Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer: NCAA roster size changes for 2025 add twist to mid-year movement

Photo courtesy Mark Goodman

Keeping up with all things Pittsburgh soccer, the Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer is back for another year of setting the table each week for everything revolving around the Beautiful Game as it relates to our region and beyond.

Hounds set to finish week two with first home preseason match vs Duquesne

The Riverhounds SC are now on the tail end of their second full week of training of the preseason, which we’ve been covering thus far with visit to AHN Montour, more player signing announcements and more to come — as the Hounds get ready for another scrimmage this week when they host Duquesne after playing Columbus Crew behind closed doors last weekend.

While results from Saturday’s scrimmage vs Columbus weren’t shared (per Crew’s request), Hounds Head Coach Bob Lilley had plenty to share about his team as he appeared to be upbeat on his team’s progress.

College Rosters in Flux

Meanwhile, college programs are in a very busy period where rosters are in flux while the Spring provides opportunities for some high level match play against fellow college teams, while some programs will face pro teams, as the case for Duquesne and Pitt when they take on the Hounds.  We’ve posted college spring matches below that have been shared.

With the NCAA roster sizes changing ahead of the 2025 Fall season, each of the local programs and coaches have been working diligently to round their respective rosters into shape.

In this day and age of Transfer Portal and NIL, this is already expected.

Add in the NCAA’s new roster and scholarship limits, and suddenly there’s a lot more moving parts to the equation. For the 2025 campaign, with the new NCAA roster limit in place, that number will have to be cut down to 28.

Mid-year signing announcements have been coming in throughout the College soccer landscape, both with commitments from incoming freshman and of course many others from the transfer portal.

We already reported that Pitt men’s soccer made some splashy news this week with two additions from the transfer portal, in Marco Silva (Marshall) and local product Anders Bordoy (Memphis).

Pitt Women’s Soccer Roster Movement

Pitt carried 37 players on its roster for the 2024 season.

So, if you do the math, with the new rules, it’s clear that Pitt women’s soccer roster has been prime example where there’s been a good bit of shuffling going on to get down to right number.

In the meantime, the Panthers announced a couple more additions to the roster.

Welcome to the Panther family, Sophie Rourke! 💙💛✍️ pic.twitter.com/qqd6qxj2TH

— Pitt Women's Soccer (@Pitt_WSOC) January 26, 2025

Welcome to the Panther family, Krystina Wolf! 💙💛✍️ pic.twitter.com/Pc0mI0hiSm

— Pitt Women's Soccer (@Pitt_WSOC) January 24, 2025

Prior to this week’s announcements, Pitt women’s soccer also shared (via social media) that they have officially signed seven new recruits, two from Nigeria — Okah Judith and Hannah Yusuf, along with Roos Wittgen, who is from the Netherlands, plus Maya Bright (PA Delco / Philadelphia), Katie Ellermeyer (San Diego Surf/San Diego, CA), Hannah Minogue (TSJ FC Virginia, Brambleton, VA), Adi Bianchin (Oakville SC, Oakville Ontario, Canada).

By count of Pittsburgh Soccer Now‘s Rachael Kriger, six student-athletes with remaining eligibility on Pitt’s roster from 2024, announced their departure and intentions to be included on the Transfer Portal.

Among those include: former Plum standout Kaitlyn Killinger, Olivia Duray, Emily Graeca, Paige Dziedzic, Bella Haynes and Bri Rodriguez.  In addition, Pitt saw five players who have moved on due to graduation, with four of them already signing pro contracts.

Forward Samiah Phiri — one of @Pitt_WSOC's top scorers in previous three years — has signed with @FCN_Feminines of France's Première Ligue

Phiri is the fourth Pitt women's soccer player to sign a pro contact this offseason#H2P

📸: @RachaelKrigerhttps://t.co/dja2um8J7l

— Pittsburgh Soccer Now (@pghsoccernow) February 5, 2025

We look forward to catching up with Pitt’s coaches, Randy Waldrum and/or Ben Waldrum soon, to see how things are going and how they’re adjusting to these new rules.

Krug Commits to RMU

Robert Morris men’s program is also expected to announce some of their 2025 additions on Thursday, as Jonathan Potter’s Colonials will have a target on their backs, as defending Horizon League Champions.

We know one Pittsburgh-area standout who has also committed to play at RMU, and that’s none other than Chartiers Valley’s John Krug, who had an outstanding senior season in high school competition and has played with the Riverhounds Development Academy.

WAY TO GO JOHNNY!!

John Krug Committed to Robert Morris University

I’m extremely grateful to announce my commitment to play soccer at Robert Morris University. I would like to thank my family, coaches, and friends for all their support throughout the years. GO BOBBY MO! pic.twitter.com/e2ngxhL2MN

— Suzanne Krug (@suzbri) February 5, 2025

Moon boys Head Coach Tyler Blake, in an interview on Kids on the Pitch Podcast last October, said this about Krug.

“He has the ability to be a game-changer,” Blake stated.

“A lot of wins they had this year, he made the difference.”

In the WPIAL playoffs last season, Chartiers Valley pulled off the biggest upset of the first round, as a No. 14 seed, defeating Indiana, 4-1, as it was Krug who led the way with a brace.

Thursday RMU shared four additional commitments:

Kyle Schueneman | Junior | Forward | Shelby Township, Mich. | Transfer from Michigan State

• Appeared in 30 career games with two starts.
• Earned Academic Big Ten Honors in 2023.
• Played for the Columbus Crew U19 and U23 squads.
• Gained international experience competing in the Gothia Cup: The World Youth Cup.

 
Jack Bejarano | Freshman | Forward/Midfielder | New York, N.Y. | Transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson

• Played 11 games as a freshman at FDU.
• Scored his first career goal at Columbia (9/21/24).
• Competed with Maccabi Netanya U-19 (Israel 1st Division) in the summer of 2024, facing the Israel National Team.

 
Elijah Caparello-Wanless | Sophomore | Defender | St. Catharines, Ontario | Transfer from Malone

• Started all 13 career games last season, logging 1,134 minutes.
• Scored two goals as a sophomore.
• Previously a US National ID2 Selection and US Club Soccer National Finalist.

 
Dylan Janoski | Freshman | Goalkeeper | Bridgeville, Pa. | Transfer from Tulsa

• WPIAL Champion (2023) with South Fayette.
• 2x All-Section honoree.
• Recognized as a Trib HSSN Player to Watch (2x) and PghSoccerNow Player to Watch.

Duquense Men’s Soccer Adds Five Transfers

Pitt and Robert Morris men’s program’s are joined by Duquesne in bringing on a number of transfers.  Head Coach Chase Brooks has a handful already announced too, with some coming from other top men’s college programs.

Among the Dukes’ new additions include:

• 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐨 – Redondo Beach, California (transfer from Akron) 
• 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐃𝐚  Rockville, Maryland (transfer from Macalester College 
• 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐠𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐳  Tampa, Florida (transfer from Indiana) 
• 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐬 Nicosia, Cyprus (transfer from Virginia Tech)
• 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐮 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 Oviedo, Florida (transfer from Clemson)

Some of the local programs have released their Spring schedules while it’s still a bit fluid for others.

Here’s a list of college spring matches on tap among the Division I programs:

Saturday, February 6                Riverhounds SC vs Duquesne (Men)   2 p.m.      Highmark Stadium

Friday, February 21                    Riverhounds SC vs Pitt (Men)      7 p.m.              Ambrose Urbanic Field

Saturday, February 22                Pitt vs Duquesne (Women)          7 p.m.             AHN Cool Springs Complex

Saturday, March 1                        Pitt vs Kent State (Women)         6 p.m.             Ambrose Urbanic Field

Saturday, March 22                     Pitt vs North Toronto Nitros (Women)   9:30 a.m.     Ambrose Urbanic Field

Wednesday, March 26                 Pitt vs Saint Francis (PA) (Women)       7:30 p.m.      Ambrose Urbanic Field

Saturday, March 29                     Pitt vs Youngstown State (Women)         6 p.m.           Ambrose Urbanic Field

Sunday, April 6                             Pitt vs Bowling Green (Women)               5 p.m.           Ambrose Urbanic Field