Pitt Concludes Regular Season Thursday at Home Versus NC State

PITTSBURGH — Pitt women's soccer's (10-7-0, 3-6-0) concludes the regular season at home Thursday at 7 p.m. against NC State (8-7-2, 4-5-0).

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG

The game broadcasted on ACCNX 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.

GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS

Kids 12-and-under wearing a soccer jersey get in for free at each home game of the 2021 season for both men's and women's soccer.
There will be a Halloween costume contest for students with the top-three winning prizes and everyone in attendance is encouraged to wear costumes (No full-face masks are allowed inside Petersen Sports Complex).
The first 100 fans in attendance receive Pitt soccer scarves.

SERIES HISTORY

NC State leads 5-3-0 in the all-time series with all but one game as ACC contests.
The two teams have split the four matchups in Pittsburgh.
The Panthers have shut out the Wolfpack twice (3-0 on Oct. 4, 2014 and 2-0 in Sept. 20, 2015).

LAST TIME AGAINST NC STATE

Pitt upset NC State 2-1 at Ambrose Urbanic Field on Oct. 19, 2019.
Celia Lopez and Vildan Kardesler each scored goals in a 10-minute span in the first half.
Amaia Pena made a career-high 11 saves, including nine difficult ones in the second half.
Pena had a diving save from a point-blank shot in the 61st minute, which was the fifth save in a nine-minute span.
Both of Pitt's shots on goals were converted into goals.

RPI RANKINGS

Pitt is currently slotted at No. 66 in the RPI rankings (.567 value).
Up eight spots from last week, the Panthers debuted at 71 in the first release of the rankings on Sept. 27.
All but one of the Panthers' seven losses (No. 52 Clemson) have come to top-50 opponents: at No. 1 Duke and No. 3 Florida State and home to No. 4 North Carolina, No. 7 TCU and No. 28 Virginia Tech and No. 31 Virginia Tech.
Pitt owns top-75 wins at No. 63 Oklahoma State and versus No. 70 Boston College.
The Panthers have a great opportunity to bump up its RPI ranking with the matchup against No. 27 NC State.

ACC STANDINGS

Pitt is currently 11th in the standings, one point behind Louisville (3-5-1) and three behind NC State.
Pitt can finish as high as tied for ninth with a win over NC State and a Louisville loss or tie in its Thursday home matchup against Duke.
The nine conference points so far this year are tied with last year for the second-most the Panthers have had in a single-season (12 in 2015) in eight years in the ACC.

WINNING RECORD

Pitt is tied for the second-most wins (10) in a single-season in school history.
In its 26th season for the program, Pitt clinched its fourth season of a winning record: 11-5-0 last year, 10-7-1 in 2015 and 8-5-5 in 2009.

HISTORIC OFFENSE

The Panthers have displayed a high-powered offense to start the season with 3+ goals scored in eight wins.
Entering the week, Pitt ranked in the nation 17th in assists per game (2.53), 25th in points per game (7.12), 31st in scoring offense (2.29 goals per game), 35th in shots per game (17.35) and 41st in shots on goal per game (7.82).
The team has broken the single-season school records in points (121), points per match (7.11), goals (39), assists (43), assists per game (2.53), shots (295) and shots per game (17.4).

STOUT DEFENSE

While getting attention for its offense, Pitt has featured an impressive defense.
The Panthers have allowed 22 goals in 17 games this season with an average of 13.0 shots and 5.5 shots on goal allowed per game.
Entering the weekend, Pitt ranked in the nation 50th in shutout percentage (.471).
The squad has the second-most shutouts (eight) in a single-season, two behind the 2009 team.

HOMETOWN HEROES DEBUT

Freshmen and Pittsburgh locals Ellie Coffield and Sarah Schupansky have made instant impacts in the start of their collegiate careers.
In TopDrawerSoccer's current top-100 freshman rankings, Schupansky is slotted at 59 while Coffield is No. 78.
Schupansky became the second Panther to reach double-digit points and is second in points (19) and goals (seven) and tied for second in assists (five).
Coffield is tied for second in assists and is also tied for fifth 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.

SINGLE-SEASON RECORD WATCH

With the highest team-scoring total as a team, Pitt has several individuals etching their names in the school's record book.
Amanda West is tied for third in game-winning goals (three) with four in each of the previous two seasons and tied for fourth in goals (nine) with Roosa Arvas (2014), Netta Agredano (2001) and Ashley Cuba (2011) and tied for fifth in points (21) with Arvas.
Sarah Schupansky is tied for seventh for most points (19) with Agredano and several others for goals (seven) and has the fourth-most points by a freshman.
Landy Mertz is tied with four others for the seventh-most assists (six).

LEADER OF THE SUPER FALCONS

Pitt head coach Randy Waldrum is back after missing the last three games to obligations from coaching Nigeria's Senior National Team in the 2023 World Cup/2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations Qualifiers.
Waldrum led the Super Falcons into the second round of the 2023 World Cup/2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations Qualifiers with a 2-1 goals aggregate advantage over one of the other best African teams, Ghana (fourth-highest ranked team in FIFA's last rankings in August).
Nigeria faces Ivory Coast in the second round with matches scheduled from Feb. 14th-23rd, 2022
The 11 winners of the second round advance to the 2022 AWCON (July 2-23 in Morocco), and the four top teams of that tournament qualify for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

SCOUTING NC STATE

The Wolfpack are the only team to have beaten both No. 2 Duke and No. 7 North Carolina this season and have won four of the past five games with just a loss at (RV) Wake Forest.
Nine of the last 10 games have been decided by one goal with NC State going 4-5 in those games.
NC State can finish as high as tied for seventh place in the ACC with a win or finish as low as a tie for 10th place.
Freshman Maria Echezarreta has played all but 14 minutes in goal and recorded 58 saves, four shutouts and a 0.97 goals against average.
Sophomore forward Jameese Joseph leads the team in goals (eight) and points (18), and freshman midfielder Annika Wohner also has five goals.