Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer: Major stadium expansion gets green light! Plus, men’s college teams, high schools kick off

Photo courtesy Pitt Athletics

Welcome to the week where the Fall soccer season kicks into high gear.

Of course, this week was turned upside down for Pittsburgh’s soccer fans and community, with the announcement made yesterday by Riverhounds that the current Highmark Stadium will officially be going through a major expansion.

Tuesday’s big news comes during the same week that Pittsburgh soccer calendar starts to fill up.

Check out the full schedule through the end of the month at the bottom of this post.

It’s Official: Current Highmark Stadium Expansion is Happening

PSN’s Colton Coreschi was at Highmark Stadium as we kept up with the exciting moment for Pittsburgh soccer in real time.

It’s Official: Riverhounds announce major expansion coming to current Highmark Stadium

Look for more content to come as we share more reaction and we will begin to ask more questions as this project moves forward.

Some of the immediate questions were answered, but ow the work really begins for the organization as they move forward with this massive project that will be a significant upgrade for Pittsburgh soccer and on the landscape of the South Shore.

The Riverhounds’ players were on hand for the ceremony, including Pittsburgh-area native Robbie Mertz, who spoke eloquently about how he’s witnessed first-hand, the growth of the game in the Pittsburgh region.

Thursday Soccer Extravaganza: All Six DI Teams in Action, Five at Home!

All six of Pittsburgh area’s Division I college men’s and women’s teams will be in action on Thursday — with all three men’s teams kicking off their respective seasons.

Both Pitt and Duquesne will be hosting rare men’s and women’s doubleheaders on Thursday.  That’s right — from 1 p.m. start at Rooney Field through the final whistle at Ambrose Urbanic Field sometime around 10 p.m. — there will be four matches taking place between the two schools, plus Robert Morris women look for their first win of the season when they kickoff at North Athletic Complex against Southern Indiana.

Look for previews to come for all three teams over the course of the next couple days, as Zac Weiss will preview the Dukes, while I’ll have more from Pitt and Robert Morris.

(Update: my Robert Morris men’s preview is up!) 

Season Preview: Defending Horizon League champs, Robert Morris men’s soccer ready to prove themselves all over again

The Colonials are the defending Horizon League champions, so this will be a very interesting season for Head Coach Jonathan Potter. Despite losing a number of key seniors from last year’s squad, there’s still a good core returning and lots of good talent coming to RMU.  Look for more to come from my interview with Potter earlier this week.

Under Jay Vidovich, Pitt appears to be retooled for another run at ACC title and a National Championship.  Griffin Floyd, who was our primary beat writer for Pitt MSOC last season, has generously stepped in to assist during this busy week — and will have a preview ahead of Thursday season opener including a sit-down interview with senior captain, Jackson Gilman.

High School Season Begins Friday

The start of another high school season in Western Pennsylvania is upon us, as many area schools’ boys and girls’ programs will kick off the season this coming weekend.

The Kids on the Pitch Podcast returned with an interview with Mars Girls Head Coach, Blair Gerlach, who also shared his involvement and efforts in building club culture and success with Northern Steel organization, which has recently captured back-to-back US Club Soccer titles and its women’s team were crowned OVPL champions two straight seasons.

Kids on the Pitch Podcast: Blair Gerlach on building club culture and success with Northern Steel

We have another episode of KOP Podcast that will be posted soon as Pine-Richland’s boys and girls head coach Jordan Wiegand is back for his annual preseason interview as we look at what will be a LOADED field of boys teams at the Annual JRK Memorial Classic, which will kick off on Friday at Pine-Richland.

High School content will start to pick up in a major way as we’ll be posting daily schedules and scoreboards and much more to come.

DOW	Date	Pittsburgh Club	Time	H/A	Opponent	Location
Thurs	8/21/2025	Robert Morris (WSOC)	4:00 PM		Southern Indiana	Moon Township (North Athletic Complex)
		Pitt (WSOC)	5:00 PM	H	Ohio	Ambrose Urbanic Field
		Duquesne (WSOC)	1:00 PM	H	Saint Francis (PA)	Rooney Field
		Duquesne (MSOC)	4:00 PM	H	Seton Hill	Rooney Field
		Robert Morris (MSOC)	7:00 PM	A	Mercyhurst	Erie, PA
		Pitt (MSOC)	8:00 PM	H	Quinnapiac	Ambrose Urbanic Field
Fri	8/22/2025.	PIAA / WPIAL			First Regular Season Play Date
Sat	8/23/2025	Riverhounds	8:00 PM	A	at Birmingham	Birmingham, AL
Sun	8/24/2025	Duquesne (WSOC)	2:00 PM	A	Mercyhurst	Erie, PA
		Pitt (WSOC)	5:00 PM	A	Dayton	Dayton, OH
		Robert Morris (MSOC)	5:00 PM	A	Duquesne	Rooney Field
		Duquesne (MSOC)	5:00 PM	H	Robert Morris	Rooney Field
Mon	8/25/2025	Pitt (MSOC)	TBA	H	Michigan State	Ambrose Urbanic Field
Thur	8/28/2025	Robert Morris (WSOC)	4:00 PM	H	Canisius	Moon Township (North Athletic Complex)
		Pitt (WSOC)	7:00 PM	H	Cal St Fullerton	Ambrose Urbanic Field
		Duquesne (WSOC)	7:00 PM	A	West Virginia	Morgantown, WV
Fri	8/29/2025	Pitt (MSOC)	TBA	A	Georgetown	Washington, DC
Sat	8/30/2025	Duquesne (MSOC)	1:00 PM	A	Canisius	Buffalo, NY
		Riverhounds	7:30 PM	A	at Tampa Bay	Al Lang Stadium
Sun	8/31/2025	Robert Morris (WSOC)	1:00 PM	A	Eastern Michigan	Ypsilanti, Mich.
		Pitt (WSOC)	1:00 PM	H	Santa Clara	Ambrose Urbanic Field