Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer: Duquesne women ‘grow and develop’ further in Senior Day win | UNC outlast Pitt women | High School regular season in homestretch

The Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer is back and will stay as a regular, (almost but not quite) daily post during our busiest time of year — through October and November.

Look for the Pulse both on PSN’s social media platforms and sent directly to email to PSN subscribers

If you have not signed up as a PSN subscriber, now would be a great time!

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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.

For this week, will probably take a few days off from the ‘Pulse’ until the schedule picks up later in the week.

One additional update: Robert Morris men’s schedule match vs St. Bonaventure has already been canceled due to expected weather forecast, which might wreck havoc with RMU’s pitch at North Athletic Complex.

Oh, and adding to the Pittsburgh soccer schedule — on Sunday Steel City FC’s  begins its US Open Cup qualifying quest as they’ll host FCY New York at Founders Field.

On Sunday, Pitt and Duquesne women’s teams competed with results proving to be emblematic with how each program’s season is going.

Sunday Flashback

Dukes Continue to Develop and Grow in 1-0 win vs George Mason

Duquesne women’s soccer team capped a perfect 2-0 homestand Sunday, celebrating its senior class before earning a 1-0 victory over George Mason at Rooney Field.

The Dukes improved to 9-3-1 (.731) overall during the 2025 season, including 4-1 (.800) in the Atlantic 10.

The game-winner came from former Plum standout and Pitt transfer, Kaitlyn Killinger, who created space in the box to get to a long throw in, then drove a left-footed shot into the upper 90.

Pittsburgh Soccer Now‘s Zac Weiss caught up with Head Coach Jess Giegucz after the match.

“That was a beautiful goal, and it was self-created,” Giegucz said.

“She has that in her wheelhouse. It’s fun to see these girls really develop their own style within our system. I think everyone that comes to these games is seeing a building of confidence as they continue to play. I’m really big on my mentor role. My job is to make sure they believe in themselves and I’m a mentor for them through it. Anytime I see them have success I’m proud of them because of the small role that I get to play in a short period of time in their life. Seeing them grow and develop is great.”

Duquesne held a 13-3 advantage in shots in the opening 45 minutes and improved on those numbers after the break, owning a 15-0 cushion to finish with a +25 in the department overall, 28-3. In total, 13 of the shots for the Dukes were on target compared to two for the Patriots.

Here’s Zac’s full interview with Giegucz:

Pitt Women Show Plenty of Fight at Dorrance

Pitt women’s soccer team could have easily let a very disappointing 5-0 loss at Duke on Thursday night get the best of them.  

Instead, while the scoreline didn’t necessarily show it, the Panthers responded in a positive way on Sunday, facing their next challenge against North Carolina by matching intensity, chances and possession — but the hosts pulled away with a 3-1 victory.

Coming away with results on a two-match swing against two ranked opponents was certainly going to be a challenge for a Pitt program that is clearly in a transitional year, not only with Ben Waldrum taking over Head Coach duties, but a roster that lacks experience in these battles with traditional ACC powers.

The question now is — how does Pitt (5-7-2, 1-5-0 ACC) respond in its last four matches.  The Panthers will have time — 11 days — to get healthy and ready its final four-match stretch all against solid ACC foes — starting with NC State a week from Friday at Ambrose Urbanic Field.

Check out the post-match recap here:

Pitt women’s soccer goes toe-to-toe with No. 19 North Carolina, but come up short, 3-1

High School season hits the homestretch 

There’s just a week plus a few days left in the High School soccer regular season.

We’ll continue to post scores and updates daily, plus again, I can’t thank the many boys and girls’ coaches enough for their wonderful feedback and insights in contributing to subscriber feature: High School Coaches Corner.

The latest edition of Coaches Corner included over a dozen girls coaches providing insights on late nights, the biggest challenges and rewards of coaching high school-aged student-athletes plus also shared their thoughts on the season’s final stretch.

One coach pointed out about the biggest challenge of coaching high school girls:

“The most challenging part is trying to get the most out of each player but understanding they are under a lot of pressure in all areas of life in High School. Maintaining a rigorous academic schedule, clubs/activities, part time jobs, social life, and training/games all while being underslept. I think it’s much harder to be a student-athlete now a days than ever before.”

Another added to the ‘rewards’ of coaching at the high school level:

“Always enjoy giving back to the soccer community I came from. To give these players a program where they can really grow, shine and be successful is so rewarding. Give them an opportunity generation(s) in the past did not have.”

PSN Coaches Corner: Girls coaches share insights on late nights, toughest coaches, rewards, challenges and more

Looking ahead to this week in Pittsburgh Soccer: 

Here’s a look ahead at the next two weeks, as things continue to stay extremely busy with matches almost every day between the college teams, the Riverhounds and high school regular season coming down the wire.

Robert Morris and Duquesne men will be playing mid-week matches while Saturday looks to be packed with a sequential Pittsburgh men’s soccer quadruple header — for the sickos — with 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. kickoffs.

PITTSBURGH SOCCER SCHEDULE (10/7/2025 – 10/19/2025)

Tues	10/7/2025	Robert Morris (MSOC)	**CANCELLED**	H	St. Bonaventure	Moon Township (North Athletic Complex)
Wed	10/8/2025	Duquesne (MSOC)	7:00 PM	A	Rhode Island	Kingston, RI
Thurs	10/9/2025	Robert Morris (WSOC)	7:00 PM	A	IU Indy	Indianapolis, IN
Sat	10/11/2025	Robert Morris (MSOC)	3:00 PM	H	Cleveland State	Moon Township (North Athletic Complex)
		Duquesne (MSOC)	5:00 PM	A	Fordham	Bronx, NYC, NY
		Riverhounds SC	7:00 PM	H	Indy	Highmark Stadium
		Pitt (MSOC)	9:00 PM	A	Stanford	Stanford, CA
Sun	10/12/2025	Robert Morris (WSOC)	1:00 PM	A	Purdue Fort-Wayne	Fort Wayne, IN
		Duquesne (WSOC)	1:00 PM	A	Saint Louis	St. Louis, MO
		Steel City FC (USOC Q)	TBA	H	FCY NY	Founders Field
Tues	10/14/2025	Pitt (MSOC)	TBA	H	Denver	Ambrose Urbanic Field
Wed	10/15/2025	WPIAL PLAYOFF BRACKET SELECTIONS
Thurs	10/16/2025	Robert Morris (WSOC)	4:00 PM	H	Cleveland State	Moon Township (North Athletic Complex)
		Duquesne (WSOC)	7:00 PM	H	Loyola (Ill)	Rooney Field
Fri	10/17/2025	Pitt (WSOC)	7:00 PM	H	NC State	Ambrose Urbanic Field
Sat	10/18/2025	Robert Morris (MSOC)	4:00 PM		Oakland	Rochester, MI
		Duquesne (MSOC)	7:00 PM		George Washington	Rooney Field
		Riverhounds SC	10:00 PM	A	at Monterey Bay	Monterey, CA
		Pitt (MSOC)	TBA	H	Syracuse	Ambrose Urbanic Field
Sun	10/19/2025	Duquesne (WSOC)	1:00 PM	A	St. Joseph’s	Philadelphia, PA
		Robert Morris (WSOC)	4:00 PM	H	Oakland	Moon Township (North Athletic Complex)
			TBA