Pittsburgh Panthers women's soccer

Pittsburgh Panthers
2023 Pittsburgh Panthers women's soccer team
Founded	1996;28 years ago (1996)
University	University of Pittsburgh
Head coach	Randy Waldrum (6th season)
Conference	ACC
Location	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Stadium	Ambrose Urbanic Field (Capacity: 735)
Nickname	Panthers
Colors	Blue and gold [1]
Home Away
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
2023
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
2022, 2023
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
2022, 2023
NCAA Tournament appearances
2022, 2023

The Pittsburgh Panthers women's soccer team represent the University of Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) of NCAA Division I women's college soccer. The team has never won a conference championship. The Panthers have played in both the ACC and Big East. ^[2]

History

1990s

The Pittsburgh Panthers women's soccer team was founded in 1996 under head coach Roland Sturk and did not play in a conference in the program's first year. The team finished with a 3–16 record. The following year, the team joined the Big East Conference, where Pittsburgh was a full member. The Panthers had fewer losses than their inaugural season, finishing 3–12–3 overall and 2–8–1 in conference play. The team's first conference win came vs. West Virginia on October 8, 1997. 1998 saw continued improvement for the Panthers. The team finished 8–11 overall and 5–7 in conference play. This record was good enough to qualify for the Big East Conference Women's Soccer Tournament. However, the team lost in the quarterfinals. 1999 saw a bit of a regression when the team finished 5–12–1 and 1–4–1 in conference play.

2000s

The 2000s began similarly for the Panthers, only winning 6 games and losing 12. Another 1 win conference season was not good enough to qualify for the Big East Tournament. 2001 saw another minor improvement, with the team winning 7 games, and increasing its win tally to 2 in conference play. However, 2002 proved to be a disappointing year when the team finished 4–15, and winless in conference play. In January 2003 head coach Roland Sturk resigned as coach. ^[3] In March 2003, Sue-Moy Chin was named the Panthers' second head coach. ^[4] Her first seasons saw small improvements, however, the team lost double digit games in 2003, 2004, and 2005. However, the team increased its conference win totals as well and qualified for the Big East Tournament in 2005 and 2006. Both appearances resulted in quarterfinal exits. 2006 was the team's first season without a losing record. The team finished 8–8–3. The team would again reach the quarterfinal of the Big East Tournament in 2008. The team closed the decade with their first-ever winning season, finishing 8–5–5 overall and 3–3–5 in conference play. It was also the first season the team did not have a losing record in conference play.

2010s

The decade opened with another qualification into the Big East Tournament, and another quarterfinal loss. However, the success would be short lived as the team finished with just 2 wins in 2011. This season would be bad enough for the team to hire a third coach in its history, Greg Miller. Miller was previously an assistant at Ohio State. ^[5] Miller's first year, 2012, saw the team finish 7–10–2 overall. In his second season in charge, the team began play in the Atlantic Coast Conference. ^[6] In their first season, the Panthers went a winless 0–13 in ACC play. The team made steady progress finishing with 2 conference wins in 2014 and 4 conference wins in 2015. 2015 would also be the team's second overall winning season. The Panthers finished 10–7–1. However, in 2016 and 2017 the team would win one ACC game. After the 2017 season, Miller was fired. ^[7] In December 2017, Randy Waldrum was hired as the new head coach. ^[8] Waldrum previously won the NCAA title twice with Notre Dame. However, his first season proved difficult, only winning 4 overall games and finishing 0–10 in ACC play. In his second season, the Panthers posted their first ACC win since 2016, finishing with a 2–6–2 ACC record.

2020s

The decade started with a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Panthers' season was shortened less than other teams in the conference, as they played eight non-conference games. The team finished tenth overall in the ACC regular season, with a 3–5–0 record. They won all eight of those non-conference games to finish the season with eleven total wins, setting a program record. 2021 saw a return to a more normal schedule for the Panthers and they finished 11–7–0 and 4–6–0 in the ACC to tie for ninth place. Their four conference wins tied for the teams most since they joined the ACC, with the other time being in 2015. In 2022, the Panthers finished 14–5–3 and 5–3–2 in ACC play. The 14 wins were the most in program history at the time, and the five conference wins were tied for the most in program history. They qualified for their first ever ACC Tournament and their first NCAA Tournament in program history. ^[9] They reached the Round of 16 before falling to Florida State to end their historic season. 2023 would follow in the success of 2022, as the Panthers finished 17–6–1 overall and 6–3–1 in ACC play. This was a program record for wins and conference wins, bettering their marks from the previous season. They again qualified for the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, and recorded their best finishes in those tournaments in program history. They made the Semifinals of the ACC Tournament and Quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament before being defeated by Florida State in both tournaments.

Personnel

Current roster

As of August 19, 2023 ^[10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK   USA Ellie Breech 2 DF   USA Haylee Mersereau 3 DF   AUT Lainie Fuchs 4 MF   USA Ellie Coffield 5 FW   USA Sarah Schupansky 6 MF   USA Landy Mertz 7 MF   USA Fleming Dean 8 MF   NGA Deborah Abiodun 9 FW   CAN Amanda West 10 MF   CAN Keera Melenhorst 11 DF   USA Mackenzie Evers 12 MF   CAN Anna Bout 13 DF   USA Ashley Moon 14 FW   ENG Evie Craven 15 MF   CAN Chloe Minas 16 FW   USA Lucia Wells 17 FW   USA Aliya Gomes

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW   USA Paige Dzeidzic 19 FW   USA Sofia Doheny 20 DF   USA Olivia Lee 21 DF   USA Katie Zailski 22 FW   USA Delaney Evers 23 FW   USA Samiah Phiri 24 MF   USA Emma Rhoades 25 GK   USA Emily Edwards 26 FW   USA Margaret Wilde 27 MF   USA Briana Rodriguez 28 DF   USA Kaley Simqu 29 MF   USA Olivia Duray 30 FW   USA Kaitlyn Killinger 31 FW   USA Emily Cooper 32 DF   USA Ashton Gordon 33 GK   USA Emma Van Meter 35 DF   USA Sage Stelzer

Team management

Position	Staff
Head Coach	Randy Waldrum
Associate Head Coach	Ben Waldrum
Assistant Coach	Jesse Goleman

Seasons

Season	Head coach [11]	Season result [12]						Tournament results
		Overall			Conference			Conference	NCAA
		Wins	Losses	Ties	Wins	Losses	Ties
1996	Roland Sturk	3	16	0	No Conference				—
1997^		3	12	3	2	8	1	—	—
1998		8	11	0	5	7	0	Quarterfinal	—
1999		5	12	1	1	4	1	—	—
2000		6	12	1	1	5	0	—	—
2001		7	9	1	2	4	0	—	—
2002		4	15	0	0	6	0	—	—
2003	Sue-Moy Chin	5	10	2	1	4	1	—	—
2004		6	10	1	2	7	1	—	—
2005		4	11	3	3	6	2	Quarterfinal	—
2006		8	8	3	3	6	2	Quarterfinal	—
2007		6	10	2	1	8	2	—	—
2008		7	12	1	4	6	1	Quarterfinal	—
2009		8	5	5	3	3	5	—	—
2010		7	11	2	4	6	1	Quarterfinal	—
2011		2	13	4	1	8	2	—	—
2012	Greg Miller	7	10	2	2	6	2	—	—
2013†		4	14	1	0	13	0	—	—
2014		6	12	0	2	8	0	—	—
2015		10	7	1	4	6	0	—	—
2016		2	15	1	1	9	0	—	—
2017		3	12	3	0	9	1	—	—
2018	Randy Waldrum	4	12	1	0	10	0	—	—
2019		5	10	3	2	6	2	—	—
2020		11	5	0	3	5	0	—	—
2021		11	7	0	4	6	0	—	—
2022		14	5	3	5	3	2	First round	Round of 16
2023		17	6	1	6	3	1	Semifinal	Quarterfinals

^In 1997 Pittsburgh began play in the Big East Conference.
†In 2013 Pittsburgh began play in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Notable alumni

Main page: Category:Pittsburgh Panthers women's soccer players

Current Professional Players

• Amaia Peña (2016–2020) - Currently with Eibar

References

1. "Color Palette". Pitt Athletics Brand Identity Manual (PDF). February 9, 2022. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
2. "2016 Women's Soccer Media Guide & Fact Book" (PDF). pittsburghpanthers.com. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
3. "Roland Sturk Resigns as Head Women's Soccer Coach". pittsburghpanthers.com. University of Pittsburgh Athletics. January 17, 2003. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
4. "Sue-Moy Chin Named Head Women's Soccer Coach". pittsburghpanthers.com. University of Pittsburgh Athletics. March 27, 2003. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
5. "Pitt names Greg Miller Head Soccer Coach". ohiostatebuckeyes.com. Ohio State University. January 1, 2012. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
6. Gates, Chris (July 18, 2012). "4-1-Zoo: It's Official, Pitt Moves To The ACC In 2013". CBS Pittsburgh. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
7. Batko, Brian (November 3, 2017). "Pitt fires women's soccer coach Greg Miller". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
8. Meyer, Craig (December 19, 2017). "Pitt hires Randy Waldrum as women's soccer coach". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
9. "Pitt women's soccer team makes first ever ncaa tournament". post-gazette.com. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. November 7, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
10. "2023 Women's Soccer Roster". pittsburghpanthers.com. University of Pittsburgh Athletics. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
11. 2016 Media Guide , pp. 37 harvnb error: no target: CITEREF2016_Media_Guide (help)
12. 2016 Media Guide , pp. 58–60 harvnb error: no target: CITEREF2016_Media_Guide (help)

External links

• Official Site
• 2016 Media Guide