No. 11 Panthers Head to Arkansas for Second Round of NCAA … – PittsburghPanthers.com

PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh women’s soccer team (15-5-1, 6-3-1 ACC) is set to meet the Arkansas Razorbacks (15-4-2, 8-1-1 SEC) in the NCAA Tournament Second Round on Friday, Nov. 17 at the Razorback Soccer Field. The tournament contest is set for 7:30 PM ET and will be aired on ESPN+.

HOW TO FOLLOW

• Friday night’s NCAA Tournament matchup will be streamed live on ESPN+.
• Live stats will be available HERE.
• Live updates throughout the game will be posted on X, formally known as Twitter, by following the Pitt women’s soccer account @Pitt_WSOC.

THE MATCHUP

• This is the second time in program history that the Panthers have advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
• The Arkansas Razorbacks have made three sweet sixteen and two elite eight appearances in their program’s history.
• Both the Panthers and the Razorbacks dominated the First Round of the NCAA Tournament – leaving their opponents scoreless. Pitt went 6-0 to Ohio State where the Hogs secured a 5-0 win against Grambling.
• The winner of Friday night’s contest will go face-to-face against the victor of Notre Dame versus Memphis on Sunday, Nov. 19 at Arkansas Soccer Field.

THE SERIES

• This is the first time the Panthers and the Razorbacks are meeting in program history.
• The Panthers currently hold a 15-5-1 record on the season where the Hogs are 15-4-2.

SCOUTING ARKANSAS

• Arkansas posted a 5-0 victory to Grambling in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.
• The No. 2-seeded Hogs secured all five of their goals in the second half of play after posting 15 shots in the first 45 minutes. 
• Freshman Bella Field put her named on three goals on Friday – becoming the first Razorback to secure three goals in a half in over 20 years.
• The first two goals of the night happed 25 seconds apart from each other from Field and senior Ava Tankersley. Tankersley earned the assist on two of Field’s goals.
• Forward Sophia Aragon was the Hogs’ final goal scorer of the night – leaving six minutes left of play.
• This was Arkansas’ 10^th shutout on the season.

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS

• The Pittsburgh, PA native, Sarah Schupansky was selected to the All-ACC First-Team – becoming the only Panther to ever receive this honor. The forward is paving the way for the Panthers – leading in goals (10), assists (10) and points (30). Schupansky earned the ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors in the first week of play this season after her key set pieces in the matchup against Bucknell. Her efforts throughout the season have helped the Panthers make history by upsetting Duke, breaking the program record in goals, assists, points, ACC Wins and first ever win in the ACC Championships. In the historic game against UNC, Schupansky posted the second assist to Landy Mertz who crossed it to Amanda West to complete the game winning goal. This was the first ever win against the Tar Heels in program history which secured the Panthers’ spot in the ACC Championship Semifinals. 
• For the fourth time in her career, Amanda West earned All-ACC honors (second team (2023, 2020)), third team (2021,2019)). After her comeback from injury last season, West come out ready to tack on to her records here at Pitt. This Panther captain has been nothing short of monumental for this squad – posting nine goals, eight assists, and 26 points so far this season. Her contributions this year continue to hold the all-time scoring and assist leader title to her name. West’s efforts in the historic game against North Carolina secured the spot in the semifinals in the ACC Championships for the Panthers. The fifth year headed in the game-winning-goal in the first 10-minute overtime period after a clean assist from Mertz and Schupansky. 
• Three Panthers placed their names on the All-ACC Third Team: Landy Mertz, Samiah Phiri, and Deborah Abiodun. Mertz, Phiri and Abiodun join West as the only Panthers in program history to earn this honor.
• This is Mertz second consecutive year receiving this honor after earning a spot on the All-ACC Third-Team last year for her key efforts to the historic 2022 season. The Pittsburgh, PA native was the star performer in the ACC Championship Quarterfinals on Sunday night – producing key set pieces for the Panthers’ victory. Her efforts helped the Panthers secure their first win in program history against the Tar Heels and their first ever win in the ACC Championships. Due to her strong work on the field, Mertz also landed a spot on the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week.
• Phiri earns her first All-ACC team accolade after quickly rising to one of Pitt’s most key players this season. The junior has produced four game winning goals against Drexel, Bucknell, Cincinnati and Virginia Tech to lead the Panthers. She has been a strong contributor in the front pack, leading the pack in goals with Schupansky – both having ten goals on the season. Phiri also earned a spot on the TopDrawerSoccer mid-season Top-100 list – coming in at No. 80.
• Midfielder Abiodun has secured a spot on both the All-ACC Third Team and the All- ACC Freshman Team. Abiodun is the third Pitt player named to the All-ACC Freshman Team, joining Katie Zailski (2022) and West (2019). The freshman has started in 14 out of the 17 games played this season – totaling 1004 minutes. This key player came in ready to contribute to the history making team. Abiodun has posted four goals and three points on the season thus far – totaling 11 points. Along with these two honors, Abiodun also earned a spot on the TopDrawerSoccer mid-season Top-100 Freshman list earlier this season – coming in at No. 16.

ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS

• After their monumental efforts in the ACC Championships, both West and Mertz secured a spot on the ACC All-Tournament Team.
• This is the first time in program history that Pitt women’s soccer has placed any athlete on an ACC All-Tournament Team.

BUILDING THE PROGRAM

• The Panthers are now 60-44-8 under the leadership of sixth-year head coach Randy Waldrum. In his first two years at Pitt, Waldrum went 9-22-4 – working towards a massive rebuild. Now the Panthers have gone 51-22-4 over the last three-plus seasons.

WEST IS THE BEST

• Amanda West still holds the reign on the all-time scoring record with 49 career goals to her name, 30 assists and 128 points. This season so far, she has posted 10 goals, 7 assists and 27 points total. 

MARVELOUS MERTZ

• Landy Mertz is on fire this season. She also broke the season record this year with 12 assists thus far and the multi-assists game record with four. This past week, Mertz was named to TopDrawerSoccer and College Soccer News Teams of the Week after posting three assists and one goal against Ohio State on Saturday night.

SCHUPANSKY THE SUPERSTAR

• Sarah Schupansky has been electric on the field this season. She is tied for the most points in a single season record at 33 total. Schupansky has produced 11 goals and 11 assists thus far in the season.

PANTHERS IN THE POLLS

RANKINGS ALL AROUND

• The Panthers are currently ranked in the top-10 in the nation in assists per game (2.86), corner kicks per game (8.42), goal differential (36), points per game (8.29), scoring offense (2.71), shots per game (19.81), shots on goal per game (9.71), total assists (60), total goals (57), and total points (174).
• Sarah Schupansky currently ranks in the top-10 of the ACC for assists per game (0.52), game winning goals (3), goals per game (0.52), points per game (1.57), shot accuracy (0.50), shots per game (2.76), shots on goal per game (1.38), total assists (11), total goals (11), and total points (33).
• Amanda West currently ranks in the top-10 of the ACC for goals per game (0.48), points per game (1.29), shot accuracy (0.538), shots per game (3.71), shots on goal per game (2.00), total assists (7), total goals (10), and total points (27).
• Samiah Phiri currently ranks in the top-10 of the ACC for game winning goals (4), goals per game (0.52), points per game (1.19), shots per game (3.05), total goals (11), and total points (25).

CONTINUING TO MAKE HISOTRY

• The Panthers took down Ohio State in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament – securing the program record for overall wins in a single season (15).
• Landy Mertz added her name to the record book again after posting three assists against Ohio State – earning the program record for total assists in a single season (12). 
• Pitt advanced to the semifinals in the ACC Championships for the first time in program history.
• The Panthers upset UNC for the first time in program history after posting the game winning goal in the first 10-minute period of overtime.
• Pitt is entered the ACC Championships with back-to-back appearances after landing a spot in the tournament for the first time in program history last season.
• The Panthers completed the regular season contest undefeated at Ambrose Urbanic field, 8-0-1, setting a new home winning record.
• Pitt has secured the program record for most ACC wins in a single season (6).
• The Panthers tacked on two goals against Virginia Tech – posting a new program record for goals secured in a single season (49). Since then, they have added x goals to their tally.
• This team continues to break program records in points (174 – 57 goals, 60 assists), goals (57), assists (60), ACC wins (6), overall wins (15), home wins (9) and corner kicks (179) so far this season.