-minute demonstration came to a finish, the group involved gradually dispersed, and the crowd appeared to contemplate what they had just witnessed. One spectator, Hayley Herina, a first-year at Point Park University, said that watching the performance was an inspiring moment of seeing her community come together. “At the end ... everyone had their arms up and were looking up at the sky, and then they all slowly dropped their arms down and backed away. That really gave me chills,” Herina said. Many people from the crowd stayed after the performance to talk to the dancers. Some students wearing paper signs indicating they were a part of the demonstration stood around the square, prepared to talk about what took place. Many of the dance students who performed looked as though they could have been crying, and stopped to hug each other before they left the square and headed back to campus. “It was a way for us to unite as not only dancers, but as people with our family and our friends and our community back home,” Lobenberg said.
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Sports
DINUCCI IS THE GUY Narduzzi announces quarterback changes during his Monday afternoon press conference. by Abbot Zuk | Staff Writer
football
Secondary shows improvement Grant Burgman Staff Writer
Head coach Pat Narduzzi announced Ben DiNucci as the starting quarterback for Saturday’s game against North Carolina State. John Hamilton CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
P
itt football head coach Pat Narduzzi named redshirt sophomore Ben DiNucci as Saturday’s starting quarterback in Monday’s press conference. Redshirt senior Max Browne sustained an injury to his throwing arm in the weekend’s loss to Syracuse. Unsure of how long that injury will put him out, Narduzzi is making some changes. “I feel bad for Max,” Narduzzi said. “We’re still evaluating his body, so that’s still in evaluation, but Ben DiNucci is the guy … we’ve got faith in Ben, and Kenny Pickett will be his backup.” Even though Narduzzi assured the room of his faith in DiNucci, he also challenged the redshirt sophomore to step up
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in the upcoming game. “Everybody can give you more, and I just told [DiNucci], ‘Listen we need more. What you’ve done so far is OK, but you need more,’” Narduzzi said. “It’s the same thing for everybody. Everybody needs to give more.” The other player who will need to give more is Pickett — the first-year who is now DiNucci’s backup. At the moment, he holds a 100 percent passing completion, but that is only because he threw his sole completed pass in Saturday’s game against Syracuse. Pickett entered the game when DiNucci’s helmet fell off and resulted in him being removed for a play. Even with so little
playing time, Narduzzi has ample confidence in the first-year. “Kenny is probably as mentally prepared as any freshman quarterback in the country, I think,” Narduzzi said. “He’s way ahead of where DiNucci was when he was a freshman mentally, so he’s a guy that we had confidence in from the beginning … So he’ll be our backup, and we’ll progress that way.” Pitt’s quarterback dilemma was far from the only issue Saturday. The Panthers surrendered their fourth loss of the 2017 season, remaining winless in ACC play. Narduzzi didn’t come across too upset about the loss — he actually paid homage See Narduzzi on page 10
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Pitt’s defense — particularly the secondary — has become an easy target for criticism during the last two years. There have been low moments, such as last year’s 37-36 loss at North Carolina and this year’s 59-21 loss to Oklahoma State, but in Saturday’s loss against Syracuse, the Pitt defense earned some long-awaited praise. Coming into the game, Syracuse’s high-powered offense was expected to carve up an overmatched Pitt secondary. Throughout the first half, though, the Panthers defense kept pace with the Syracuse offense, holding them to just 10 points at halftime. The Panthers’ first-half defensive success was in large part thanks to the pressure that defensive linemen and linebackers put on Syracuse junior quarterback Eric Dungey. Junior linebacker Oluwaseun Idowu consistently rushed the quarterback and contributed both of his two sacks in the first half. Junior lineman Dewayne Hendrix and senior lineman Allen Edwards both turned in solid performances as well. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi singled out Edwards and Hendrix two weeks ago on his radio show as key contributors, and the two have continued to make a difference on defense. Hendrix created a lot of pressure off the edge of the offensive line, forcing Dungey to step up in the pocket and helping the Panthers pressure him early. While the front line did its job for the most part, the biggest stars of the Panthers’ defense were senior cornerback See Football on page 10
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WEEKEND SPORTS: PANTHERS’ PERFORMANCES VARY FROM COURT TO FIELD Trent Leonard
For The Pitt News
Forward Taylor Pryce scored her fourth goal of the season in the team’s loss against NC State this weekend. Thomas Yang STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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While the Pitt women’s cross country and volleyball teams excelled this weekend, other Panther performances were less than ideal. Both men’s and women’s swim teams opened their seasons with unsatisfactory performances, and the women’s soccer team extended its losing streak. Women’s Volleyball The women’s volleyball team (12-4 overall, 5-0 ACC) continued its red-hot play Friday as the team fought its way to a 3-1 win at Florida State (9-4 overall, 3-3 ACC). The victory marked the Panthers’ ninth straight win. Pitt dominated the Seminoles with 74 kills. Multiple players tallied double-digit kills, including sophomore Nika Markovic, who led the way with 21. On the defensive end, the Panthers out-dug their opponent 77 to 53. The team rolled through another ACC opponent on Sunday as it took down Miami (9-3 overall, 3-3 ACC) to stay undefeated within the conference and extend their win streak to double digits. This time, senior Mariah Bell led the offense with 17 kills, while the defense was bolstered by a six-block performance from Markovic and a 15-dig effort from redshirt junior Angela Seman. Junior setter Kamalani Akeo also played a large
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role, racking up 49 assists as the Panthers duplicated Friday’s 3-1 result. The Panthers travel to Syracuse (13-6 overall, 5-1 ACC) Friday to put their 10-game win streak on the line. Women’s Cross Country The women’s cross country team grabbed top finishes in the 5k at the CMU Invitational Saturday morning at Schenley Park. Senior Melanie Vlasic dashed her way to a first-place finish with a time of 18:26.2 in her final race at Schenley Park. The Panthers had top-20 performances from three other athletes as well. Senior Amy Kelly finished fifth with a time of 18:47.5, senior Rebecca Peters finished 11th with a time of 19:12 and first-year Mikaela Vlasic finished 17th with a time of 19:34.2. As a result of these combined efforts, Pitt finished second out of 16 teams. The Panthers will travel to the University of Louisville to participate in the Pre-National Invitational Saturday, Oct. 14. Swimming & Diving The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams traveled to Georgia Tech Friday and lost to the Yellow Jackets in their inaugural meet.
Find the full story online at
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Football, pg. 8
Narduzzi, pg. 8 to the Orange following his team’s loss. “Syracuse continues to get better,” Narduzzi said. “They’re a good football team. It was a great game for sure for the fans to watch. Much better than last year, I might add, as far as just watching a game and being competitive and more of a defensive game than an offensive game.” Narduzzi also offered an explanation for the Panthers’ poor defensive performance — redshirt junior safety Jordan Whitehead was tasked with playing both offense and defense. “I think we started off with a bang, and then 98 plays later, we’re a little tired,” Narduzzi said. “Jordan Whitehead — probably gave him too many reps … You don’t see it because he keeps going … But when you start missing tackles, then it affects everybody.” Once Narduzzi finished with the overview of Saturday’s performance, he took the normal shift to the next game — No. 20 North Carolina State. “We play a fantastic North Carolina State team, a team that, as a voting mem-
ber of the USA Today, I’ve been voting for them since week one,” Narduzzi said. “I voted for them all along because I watched what they have done during the summer on tape.” He acknowledged NC State’s depth throughout its ranks and how that translates on the field. NC State’s experience could be highlighted even more considering Pitt’s quarterback situation. Pitt’s defense will face another challenging test against NC State’s powerful offense. The Wolfpack is led by redshirt junior quarterback Ryan Finley. “Finley is a very smart quarterback,” Narduzzi said. “I don’t think he’s thrown a pick this year. He manages the game well.” Even with more ACC play looming in the future, Narduzzi assured everyone the Panthers’ focus is on the NC State matchup. They’re not getting ahead of themselves. “One at a time. If we start looking ahead, we’re going to be in big trouble,” Narduzzi said. “We’ve got to focus on North Carolina State. We’ve got a great football team coming in homecoming weekend, and it’ll be a great challenge for us this football team.”
The Pitt news crossword 10/10/17
Avonte Maddox and junior safety Jordan Whitehead in the secondary. Maddox shadowed Syracuse receiver Steve Ishmael, tallied up less than 100 yards receiving for the first time this year. While Ishmael did break loose for a 35-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, he was obviously limited by Maddox’s coverage. Whitehead made his impact all across the field, leading the team with six tackles. He was a commanding force throughout the whole game, his performance highlighted by a pass breakup over the top of Syracuse senior wideout Ervin Philips with six minutes remaining in the first half. Pitt’s defense was so significantly better than its own offense that Whitehead was the Panthers’ best player on the offensive side of the ball as well. In addition to his pass deflection and 13 tackles, Whitehead led the Panthers in rushing with 73 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. The Panther’s second-half performance wasn’t nearly as impressive, as Dungey completed an imposing 15 of 17 passes. The play dropped off because of Syracuse’s dominant
possession. Pitt’s longest drive in the second half lasted nine plays — Syracuse didn’t have a single drive under 10 plays long for the half. Pitt’s inability to sustain any real offensive threat forced the defense to take the field for nearly 18 minutes of the second half. Syracuse’s dominance exhausted the Panthers’ defense, culminating in a 15-play, six-minute 23-second drive that left Pitt with only 52 seconds to tie or win the game. Dungey finished the game with 365 yards and three total touchdowns, but those numbers aren’t indicative of Pitt’s defensive performance, especially considering the expectations. After last year’s 76-61 shootout, and Syracuse’s hot start to this season, keeping the Orange’s high-powered offense contained for most of the game was a victory in itself. While the Panther defense still may not be dominant, Saturday’s game certainly showed it has made great strides this season. And with the way Pitt’s 2017 campaign has been going, that’s actually impressive. Now, if the Panthers can maintain a solid performance for the entirety of a game, they stand a chance of making this season — and future seasons — worth watching.
pittnews.com
October 10, 2017
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