USF Ladies Take on Pitt

Demi Stokes and company are looking to get the offense going against Pitt.

The USF ladies, after a tough defeat in double overtime to WVU on Thursday night, travel to take on Pitt in their first Big East road match of the season. USF, 4-3-1 (0-1), needs to get off to a quick start and get the offense going early after it has been kept in check the last few matches.

Pitt might be a great chance to get the team back on track. Pitt, fresh off a los to Marquette to open their Big East schedule, enters the game with a 1-6-2 (0-1) record and struggles to get anything on offense as well. This will be a very low scoring game, but a game USF needs to win. Here are players to watch on the Pitt side.

Pitt is led by senior midfielder Katelyn Ruhe who has started all 9 games this season, scoring 1 goal and adding one assist. Sophomore midfielder/forward Katelyn Lippert has taken 15 shots for the Panthers (aggressive striker) and will have to be watched in this game.

Sophomore forward Dana Dellefemine has taken 15 shots as well as the Panthers look for any offense they can. Junior forward Ashley Cuba has 4 goals and 1 assist to lead the entire offense, so look for her to be very active around the net during the afternoon. Freshman midfielder Ali Matisse has 1 assist in limited playing time. Sophomore defender Morgan Sharick has 1 assist as well and has taken 3 shots on the season.

The Panthers have been struggling in the net all season. Senior goalkeeper Kristina Rioux is 0-5-2 on the year. She has allowed 17 goals already (2.14 average per game) while stopping 54 shots as well (.761 percentage of stops). It also shows the struggles of the Pitt backline and the ability for opponents to get into scoring position and get things done. The other goalkeeper, red-shirt freshman Nicole D'Agostina has allowed 6 goals already, making just 5 stops (.455 percentage) so not the best goalkeepers USF will face on the season.

After the double overtime loss to WVU, it hurt the team and wore them down a bit. Several players played all 104 minutes, but a few days off should have them re-energized for this game and they need to come out fast and get on the board quickly against a team that is struggling to get anything on offense and a defense that tends to give up a lot of shots.