Women’s Soccer Travels to Notre Dame for Road ACC Opener

Thursday, September 26

South Bend, IN

7 PM

Pitt

Notre Dame

Photo by: Matt Hawley/Pitt Athletics

9/25/2019 3:53:00 PM | Women's Soccer

PITTSBURGH – Pitt women's soccer faces Notre Dame Thursday at 7 p.m. in its ACC road opener.

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG

The match against Notre Dame will air live on ACCNX.
Fans can also follow live stats by clicking 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 (3-4-2, 0-0-1 ACC) tied Syracuse 1-1 in its ACC opener Friday night at home.
The Panthers held a 20-8 shots and 9-2 corner kicks advantage, including 6-3 and 2-0 in the two overtimes.
After receiving a pass from freshman forward Amanda West, freshman forward Rachel Rasins made a slick move past a Syracuse defender and slotted a shot into the left side of the net in the 38th minute for her first collegiate goal.
Syracuse tied the game up in the 61st minute on a penalty kick, which proved to be its only shot on goal in the game.

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME

Notre Dame enters the game with a 6-3-0, 0-1-0 record. The Irish opened season with six-straight wins by a combined score of 12-1 but have lost its last three games, all against ranked teams.
Sophomore midfielder Luisa Delgado leads the team in scoring with three goals and nine points. Junior forward Eva Hurm has also produced three goals, and junior midfielder Sammi Fisher is tied for the team-lead in assists (three) with Delgado.
Senior Brooke Littman and sophomore Mattie Interian have split time as the squad's starting goalkeeper. Interian started in Notre Dame's 1-0 loss to then-No. 10 Clemson and has a 3-2-0 record, 1.00 goals against average and 15 saves. Brooke Littman has a 3-0-0 record with just one goal allowed and five saves.

THE SERIES WITH NOTRE DAME

Notre Dame hasn't dropped a game against Pitt in 15 all-time meetings with a 14-0-1 record.
The last four meetings have been ACC league games.
Pitt head coach Randy Waldrum served as head for the Irish in 10 of the meetings with a 9-0-1 record.

WALDURM'S ROLE REVERSED

The game marks the second time second-year head coach Randy Waldrum has faced his former team, as Notre Dame won 2-0 last year on Oct. 20 last year in Pittsburgh.
Waldrum led the Fighting Irish to unprecedented success for 14 seasons, leading the Fighting Irish to two national championships and capturing the College Cup title in 2004 and 2010.
His teams won eight Big East Tournament titles and appeared in eight NCAA Final Four games in that span.
He was the first coach in NCAA history to lead a team to a national title in his/her first season with a program and wrapped up his tenure with a mark of 292-58-17 (.819).

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 nine matches, the Panthers have used seven 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).
The eight different combinations have been successful in the early going for the Panthers as they have produced 12 goals, one more than produced in all of last season.

PANTHER CUBS MAKING MOST OF PLAYING TIME

The Panthers are one of the youngest teams in the nation this season as they have 21 newcomers to the squad this season 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 49 matches so far this season.
Two freshmen have started every matches so far this season, Amanda West and midfielder Mackenzie Edwards.

WEST CONTINUES STRONG START TO FRESHMAN CAMPAIGN

Amanda West has started off her career on a tear for the Panthers as she has notched at least one point in seven of her first nine career matches.
Last time out, West assisted on Rachel Rasin's goal against Syracuse.
She opened up her career with the best debut in program history as she netted a hat-trick and an assist including the game-winner in the 84th minute as Pitt handed Loyola Marymount the 5-4 defeat. 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.
So far this season, the striker has netted seven goals, four assists and 18 points to go along with three game-winning goals. Her 18 points are the most in a season for a Pitt player since 2014 when Roosa Arvas netted 21 points.
Earlier this year, West became just the second Panther in program history to earn ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors and the first Pitt 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.

THREE PANTHERS SHARING TIME IN GOAL

Goalkeepers Caitlyn Lazzarini (freshman), Amaia Pena (redshirt-junior) and Katherine Robinson (sophomore) have each started and played a full game this season.
Pena has seen the most action, playing 591 minutes in six games started. She's notched a 2-2-2 record, 1.37 goals against average, 12 saves and a .600 save percentage.
Lazzarini started in back-to-back games with three saves in a shutout win over Saint Joseph's and three more saves with a goal allowed at VCU.
Robinson allowed two goals with two saves in her only game played against Massachusetts.

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 senior Juliana Vazquez and junior 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 61 games while notching 52 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, Olding has appeared in 34 matches while making 22 starts as she has netted four goals and eight points so far in her career.

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