Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer: Pitt men face uphill battle in ACC | Riverhounds take their talents to South Beach | Women’s teams going in different directions

Happy Friday!

The Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer is back and will be here to stay as a regular, (almost) daily post during our busiest time of year — through October and November.

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With more regular editions of the Pulse to come this month, we’ll be focusing on snapshots of ongoing Pittsburgh soccer news and PSN content that pops up daily.

Today, we look back at a busy Thursday plus take a quick peak at the weekend ahead, as there’s no shortage on of games on the Pittsburgh Soccer schedule.

Thursday’s Takeaways

Duquesne Women’s Soccer Bounce Back Strongly vs VCU 

Zac Weiss was at Rooney Field on Thursday night, doing his thing catching the action and running lines — and caught up with Head Coach Jessica Giegucz along with Mackenzie Muir and Brianna Moore after the the Dukes’ 3-0 dominant effort against A10 foe, VCU.

The Dukes (3-1-0 in A10 and 8-3-1 overall) are having an impressive season in Giegucz’s debut after coming over from Slippery Rock.  Next up, will be senior day on Sunday as they’ll be hosting George Mason.

Duquesne women soccer HC Jessica Giegucz, Mackenzie Muir and Brianna Moore react to ‘bounce back’ 3-0-win vs VCU

Pitt Women are Struggling Late in Matches 

Pitt women’s soccer team has been a team in transition this season, but even Head Coach Ben Waldrum probably didn’t think his team would struggle in the final 20 minutes of matches in the way that they have this season.

It happened again in Durham, N.C., on Thursday. The Panthers (5-6-2 overall, 1-4-0 in ACC) were battling No. 15 Duke, trailing 1-0 through the second half, then inexplicably allowed four goals from the 67th minute on.

Pitt women’s soccer dealt another ACC loss, as Duke pulls away with late second half surge

It will not get any easier for the Panthers, as they now have a few days while they stay in North Carolina for recovery, then travel across Tobacco Road to take on No. 19 North Carolina, the defending NCAA Division I champions, who also boast Pittsburgh-area native and former Riverhounds Academy standout, Tessa Dellarose, who also served as captain for Riveters SC in their debut campaign this past Summer.

Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer: Riverhounds look to get on right track; Tessa Dellarose called up to US WYNT U-20 squad;

After missing some matches early in the season, Dellarose has rounded back into the lineup, getting back into the starting eleven for the last three contests, as she logged her highest minutes played total (73 minutes) thus far this season in a 3-1 win vs Boston College on Thursday night.

High School Soccer — Thursday 

We are coming down the wire in the High School season.  Lots of good matches took place on Thursday with some interesting results.  Check out our full scoreboard post.

Excited to also share that next week, we’ll be adding a featured match coverage with Pittsburgh Soccer Now’s Matt Popchock and Ed Thompson on site for girls non-section, WPIAL vs City League contests when Pine-Richland hosts Allderdice.  Look for more to come on that match and our coverage in the coming days.

WPIAL and City League Boys and Girls Soccer Scoreboard (10/2/2025)

What to Know Heading to the Weekend…

Riverhounds Taking Their Talents to South Beach 

The Riverhounds have four matches left in the season — two on the road and two at home — starting with Saturday’s match at The Miami FC, who currently sit in last place in the Eastern Conference.

The Hounds have won two straight matches — including Sunday’s delayed by one day kickoff which resulted in a 1-0 victory against another team at the bottom of the standings, Las Vegas Lights.

To get a good sense of where this club stands in terms of what they need to accomplish, be sure to check out my Takeaways and Player Grades from Sunday’s match.

Takeaways and Player Grades: Focused Riverhounds did enough in ‘comfortable’ 1-0 win against the Lights

Pitt men’s soccer faces uphill but doable battle to get back into ACC and NCAA contention

This is not where Pitt men’s soccer program wants to be, as Jay Vidovich’s team is currently in last place in ACC (0-2-1), but last Friday’s draw against No. 1 North Carolina State showed that not only is this team still on the cusp of doing positive things, but they can grind out results when things aren’t always going their way.

That might be a good sign, as they will need every piece of grit build upon as the schedule doesn’t show any signs of getting easier.

Pitt, who currently post a meddling RPI despite playing a gauntlet of a schedule (58th primarily due to its 0-3-0 road record; Panthers are 4-1-2 at home).

Now, they have to face No. 9 Duke on Friday — o. 9 Duke Friday evening at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C as the match will air nationally on ACC Network, with Joe Malfa (play-by-play) and friend of Pittsburgh Soccer Now / Sounding Off on Soccer podcast, Devon Kerr (analyst) on the call. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.

Here are a few notes and things we’ll be watching when Pitt faces Duke:

• GK Jack Moxom — has started all 10 matches. His best game came last Friday against NC State, when he faced 19 shots, with six saves.  Moxom may have to continue to serve as the anchor in front of a pretty solid back line that also includes senior Jackson Gilman, who is one of the few remaining players from Pitt’s last team that made it to the College Cup in 2022.  Moxom had a very early gaffe against NC State but overcame that to make some high-quality saves that kept the match level.
• How banged up has Pitt been this year?  Only 4 players have started all 10 matches.
• Among the key injuries and players who’ve been hobbled is Casper Svenby.  That’s right, last year’s ACC Defensive Player of the Year and a MAC Hermann semifinalist and tabbed on the Hermann Award preseason list, has been struggling to get steady time on the pitch.
• Some of Svenby’s accolades last year included First Team All-American and First Team All-ACC as he anchored the Panthers’ back line to seven clean sheets and a 0.90 GAA. Svenby was extremely durable in 2024, appearing in 19 matches, including 17 starts, while tallying 1518 minutes, and registering three goals and four assists for 10 points.
• Thus far this season, Svenby has appeared in seven matches, starting just three times, but did play in last Friday’s draw vs NC State.

Pittsburgh Soccer Weekend Schedule (10/3 – 10/6)

	Fri	10/3/2025	Pitt (MSOC)	7:00 PM	A	Duke	Durham, NC
	Sat	10/4/2025	Robert Morris (WSOC)	1:00 PM	A	Northern Kentucky	Hyland Heights, KY
			Robert Morris (MSOC)	3:00 PM	H	IU Indy	Moon Township (North Athletic Complex)
			Riverhounds	7:00 PM	A	at Miami	Miami, FL
	Sun	10/5/2025	Duquesne (WSOC)	1:00 PM	H	George Mason	Rooney Field
			Pitt (WSOC)	4:00 PM	H	North Carolina	Chapel Hill, NC
	Tues	10/7/2025	Robert Morris (MSOC)	3:00 PM	H	St. Bonaventure	Moon Township (North Athletic Complex)