Women’s Soccer Opens Home and ACC Play with Syracuse
9/16/2020 4:32:00 PM
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HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
- The game will air live on ACC Network Extra.
- Live stats are available through PittsburghPanthers.com.
- Updates from the context will also be provided on Twitter. Follow @Pitt_WSOC for the latest news and updates about the team.
OPENING WEEK
- Pitt beat Appalachian State twice last weekend on the road with a 4-0 win Thursday and 7-1 victory in the series finale Sunday.
- The shutout was biggest-ever margin of victory in a season-opener.
- Seven Panthers scored the 11 combined goals.
- Leah Pais scored the game's first two goals Thursday with an assist as well and then scored Sunday's first goal as well.
- Pais recorded the second-most points (five) in a Panther's debut, behind West's 10 points last year.
- Pitt is 3-0 in season-openers under head coach Randy Waldrum.
- The Panthers had not defeated an opponent by 4+ goals since a 6-1 victory over St. John's on Oct. 9, 2011.
- The opener was the first official game of in all of NCAA soccer.
- The Panthers picked up a second road win of the season, the first since winning three times away from home in 2015.
ACC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- Kate McKay was named the first ACC Defensive Player of the Week for the 2020 season.
- As a centerback, McKay played a key role in limiting Appalachian State to just one goal and 13 shots.
- She also contributed on the offensive side. She recorded her first collegiate multi-assist game in the season-opener and scored her first goal in the following game.
RETURNING FOR PITT IN 2020
- The Panthers return seven starters and eight other letterwinners from last year's team that went 5-10-3 overall and 2-6-2 in ACC play.
- Amanda West and Mackenzie Edwards started every game last season as freshmen, and Athalie Palomo started in every game played with one game missed due to an injury.
- McKay, a transfer from Elon, started in all but one game.
- Sophomores Krystyna Rytel and Anna Bout combined for 26 starts in the midfield and will look to fill the void of last year's team captain Juliana Vazquez, who graduated.
- This year's team still ranks as one of the youngest in the ACC with only six upperclassmen. Dixon Veltri is the team's lone senior.
THIS YEAR'S NEWCOMERS
- Pitt welcomes 10 new players to this year's rosters with two transfers and eight freshmen.
- The Panthers are already counting on their newcomers to make instant impacts, as four started in both games last week: Chloe Minas, Hailey Davidson, Leah Pais and Emily Yaple.
- Davidson came from Oklahoma, where she started two years as a defender and had four goals and an assist as a freshman in 2018.
- Pais won the 2019 America East Rookie of the Year while at Albany, where she tied for the team-lead in goals (five) and tallied 12 points.
- Coach Waldrum brought in one of the most talented recruiting classes in program history, an eight-member class: Nyla Allen, Ione Fetsko, Eva Frankovic, Hannah Knych, Minas, Chantelle Parker, Yaple and Zaria Stevenson.
- Davidson, Frankovic, Minas and Yaple all joined the team for last year's spring semester.
SCOUTING SYRACUSE
- Syracuse returns nine starters and 11 newcomers from last year's team that went 3-11-2, 1-7-1.
- Head coach Nicky Adams enters her second season at the helm.
- Last year the Orange were 3-3-1 at home, including a 2-1 upset win over Wake Forest, and winless (0-8-1) on the road.
- Junior forward Meghan Root was the only player to have more than four points last year with three goals and two assists.
- Senior goalkeeper Lysianne Proulx played every minute of 2019, recording a 1.69 goals against average, 83 saves and .748 save percentage.
THE SERIES
- Syracuse has the edge in the all-time series 12-5-4, including 3-2-1 in ACC play since the two schools joined the league in 2013.
- In games contested in Pittsburgh, the Orange have a 5-3-2 record against the Panthers.
- Last year the two teams played to a 1-1 tie on Sept. 20 in Pittsburgh.
- Syracuse won the previous two meetings, 2-0 at home (2017) and 1-0 (2016). Pitt won the previous two matchups 1-0 (overtime) in 2015 and 1-0 in 2014.
WHAT DOES WEST HAVE IN STORE FOR YEAR TWO
- Amanda West hit the ground running last week, just like she did last year, with a goal and assist in each victory.
- With only 19 career games played, West already ranks among the top all-time scorers in program history.
- Tied for the seventh-most points (35) with Jennifer Kritch (2005-08).
- Tied for seventh-most goals (12) with Corina Sebesta (2003-06).
- Tied for sixth-most career assists (11) with Charity McClure (1997-98) and Taylor Pryce (2014-18)
- She has recorded six three-plus point game, tied with Roosa Arvas (2012-15) for second-most in program history.
- She accomplished things in 2019 that no other Panther has done in program history.
- She was named to the United Soccer Coaches' All-Atlantic Region Third-Team, becoming the second-ever Panther to receive all-region honors.
- She became the first Pitt women's soccer player to receive All-ACC honors when she was named to the third and all-freshmen teams.
- She broke the school's all-time single-season points record last year with 29.
- Also, she passed Cande Ruiz (1998) at 26 for the most and also tied Ruiz for the most goals in one year with 10.
- In assists, she tied with McClure (1998) and Katelyn Ruhe (2010) for the single-season record and already ranks tied for eighth in career assists.
NEW STARTING GOALKEEPER
- The Panthers must replace two-year starting goalkeeper Amaia Pena, who signed a professional contract with Athletic Club Femenino (Spain).
- Pitt has three goalkeepers on the roster: Katherine Robinson, Caitlyn Lazzarini and Gabriella Neibart.
- Robinson, the most experienced of the trio, started both games at App State and allowed no goals with three saves in 122 minutes played.
- Lazzarini relieved Robinson in both games in the second half and made two saves in 58 minutes.
- Prior to this season, Robinson made eight starts in 12 games played over two seasons. Last year she registered a 0-1-1 record with a 2.20 goals against average and eight saves.
- Lazzarini played in three games last year as a freshman and recorded a 1-2-0 record, 0.95 goals against average and eight saves.
O CANADA
- Waldrum and his staff have gone north of the border the last two years to find top talent to fill out the roster.
- Six players grew up playing in the Canadian youth soccer system: Parker (Milton, Ontario), Pais (Mississagua, Ontario), West (Burlington, Ontario), Anna Bout (Cambridge, Ontario), Minas (Montreal, Quebec) and Bex Bartosh (Hiawatha First Nation, Ontario).
- Pais leads the team in scoring with three goals and seven points with West right behind her with two goals and six points.
- Bout and Minas have started in the midfield in both games, and Bout scored her first collegiate goal on Sunday.
- Parker made her collegiate debut on Sunday, and Bartosh came off the bench in both games.
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September 17, 2020 at 03:51AM
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