The Pitt women’s soccer game against Clemson on Thursday served as a benchmark for several reasons:
• It was the Panthers' first victory over the Tigers in program history as they cruised to a 4-1 win.
• They were 0-8-1 against Clemson, including a 0-2-1 mark at Ambrose Urbanic Field coming into the game.
• Ellie Breech became the winningest goalkeeper in program history with her 23rd career win in goal. She now has 107 saves and 23 wins in 42 career games.
But it also marked a turning point in the season.
It comes off the heels of a tie against No. 6 Stanford. It was also the first time in three games that Pitt has scored more than one goal.
“Stanford was a big-time contender,” Senior midfielder Keera Melenhorst said. “They were number one for several weeks, and then they were six when we played them. Getting a point on the road at Stanford was huge for us. Now that we're in the very thick of ACC play, we think that moving forward, with the opponents here coming up, we can really make strides forward to grab some wins and prepare for both tournaments.”
Of course, the goal is for the Panthers to make it to the NCAA tournament and do well in the ACC tournament. Despite not being ranked like the other fall Olympic sports — volleyball and men’s soccer sit at No. 1 in the country — women’s soccer should have no issue securing a bid to the Big Dance.
The Panthers are unranked in the United Soccer Coaches Poll but sit 15th in RPI and TopDrawerSoccer’s rankings. Pitt is also top-10 in multiple statistical categories as of Friday, including fifth in assists per game (3.08), ninth in corner kicks per game (7.62), tenth in points per game (8.31), third in shots per game (23.2), fourth in shots on goal per game (10.46), third in total assists (40) and sixth in total points (108).
Add in senior Sarah Schupansky, who is leading the nation with 1.08 assists per game, and it’s a wonder they’re not sitting in the United Soccer Coaches rankings.
“It has happened like every season I've been here,” Melenhorst said. “We lose one game, and we're out of the rankings. We're not back until we're beating a top-10 team. It's fuel for us. We don't dwell on that. We want to beat every team and get there eventually. It’s the end that matters.”
Associate head coach Ben Waldrum did note that it’s pretty difficult for them to enter the rankings because they play in the ACC, which is widely considered the best league in women’s soccer. The conference currently has eight ranked teams, with three of those — No. 2 Duke, No. 3 North Carolina and No. 4 Wake Forest — sitting in the Top 5.
Since Pitt hasn’t had the best start to conference play, it’s affected them in the rankings.
The Panthers are currently 2-2-1 in ACC play. They started the conference season with a 3-1 win over Louisville before hitting a bit of a rut with losses to North Carolina, California and a tie with Stanford. They had only scored one goal over those three games. So the excitement was evident when, just 17 minutes into the game against Clemson, Pitt had scored two goals.
“We've been focusing on and preaching the efficiency part,” Waldrum said. In the three games that we didn't score, we were still on the stat sheet, we created chances. The consistent message for us is trying to find better chances, maybe getting a little closer to the goal, or maybe not serving a ball with only one player in the box, and getting more numbers in the box. It's probably more nuanced and fine detail-based, but I thought we were very good in front of goal tonight.
“It's about the end product. ... We want to be ranked high at the end of the year. We want to make a deep tournament run.”
It’s why the Clemson game was such a clear indication of what this team could be. There were four different goal scorers and three different players assisting. Melenhorst’s goal at the beginning of the game was the only unassisted goal and even that came because of a rebound from Samiah Phiri’s shot.
Leading assist maker Schupansky didn’t even tally an assist against the Tigers. Ellie Coffield, Rylee Keeley and Melenhorst got to show off their ability to create opportunities.
“Amanda West and Landy [Mertz] last year were huge attributes offensively,” Coffield said. “We've really been needing to fill those big-time holes. This year, we've had some underclassmen step up. We've had returners really filling different spots, and it's been great. We have a lot of opportunities all across the field, and it makes every single day challenging.”
What’s even more impressive about the team is that they’re averaging 23.2 shots per game — over half of which are on goal (10.46) — while holding opponents to just 8.4 shots per game. Only 2.77 of those have been on goal.
Pitt has been able to hold a tight defensive effort by only allowing 10 goals this season. It comes after losing arguably their best defender to graduation in Ashton Gordon, who has since joined the coaching staff.
Though defender Olivia Lee expressed concerns about the defense early in the season, Coffield, listed as a midfielder, plays a lot of time in the backline and has seen growth defensively. She wishes, however, that they could’ve had the shutout against Clemson.
“We need to still put a collective 90 minutes together,” Coffield said. “But, we are absolutely going to view this game as a turning point in the season. That includes the solidness of our back line.”
The women’s soccer team might not have the No. 1 next to its name like volleyball or men’s soccer. It’s not undefeated like football. However, the Panthers are making noise in their own way, and they have the rest of the season to prove it.
First Published: October 6, 2024, 9:30 a.m.
