How far is the women’s’ program coached by Randy Waldrum behind the men’s’ program? I would argue not that far. However, the one caveat is that as good as the ACC is in men’s’ soccer, it is much more dominant in women’s’ soccer.
Five ACC teams were selected for the smaller NCAA tournament this year. All 5 are in the Elite Eight. Pitt went 3-5 in the ACC this year, but went 8-0 outside the conference. The only lopsided defeat it suffered was to national #2 FSU. It lost 3 road conference games by one goal. Two of those losses were to teams that made the Elite Eight.
There is only one senior on the roster along with three juniors. The best players on the team are sophomores and freshmen. With so many players coming back, I assumed that the recruiting class would be small. I was wrong. Besides two transfers (both of whom played this Spring) Waldrum signed 12 high school players. Nine of them already graduated early and enrolled at Pitt for the Spring semester. Unlike the men’s’ team, there is a local flavor to the recruits. Two are from the two-time state champion Norwin team and one is the star of the state champion (in a different division) Mars team. We know that HS soccer is not as important as club soccer, and all of the recruits come from top club teams.
A few didn’t even play HS soccer. Two ran track. One is an outside defender who qualified for nationals in the sprints. Perfect for a right or left back.
One big advantage of being in the ACC is to be able to tell recruits they will have a chance to play in the best conference in the country against the best players in the country. Waldrum seems to be successfully doing that.
With the number of players returning and the size of the incoming class, the roster will be too big if everyone remains, so I think we can expect some attrition, but the road ahead looks bright.
Five ACC teams were selected for the smaller NCAA tournament this year. All 5 are in the Elite Eight. Pitt went 3-5 in the ACC this year, but went 8-0 outside the conference. The only lopsided defeat it suffered was to national #2 FSU. It lost 3 road conference games by one goal. Two of those losses were to teams that made the Elite Eight.
There is only one senior on the roster along with three juniors. The best players on the team are sophomores and freshmen. With so many players coming back, I assumed that the recruiting class would be small. I was wrong. Besides two transfers (both of whom played this Spring) Waldrum signed 12 high school players. Nine of them already graduated early and enrolled at Pitt for the Spring semester. Unlike the men’s’ team, there is a local flavor to the recruits. Two are from the two-time state champion Norwin team and one is the star of the state champion (in a different division) Mars team. We know that HS soccer is not as important as club soccer, and all of the recruits come from top club teams.
A few didn’t even play HS soccer. Two ran track. One is an outside defender who qualified for nationals in the sprints. Perfect for a right or left back.
One big advantage of being in the ACC is to be able to tell recruits they will have a chance to play in the best conference in the country against the best players in the country. Waldrum seems to be successfully doing that.
With the number of players returning and the size of the incoming class, the roster will be too big if everyone remains, so I think we can expect some attrition, but the road ahead looks bright.