Pitt Travels to Syracuse for Saturday Night Matchup

PITTSBURGH — Pitt women's soccer (8-6-0, 1-5-0) plays its last road ACC game of the season Saturday at 7 p.m. against Syracuse (4-8-1, 0-6-0).

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG

The game can be streamed through WatchESPN.
Updates from the contest are provided on Twitter. Follow @Pitt_WSOC for the latest news and updates about the team.

THE SERIES

Syracuse leads 12-6-4 in the all-time series due to winning the first six games (1996-2002).
The Panthers have faced the Orange more than any other opponent and all but the first game came as conference foes.
Since 2002, the two schools have faced each other every season except 2018.
Since the two schools joined the ACC in 2013, each team has won three times with a 1-1 tie in 2019.

LAST TIME AGAINST SYRACUSE

Pitt shut out Syracuse 2-0 at home on Sept. 17 last year.
Emily Yaple scored the game-winning and first goal of her collegiate career in the 58th minute, collecting and pushing in a rebound off the left post from Amanda West's shot.
West recorded her own goal in the 76th minute, converting a penalty kick.
The Panthers had a dominate advantage in shots (27-4) and shots on goals (12-1).
The Panthers had an 8-3 advantage in corner kicks and possessed the ball for 63% of the game.

RPI RANKINGS

Pitt is currently slotted at No. 78 in the RPI rankings (.564 value).
Down 12 spots from last week, the Panthers debuted at 71 in the first release of the rankings on Sept. 27.
All of the Panthers' six losses have come to top-50 opponents: at No. 1 Florida State, No. 6 Duke and No. 42 Clemson and home to No. 2 North Carolina, No. 13 TCU and No. 32 Virginia Tech.
Pitt owns a top-75 win at No. 74 Oklahoma State.
With four ACC contests left, the Panthers have plenty of top-ranked opponents to bump up its RPI ranking with top-50 games against No. 37 Wake Forest and No. 38 NC State and top-100 contests versus No. 60 Boston College and No. 98 Syracuse.

HISTORIC OFFENSE

The Panthers have displayed a high-powered offense this season with 3+ goals scored in six wins.
Entering the week, Pitt ranked in the nation 20th in assists per game (2.64), 30th in points per game (7.07), 43rd in scoring offense (2.21 goals per game) and 49th in shots per game (16.21).
Almost halfway through the regular season, the team already ranks among the best ever in program history for single-season stats:
- First in total assists (37).
- Third in points (99).
- Third in goals (31).

STOUT DEFENSE

While getting attention for its offense, Pitt has featured an impressive defense.
The Panthers have allowed 18 goals in 14 games this season with an average of 12.6 shots and 5.5 shots on goal allowed per game.
Entering the week, Pitt ranked in the nation 37th in shutout percentage (.500).
The squad is tied for the second-most shutouts (seven) in a single-season.

THE PROGRAM'S GOAT, AMANDA WEST

In just a little over two years, Amanda West has proven to be the best player in the program's history.
This preseason West became the first Panther to be selected the All-ACC Preseason Team.
To start the season, she earned the first ACC Offensive Player of the Week award.
She scored a goal to break the school record in goals along with an assist in the win over Tulsa and then notched the tying goal in the 3-2 overtime win of then-No. 16 Oklahoma State.
She has been selected for the weekly award in each of three seasons.
She has scored in each of the first four games in all three years and in the first five games the last two seasons.
In season-openers, she has averaged four points per game (seven against Loyola Marymount in 2019, two at App State and three against Tulsa).
She scored the game-winning goal and added an assist in the 2-0 win at Miami.

SINGLE-SEASON RECORD WATCH

With one of the highest scoring totals as a team with four games left in the regular season, Pitt has several individuals etching their names in the school's record book.
Sarah Schupansky is tied for ninth place for most points in a season (16) with Taylor Pryce (2015) and Ashley Cuba (2011) and has the fifth-most points by a freshman.
Amanda West is tied for sixth for game-winning goals (three) with four in each of the previous two seasons.

HOMETOWN HEROES DEBUT

Freshmen and Pittsburgh locals Ellie Coffield and Sarah Schupansky have made instant impacts to start their careers.
In TopDrawerSoccer's Top-100 Freshman Rankings released this week, Schupansky is ranked at No. 59 while Coffield is slotted at No. 78.
Schupansky became the second Panther to reach double-digit points and now leads the team in points (16) while being tied for goals (six) with West.
She is also third in assists (four).
Coffield is tied for the team lead in assists (five) with Anna Bout and is also third in points (nine) with two goals.
In the first game of the season, Coffield scored the game-winning goal over Tulsa on her first career shot in the 17th minute with Schupansky getting her first point with the primary assist.
Coffield finished with another assist on the final goal against the Golden Hurricane.
Schupansky has two braces already (Cleveland State and Towson).
Coffield scored her first goal at Ambrose Urbanic Field against NJIT.
Coffield assisted on the game-winning goal at Miami.
Schupansky scored the golden goal at Oklahoma State for her first collegiate goal, notching the game-winner 30 seconds into overtime, and also assisted on the tying goal in the second half to send the game into overtime.
She was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week, and is just the third Panther to earn the award (Amanda West and Leah Pais).
Schupansky recorded her first brace against Cleveland State in just 31 minutes played.

SCOUTING SYRACUSE

The Orange are winless in its last eight games (0-7-1), all shutouts, and own just seven ACC points in the last four season.
Graduate student Lysianne Proulx has played every second in goal and has 69 saves, four shutouts and a 2.12 goals against average.
Senior midfielder Telly Vunipola leads the team in points (six) with two goals and two assists, but hasn't played since Sept. 18 against Notre Dame.
Senior midfielder Meghan Root and freshman midfielder Pauline Machtens share the team lead in goals with Vunipola.