Young Pittsburgh Panthers team ready for an ‘optimistic’ 2026 season

“Cautiously optimistic.”

Ben Waldrum, head coach of the University of Pittsburgh women’s soccer team made it clear that he has complete faith in his side, going into his second year in charge. However, for a team competing in (arguably) the toughest conference in collegiate women’s soccer, the margin for error is small.

Waldrum knows that, and a core group of returners from last year’s 6-10-2 team know that, too. Now, those players – and Waldrum, for that matter – have a year of experience under their belt.

And, the group is well equipped with some talented freshmen, too.

“Looking at this team, what excites me is our starting points,” Waldrum said, post training on Monday, at Ambrose Urbanic Field. “We’re in a much better spot than even our ending last season. I’m optimistic, but I’m slightly traumatized from last season. So, I’m cautiously optimistic. We know in this conference the margin for error is small.”

Before that tough ACC play does begin, the Panthers will kick off their season with a slate of tough non-conference clashes. The fun begins on Wednesday, against Youngstown State. On Sunday, the Panthers will face Texas.

A trip out to the west coast to take on Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is on the docket.

“We’ve got a tricky non-conference schedule, so if we can put all the pieces together, we’ll be in a great spot,” Waldrum shared. “But we’ve got some pieces to work with now, where last year, we weren’t as deep as we wanted to be.”

Waldrum said that, for a young team, the non-conference schedule will be a big test – but one that he and the rest of his coaching staff wanted for the team.

“With Texas, it’s going to be interesting,” he said. “They’re brand new, as far as the coaching staff. Both teams will be a little new. You’ll probably see a little bit of the ‘early season things’ that you would expect to see, that you probably won’t see at the end of the season. I love the level of competition out of the gate. And, obviously, as a native Texan, I’m looking forward to that one.”

“But even with Santa Clara on the road, the best way to look at that is that we have a lot of wrongs to right from last season,” he continued. “I’m looking forward to that one.”

BUILDING BLOCKS

Despite a whopping 10 new freshmen and three players acquired in the transfer portal, the Panthers did return a core group from last year.

Lola Abraham is entering her third season, while Sage Stelzer is moving up from the backline to the attack. Mariama Dabo will help anchor the midfield. On defense, Katie Zailski returns after missing last season, while captain Olivia Lee retains her title. Sophie Rourke is now a sophomore and gained experience in the offseason with Buffalo in the USL W-League.

“The one thing we got last year was a lot of experience,” Waldrum explained. “We had some tough game experience. Players like Mari grew; she got 90 minutes. We’ve got Katie back, so she brings experience back there. Then we got Claire Jones in the transfer portal from SMU. The backline, and the spine of the team, is quite veteran. And then, you just integrate the young ones as you go.”

There are two losses that the Panthers need to adjust to, as Hannah Minogue and Lucia Wells are both out for the season.

That’s where the new faces will come in. The Panthers aren’t shy about throwing freshman up front, in the attack. Early names to look out for are Maci Tew, Desiree Reed and Talyn Guthrie.

“We have high hopes for those young, attacking players,” Waldrum said. “But they are going to have to grow up quickly. But, at least, the talent piece is there. You can always work with that and build off that.”

NEW GOALKEEPER CORE – AND COACH

The goalkeeping group is entirely brand new – both from a player and coach point of view.

Abby Reisz graduated, Ellie Breech transferred to North Carolina State and Krystina Wolf transferred to Purdue University. Jesse Goleman, the team’s former goalkeeping and assistant coach, also joined the staff at Purdue.

The Panthers announced that Elli Johnson, a freshman, joined the team in the spring. Additionally, the staff picked up junior Addison Roemer from American University and senior Sofia Iori from Winthrop University in the portal.

Waldrum openly stated that Johnson is the number one goalkeeper. The U.S. women’s U-19 national team goalkeeper plays “as advertised.”

“She’s very tall, and she’s got the international experience,” Waldrum said. “With Addison and Sofia, you’ve got players with experience under their belt. That helps Elli with learning how to train, how to adjust to the college game. Now Elli coming a semester early helped a lot. She got used to the environment.”

The three goalkeepers are now led by assistant and goalkeeping coach Eli Feuer, who joined the coaching staff – which also includes Randy Waldrum and Bri Alleyne – after spending time with Troy University and USC Upstate. He also spent five years in Florida at IMG Academy.

“He’s very in-line with my dad jokes,” Waldrum joked. “He’s brought some harmony in the office. Eli has a unique background. At IMG, he was the director of goalkeeping. That’s kind of your in-between of college and club soccer. He’s been great for us, really pushing our goalkeepers. He’s a big culture guy, so that’s been big for our staff and players. It feels like he’s been here a long time.”

THE BIG KICKOFF

In addition to this being a new season, the Pitt Panthers women’s soccer team already has a reason to celebrate.

This is the 30th anniversary of collegiate women’s soccer at Pitt. Now, it all begins, thirty years later, with a tilt against Youngstown State today, at 7 PM, at Ambrose Urbanic Field.