Pitt women’s soccer releases 2021 schedule

From University of Pittsburgh Athletic Department report

PITTSBURGH — The 2021 schedule for Pitt women’s soccer has been finalized, head coach Randy Waldrum announced Friday. Returning to an 18-game regular season with 10 ACC contests, the Panthers host 10 opponents at Ambrose Urbanic Field and face off against six teams that were national seeds in the NCAA Tournament this past spring.

“I am extremely excited about this fall season and working with all of our new and returning players,” Waldrum said.

“The schedule we have compiled is certainly a challenge, but one that I know our players will embrace. We obviously play in the best conference in the country, so that portion of the schedule is always difficult. We have some great ACC home games in the ACC with North Carolina, NC State, Virginia Tech, BC, and Wake Forest all coming to us. In addition our non-conference schedule includes both Oklahoma State on the road and TCU at home, two Big XII schools that were in the top ten ranking wise throughout last year. Overall a third of our schedule will be against teams that were nationally ranked last season.  We look forward to the challenge and can’t wait to see our fans out once again helping us with home field advantage!”

Home ACC Slate: Virginia Tech (Oct. 2), North Carolina (Oct. 7), Boston College (Oct. 21), Wake Forest (Oct. 24) and NC State (Oct. 28)

The Panthers kick off home league play against the Hokies. The following week, Pitt welcomes the Tar Heels, who’re fresh off reaching the College Cup. The regular season concludes with a three-game homestand against the Eagles, Demon Deacons and Wolfpack. Pitt has defeated Boston College at home the last two years and beat NC State at Ambrose in 2019 in the last meeting for the two schools.

Road ACC Slate: Clemson (Sept. 16), Florida State (Sept. 23), Miami (Sept. 26), Duke (Oct. 10) and Syracuse (Oct. 16)

Pitt faces three ACC teams on the road that reached at least the Elite Eight last spring, Clemson, Florida State and Duke. The Panthers begins ACC action with the Tigers, who Pitt has taken to overtime at Clemson the last two years. A trip to the Sunshine State follows for a matchup against the National Runner-up Seminoles and then the Hurricanes. The Panthers face the Blue Devils for the first time in four years and head to Syracuse for just the second time since the two joined the ACC for the 2013 season.

2021 OSU Cowgirl Invitational: Tulsa (Aug. 19), Oklahoma State (Aug. 22)

The 2021 season officially begins in Stillwater, Okla. for the Panthers’ first ever matchups against the Hurricanes and Cowgirls. Pitt kicks off the fall slate against the first D-I school Waldrum ever coached, Tulsa (the men and women teams from 1989-94). Last year Oklahoma State reached the Sweet 16 as the No. 10 seed.

Home Nonconference Games: Cleveland State (Aug. 26), NJIT (Aug. 29), TCU (Sept. 5), Saint Francis (Sept. 9), Towson (Sept. 12)

The first games at Ambrose are another pair of first-time matchups. The Panthers welcome another Big 12 team that made a deep run in last spring’s postseason, the Horned Frogs who advanced to the Elite Eight as the No. 4 seed.

A Trip to Philly: Saint Joseph’s (Sept. 2)

Pitt heads east on the turnpike for its final nonconference matchup against the Hawks, who the Panthers defeated 2-0 in 2019 in the only matchup between the two schools.

Exhibitions: Youngstown State (Aug. 10), Ohio State (Aug. 13)

Pitt travels to the neighboring state west of Pennsylvania for its two exhibitions to get ready for the regular season.

ACC Tournament: Quarterfinals (Oct. 31), Semifinals (Nov. 5) and Championship (Nov. 7)

Six teams will qualify for this year’s ACC Women’s Soccer Championship. The No. 1 and 2 seeded teams earn quarterfinal byes, while the No. 3 seeded team plays host to No. 6, and the No. 4 team plays host to No. 5. The winners advance to WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina for the semifinals and title game.

TV Selections

Broadcast selections via the ACC’s television partners are in progress, and once finalized will be reflected on theACC.com.