Women’s Soccer Concludes Regular Season against Virginia Tech on Halloween

PITTSBURGH – Pitt women's soccer team concludes the regular season against (RV) Virginia Tech on Halloween at 7 p.m.

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG

The match will air live on the ACCNX, which is available to view on Watch ESPN.
Fans can also follow live stats HERE.
Updates from the match will also be provided on Twitter. Follow @Pitt_WSOC for the latest news and updates about the team.

LAST TIME OUT

Pitt dropped a second-straight overtime game on the road, 3-2 at then-No. 15 Clemson.
Down 2-0, the Panthers rallied late in the second half to send the game into overtime.
Vildan Kardesler headed in a ball from a cross by Amanda West in the 65th minute for Pitt's first goal.
Krystyna Rytel tied the game up four minutes later, pouncing on a rebound off Kardesler's shot that hit the crossbar for her first collegiate goal.
Amaia Pena made nine saves, and Caitlyn Lazzarini came in for the last 10 minutes and had two.

SCOUTING VIRGINIA TECH

The Hokies enter the game with an 11-4-2, 3-4-2 record and are tied for the final spot in the upcoming ACC Tournament at eighth place in the standings with Notre Dame.
Virginia Tech is slotted at No. 9 in the latest RPI rankings.
Redshirt-freshman forward Nicole Kozlova leads the team in scoring with five goals and 12 points, and sophomore midfielder Emily Gray (four goals) and sophomore forward Molly Feighan (three goals) both have 10 points.
Playing every minute, senior goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn ranks 11th in the nation and second in the league in shutouts (nine) and has 71 saves, 0.80 goals against average and 0.835 save percentage.

THE SERIES

Virginia Tech has won four of the five meetings.
The two teams tied 1-1 at Ambrose Urbanic Field on Sept. 21, 2017.

NO PANTHER HAS SCORED MORE THAN WEST

Amanda West broke the school's all-time single-season points record last Thursday against Wake Forest, scoring two goals for 28 points.
West passed Cande Ruiz (1998) at 26 for the most and also tied Ruiz for the most goals in one year with 10.
She added to her total with an assist at Clemson, tying with Charity McClure (1998) and Katelyn Ruhe (2010) at nine for the most in a single year.
In assists she's tied with Roosa Arvas (2012) for third-most with eight and already ranks for ninth in career assists.
In game-winning goals, she's tied for third with Ruiz.
She has notched at least one point in 12 of her first 17 career matches.
She opened up her career with the best debut in program history with a hat-trick and an assist including the game-winner in the 84th minute as Pitt beat Loyola Marymount 5-4. Her seven points are the most in a game by a Pitt player since 2001 and most in Ambrose Urbanic Field history by a Panther.
In ACC play, she has racked up three goals and seven assists for 13 points in nine games. She ranks in the conference tied for first in points and shots on goal (2.00 per game), tied for second in assists, tied for third in game-winning goals and fourth in goals and shots (3.12 per game).
Earlier this year, West became just the second Panther in program history to earn ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors and the first freshman to do so. The last Panther to earn the weekly recognition was Taylor Pryce in 2015 when she was Co-Offensive Player of the Week.

STILL A CHANCE FOR THE ACC TOURNAMENT

The Panthers sit in 10th place in the ACC standings with eight points and can finish tied for 8th place to get the last spot in the upcoming ACC Tournament.
Virginia Tech and Notre Dame are tied currently in eighth place with 11 points.
Pitt needs to defeat Virginia Tech and have Notre Dame lose in its Thursday game at Wake Forest.
Since Notre Dame and Virginia Tech didn't play each other this season, a three-way tiebreaker will be decided by (in order) goal differential in ACC games, goals scored in ACC games, goals allowed in overall conference game results, head-to-head conference game results against common opponents occupying the highest position in the standings and continuing down through the standings.
Notre Dame (11 goals scored-11 goals allowed) has the best goal differential with Virginia Tech (9-12) and Pitt (13-20) behind in the category.
If one team is eliminated by one of the tiebreakers, head-to-head will then be the next determiner. Pitt would get that over Virginia Tech with a win Thursday, while Notre Dame would get the tourney spot with a win over the Panthers on Sept. 26 in South Bend.
To claim the 8th seed in the league tournament, the Panthers need to beat the Hokies by at least three goals, and the Irish lose by enough goals to finish with a lower goal differential.
If the three teams finish with a -5 goal differential, then the Panthers would have the edge for the next tiebreaker with the most goals scored entering Thursday night.

PROVING THEM WRONG

Picked to finish second-to-last in 13th place in the ACC Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Panthers will finish at worst 12th with one point ahead of Miami and two above Wake Forest.
The Panthers are just one of two teams who currently stand three or more spots higher in standings compared to where they projected in preseason poll (Louisville was picked eighth and are fourth now).

EASY OUT NO MORE

The improvement under coach Waldrum has been evident by the team's results this season. Pitt has proved to be not an automatic win by fellow ACC opponents, but a team that will play tough against anyone, including the nation's best teams.
Last year, the Panthers scored just 11 goals and had a -38 goal differential. In ACC play, they were outscored 42-2 with an average score of 4.2-0.2.
This season, Pitt has scored 24 goals with a -7 goal differential. In nine games of conference action, it has been outscored by only seven goals (20-13) with an average score of 2.2-1.4.
The Panthers were held scoreless in all but one league game last year and have scored against seven of nine opponents this season.
Last year Pitt lost to Boston College 7-0, NC State 6-0, North Carolina 3-0 and Florida State 4-0. The Panthers this season beat the Eagles and Wolfpack 2-1 and lost only 1-0 at the Seminoles and 3-1 to the Tar Heels.
The Panthers had just one-goal loss last year and only three other times lost by two, while this season three of the five ACC losses are by just one goal, including two-straight on the road in overtime.

ACC WINLESS STREAK SNAPPED

On Oct. 10, Pitt snapped a three-year ACC winless streak by defeating Boston College 2-1 in overtime.
Amanda West headed in the golden goal in the 94th minute, off a cross by Cheyenne Hudson.
Pitt went officially three years and one day in-between ACC wins, with the previous victory coming on Oct. 9, 2016 against Miami (1-0 in overtime). The Panthers were 0-25-3 in between the two wins in league action.
The ACC victory was the first for second-year head coach Randy Waldrum.
Three of the last four ACC wins for the Panthers have come in overtime (1-0 over Syracuse on Oct. 11, 2015).

PENA NAMED DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Amaia Pena became the first Panther to be named ACC Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced last Tuesday.
Pena is the third Panther to win any weekly award by the conference and second this season, with Amanda West earning offensive player of the week after the first weekend of the year.
She made a then-career-high 11 saves in the 2-1 win over (RV) NC State.
With the Panthers clinging to the second-half lead and the field tilted with the Wolfpack putting constant pressure on her, she made nine saves in the second half to prevent NC State from rallying to tie the game up, including four in a five-minute span.
The 11 saves were tied for the most by an ACC goalkeeper this season.
She broke the mark with 12 against Wake Forest last Thursday, and with nine saves Sunday at Clemson she's recorded 32 saves in the last three games.
This season she has played 1,231 minutes in 14 games started, including each ACC game. She's notched a 4-5-2 record, 1.68 goals against average, 62 saves and a .729 save percentage.

A TURNING POINT IN CORAL GABLES

After scoring a goal in its season-opener against Syracuse at home, Pitt then went scoreless for a span of 215.5 minutes and gave up seven goals: one to the Orange, four in a loss at Notre Dame and two to Miami.
With the Panthers trailing 2-0 at the Hurricanes, a goal by Sydney Marasco in the 53rd minute sparked a rally for a 3-3 tie, and Pitt has remained competitive since in ACC play.
Since that two-plus game scoreless streak, Pitt has scored just one less goal as its ACC opponents (13-12) with wins over Boston College and NC State and a 1-0 loss at No. 6 Florida State, who ranks 12th in the nation in scoring offense.

FINDING THE RIGHT LINEUP

With a team of 21 newcomers, it will take some time to find the right lineup that will help the Panthers succeed this season.
Through 17 matches, the Panthers have used 15 different starting XI combinations with just three Pitt players starting every match this season.
The Panthers used the same starting lineup in consecutive matches for the first time all season against Saint Joseph's (Sept. 8) and VCU (Sept. 12).
Pitt utilized the same starting lineup in the win over Boston College (Oct. 10) at Wake Forest.
The 15 different combinations have been successful for the Panthers as they have produced 24 goals, 13 more than all of last season.

PANTHER CUBS MAKING MOST OF PLAYING TIME

The Panthers are one of the youngest teams in the nation this season with the 21 newcomers, including a 17-player freshman class.
So far this season, Pitt has started nine freshmen in different spots of the lineup. The nine freshman have combined to start 86 matches this season.
Two freshmen have started every match so far this season, West and Mackenzie Edwards.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

Prior to the beginning of the 2019 campaign, the Pitt women's soccer team voted on captains for the season and selected Juliana Vazquez and Kentucky transfer Hollie Olding to lead the team this year.
Vazquez is a four-year starter up front for the Panthers as she has appeared in 69 games while notching 59 starts over her impressive career.
Olding joined the Panthers for her junior campaign after spending her last two seasons of collegiate soccer at Kentucky. The England native has been named team captain in each of her three seasons in college as she earned the badge as a freshman and sophomore for the Wildcats. For her career, she has appeared in 42 matches while making 25 starts as she has netted four goals and eight points so far in her career.

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Women’s Soccer Concludes Regular Season against Virginia Tech on Halloween

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Edwards

Cheyenne Hudson

Vildan Kardesler

Caitlyn Lazzarini

Sydney Marasco

Hollie Olding

Amaia Pena

Taylor Pryce

Krystyna Rytel

Juliana Vazquez

Amanda West

Women’s Soccer Concludes Regular Season against Virginia Tech on Halloween

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Edwards

Cheyenne Hudson

Vildan Kardesler

Caitlyn Lazzarini

Sydney Marasco

Hollie Olding

Amaia Pena

Taylor Pryce

Krystyna Rytel

Juliana Vazquez

Amanda West

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