Women’s Soccer Opens Home and ACC Play with Syracuse

Thursday, September 17

Pittsburgh, Pa.

7 PM

Pitt

Syracuse

Photo by: Matt Hawley/Pitt Athletics

Women’s Soccer Opens Home and ACC Play with Syracuse

9/16/2020 4:32:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Live Stats Live Stream Game Notes

PITTSBURGH – Pitt women's soccer begins ACC play with its home-opener Thursday at 7 p.m. against Syracuse. This is the first of two contests against the Orange, as the two square off in Syracuse on Oct. 25 in a non-league game.

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.