Panthers Take to the Road, Visit Louisville

Friday, October 13

Louisville, KY.

5:30 PM

Pitt

Louisville

Panthers Take to the Road, Visit Louisville

10/12/2017 11:39:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Pitt Opens Three-Game Road Swing

PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh women's soccer team will kick off a three-game road trip Friday afternoon, traveling to Louisville, KY for a meeting with the Cardinals.

Kickoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. from Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium on the Louisville campus.

HOW TO FOLLOW

The game can be seen live on the ACC Network Extra via Watch ESPN or the WatchESPN app
Live stats will also be available here

THE MATCH
Pitt (3-8-3, 0-5-1 ACC) kicks off a three-game road swing at Louisville, traveling to Kentucky to take on the Cardinals Friday evening. The Panthers are in search of their first ACC win of the season, coming off of a 3-2 loss to North Carolina State Sunday afternoon. In that contest, redshirt juniors Taylor Pryce and Ashley Moreira netted goals for the Panthers.

On the season, Pryce paces the Panther offense, having scored four goals, adding three assists. Mikayla Schmidt (2 G), Vildan Kardesler (1 G, 2 A), Seyla Perez (1 G, 1A), Christiana Davey (1 G, 1 A), Bel Van Noorden (2 A), Juelle Love (1 G) and Moreira (1 G) have all aided the Pitt offensive line.

In net, Katelyn McEachern has earned the start in all but one outing, tallying 1127:08 minutes on the year. She has allowed 20 goals and recorded 68 stops. Fellow redshirt freshman keeper Amaia Pena has seen work in three games, tallying one start, recording 200:00 minutes, allowing six goals and making 13 stops.

SCOUTING LOUISVILLE
Louisville (8-6-0, 2-4-0 ACC) has fallen in four of its last six games, after getting out to a 6-2 start. The Cardinals last took the field in a 1-0 overtime loss to No. 13 Virginia. Prior to the loss to the national powerhouse Cavaliers, Louisville had captured a 2-1 decision at Clemson.

Emina Ekic leads the Cardinals' offense, having tallied seven goals and three assists for 17 points on the season. Allison Whitfield also has a double-digit point total, registering four goals and two assists for 10 points.

Keeper Gabby Kouzelos has seen the most work for Louisville, tallying 1250:28 minutes, having started all 14 games. She has surrendered 17 goals, recording 40 saves.

THE SERIES
This will be the seventh meeting between the two squads in a series dating back to the 2006 season. The Cardinals hold a 4-2-0 all-time advantage, including a mark of 2-1-0 in ACC play. The pair last met on Sept. 17, 2016 at Ambrose Urbanic Field, where Louisville earned a 1-0 win.

Pitt's last victory over the Cardinals came on Sept. 27, 2017 in Louisville, as the Panthers downed the Cardinals 1-0.

MCEACHERN EARNS ACC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK TITLE
Redshirt freshman keeper Katelyn McEachern was named the ACC's Defensive Player of the Week on Aug. 22 after tallying a pair of back-to-back shutouts in her collegiate debut. The rookie recorded eight saves in wins over Hofstra and Duquesne and has yet to allow a goal on the season. McEachern played the entirety of both games, tallying 190:42 minutes.

The league honor is the first for a Panther since Taylor Pryce was named the ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 29, 2015 after scoring game winning goals against Wake Forest and Louisville.

RETURNING TALENT
Pitt's 2017 squad gets a boost, as both Ashley Moreira and Taylor Pryce will return to the starting lineups, after missing the 2016 season. Both members of the U-20 Canadian National Team, the duo will look to bolster a squad that struggled to find the back of the next last year. Pryce tallied six goals, two of which were game winners, in 2015, adding four in 2014. Moreira, a midfielder, scored once, adding two assists in 2015; additionally, she recorded three helpers in her freshman campaign in 2014.

Two of the team's top-three leaders in minutes played will return from the 2016 season, with Alli Higgs (1581) and Sarah Krause (1479) set to lace up with the starting squad.

FRESH FACES
The 2017 team will debut some fresh faces, led by redshirt freshman goalkeeper Katelyn McEachern, the first new keeper since the 2014 season, as 2016 alum Taylor Francis had held down the position for 50 consecutive matches. As a whole, the Panthers welcome nine new faces with freshmen Alexis Bengel, Kendall Higgs, Juelle Love, Vildan Kardesler, Jess McCoppin, Shana Hardin, Aideen O'Donoghue and Kylie Olexa; and transfer Megan Herr.

MEET YOUR CAPTAINS
A trio of Canadians will lead the way for the 2017 Pitt women's soccer season, as redshirt junior Taylor Pryce and seniors Ashley Moreira and Emma Pozzulo will captain the squad. Both Pryce and Moreira will serve as first-year captains, while Pozzulo gets her third season as a captain underway.

THE SCHEDULE
The regular season will get underway at the Petersen Sports Complex on Aug. 18 as the Panthers welcome Hofstra, before taking to the road for three-straight away battles with Duquesne (Aug. 20), Cincinnati (Aug. 24) and Xavier (Aug. 27). The Panthers will close out the month on Aug. 30, welcoming Detroit.

Illinois State visits Sept. 3, as Pitt will travel to Kent State (Sept. 7) and Nebraska (Sept. 10) before ACC play gets underway. A Sept. 15 visit to Wake Forest gets league play going, as Pitt will host Virginia Tech (Sept. 21) and travel to Duke (Sept. 24) to wrap up September action.

Three consecutive home games follow as the Panthers host perennial powerhouse Virginia (Oct. 1), followed by Syracuse (Oct. 5) and NC State (Oct. 8). A trip to Louisville (Oct. 13) will follow, with visits to Miami (Oct. 19) and Florida State (Oct. 22) wrapping up regular season road play. The 2017 regular season will come to a close on Oct. 26 when the Panthers host Boston College.

UP NEXT
Pitt will continue its road trip, traveling to Florida to take on Miami (Oct. 19) and Florida State (Oct. 22). The regular season will come to an end on Oct. 26 as Pitt hosts Boston College.

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