Is Women’s Soccer Ready To Take Next Step?

After a fast start to the 2015 season for the team, they kind of fizzled out with a 4 game losing skid to close out the season to finish out 10-7-1.  But, there was plenty to look forward to for the 2016 season, but that excitement was tempered quickly when they were only able to win 2 games.  This slow start left fans puzzled because there wasn’t a lot of roster turnover from the 2015 season, but they did lose a few veteran leaders to graduation from that team.

So, in 2016 this team went through a lot of growing pains and ended the season on a 4 game losing streak again to finish 2-15-1.

As we quickly turn the page to the 2017 preseason and try to look ahead to what we have to look forward to with this team, I would say we will see a team much closer to the 2015 season than last year’s.

First we will take a look at the Forwards and Midfielders, and the first thing you notice is this team should score more than they did last year as they will be a much more experienced Forward/Midfield group. And it all starts with Junior Sarah Krause who led the team with 1 goal, 2 assists and 28 shots last year.  I look for Krause to connect on more of those shots this year and lead this team offensively.  My offensive comeback player of the year is Redshirt Junior Taylor Pryce who didn’t play much last season due to injury,but she was a force on offense in 2015 and look for her to lead the way from Game 1 this season.

The Defense will be led on the field this season by Redshirt Junior Seyla Perez whose leadership on the defensive zone will help calm things down even in the most stressful moments on the field.  Perez can also provide some offense as she will most likely be used on set pieces again this season.  It will be a young defense this year for Pitt, so look for Perez’s leadership, along with the experience of Junior Alli Higgs to help the defense grow each game.

2017 will be Sophomore Goalie Katelyn McEachern’s first season between the pipes for Pitt and she will probably have those first year growing pains any player would have. But, that is where it will just need to be a team game on the defensive side of the ball to keep things under control for McEachern.

In review, this team will have a much more experienced Midfield and Forward group, a younger Defense led by two solid veterans and a Sophomore Goalie in her first year as a starter.

Looking ahead to this season, they open up the schedule with 2 exhibition game against Youngstown State (Home) on August 8 and Ohio State (Away) on August 12.  They open up the regular season at home against Hofstra on August 18.  The home opener is followed up by 3 straight on the road to Duquesne and then travel into Ohio to take on Cincinnati and Xavier.

The team comes home after that road trip to take on Detroit and Illinois State before closing out their Non-Conference schedule on the road at Kent State and Nebraska.  We will know a lot about this team heading into ACC play because if they are at .500 or below we would know the youth of defense is hurting them and if they are above .500 we would know the team does have a team first mentality.

Key ACC games this season will be Virginia and NC State at Home. And Duke, Louisville and Florida State on the road.

When looking at the Pitt Athletics Department as a whole, the football and volleyball teams have been the only teams to improve on and off the field since the move to the ACC.  And while all the sports have improved off the field with facilities and coaching staffs, the performance on the field has not been there consistently.

The Soccer programs are the next two that need to take the next step in the PITT Athletics Department.  Soccer is gaining popularity in the United States and during the fall is probably the 2nd (maybe 3rd) most covered collegiate sport behind obviously football and volleyball.

I look forward to watching this year’s Women’s Soccer team to see if they are ready to take the next step and move up in the ACC rankings as they were picked to finish last in the ACC by the coaches.  But, I think that has more to do with how they played last season than the talent they have on the field.