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Pitt Men No. 4, Women No. 12 in Latest Rankings

Both of Pitt’s soccer teams are ranked in the United Soccer Coaches poll, which was released on Tuesday.

Pitt’s men’s soccer team is ranked No. 4, while the women are No. 12 and ranked for the first time in program history.

The Pitt men will start their regular season on Saturday, with a trip to No. 5 Notre Dame. Pitt will play seven regular-season matches this fall, all against ACC opponents.

Pitt has completed two exhibition matches, a 3-2 loss at No. 1 Wake Forest and a 5-0 win over Louisville at home on Saturday.

The ACC dominated the men’s rankings, with Wake Forest No. 1, Clemson No. 2, Virginia No. 3, Pitt No. 4 and Notre Dame No. 5. The ACC is one of the few conferences playing this fall while the NCAA has moved the soccer championships to the spring.

Pitt finished the 2019 season just out of the final rankings after making a short run in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Pitt beat Lehigh in the first round before losing 5-0 to eventual College Cup champions Georgetown in the second round.

The Panthers finished the 2019 season with a 10-8-2 record, their best record under head coach Jay Vidovich, who joined the program in 2016 and the first time the team had a winning record since 2008.

The Pitt women off to a 4-0 start to the 2020 season, having defeated Appalachian State twice, Syracuse and Navy to start their season with four straight wins for the first time since 2009.

The four wins have already equalled the Panthers’ total from head coach Randy Waldrum’s first season in 2018 and Pitt is only one victory away from winning as many games as it won in 2019, when the Panthers finished 5-10-3.

Pitt sophomore forward Amanda West leads the country with four goals, three assists and 11 points.

The condensed 15-team rankings only considered teams that had played a game, as many conferences have delayed their soccer seasons to the spring, along with the NCAA championship.

The ACC is heavily represented in the rankings with North Carolina No. 1, Florida State No. 2, Clemson No. 3, Duke No. 7, Virginia No. 11 and Pitt No. 12.

The Panthers will look to continue their hot start with a two-game series at The Citadel this Thursday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m. Both of those games will be broadcast on ESPN Plus.

Glory on the Grass

Riverhounds MF Kenardo Forbes

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