No. 19 Women’s Soccer Set for NCAA Sweet Sixteen Showdown Against No. 5 Florida State

THE MATCHUP

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The No. 19-ranked Pitt women’s soccer team (14-4-3, 5-3-2 ACC) makes its first Sweet Sixteen appearance in its first trip to the NCAA Tournament, taking on No. 5-ranked Florida State (15-2-3, 8-2-0 ACC) Sunday in the 2022 NCAA Championship Third Round. The opening kick is slated for 5 p.m. at Seminole Soccer Complex in Tallahassee, Fla. The contest will be streamed live on ESPN+.

The No. 4 nationally seeded Panthers won their NCAA Second Round matchup with No. 18-ranked Georgetown, 2-1, on Friday in Tallahassee. Pitt opened NCAA Tournament play with a 1-0 triumph over Buffalo on November 12 at Ambrose Urbanic Field in Pittsburgh.

The winner of the matchup between Pitt and No. 1 overall seed Florida State will take on either No. 3 nationally seeded Arkansas or Memphis in the NCAA Championship Quarterfinals next weekend.

RESILIENT PANTHERS TOP HOYAS

Pitt potted a pair of goals in the first half, then held on in the final 45 minutes to shut out the Hoyas in the second half and score the one-goal win.

The Panthers put the first goal of the game on the board in the 19th minute, Pitt broke down the Georgetown defense, starting with Samiah Phiri feeding a through ball to Landy Mertz, who then got it inside to Sarah Schupansky who finished with the one timer. The goal marked Schupansky’s seventh of the season. 

Georgetown evened the score in the 37th minute, though, as Claire Manning found the back of the net.

Pitt wasted no time responding to the challenge, however, scoring off a corner. Schupansky took the corner and sent the ball toward the net. It deflected off of Katie Zailski and into the goal to give the Panthers a 2-1 advantage.

The second half saw Georgetown outshoot Pitt, 6-1, and control possession for much of the half. Pitt was able to hang on, though, and punch its ticket to the Third Round of the NCAA Championship.

Pitt earned the win despite being outshot by a 12-9 count. Schupansky tallied a game-high four shots, with two coming on goal. She tallied her third game of the season with at least three points and seventh of her career. Zailski finished with two shots.

Caitlyn Lazzarini finished with four saves before exiting the game with an injury late in the second half. Freshman Ellie Breech played the final 6:06 in goal to finish off the win.

HISTORY MADE

Pitt…