Predicting the fortunes of fall ACC Sports

As everyone should know by now, Pitt is playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. So, how will Pitt’s fall sports fare in the new conference?

Across the board, the strength of Pitt’s schedules in each sport should figure to play more difficult than the past few seasons as a part of the Big East. The football landscape features more depth than arguably any season Pitt played in the Big East, and the men’s and women’s soccer schedules features competition against teams that make up the nation’s best overall soccer conference. 

Cross Country

Pitt’s cross country season begins at the Duquesne Duals on Sunday, where Pitt competes against schools from the wWestern Pennsylvania area. The first competition for Pitt outside of Pennsylvania comes at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind. on Sept. 28. 

In 2013, head coach Alonzo Webb brings back a great deal of experience on both the men’s and women’s sides. 

Sophomore Rachel Brown looks to build off a strong 2012, when she placed in the Top 10 at the 2012 Duquesne Duals alongside junior Morgan Perry who won the Cappy Anderson Invitational last season. Last season, the women’s side compiled a pair of first-place finishes, two second-place finishes and placed sixth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship.  

The men’s contingent lost four runners at last spring’sdue to graduation, but will be led by Ben Kisley and Rich Addison. Kisley notched a second-place finish at the Cappy Anderson Invitational last season, while Addison placed third in the same event. 

At the Cappy Anderson Invitational, both the men and the women took first place overall. 

Prediction: As Pitt enters the ACC, the competition gets tougher. as Tthe Panthers will run against the likes of Virginia Tech, Florida State, Duke, and Boston College, all of whom placed at or near the top in both the men’s and women’s events. With experience returning in force for Pitt, the runners should be able to compete immediately, but expect Pitt to finish near the middle of the pack against tougher competition. 

Volleyball

Pitt volleyball comes off a winning 17-14 record in 2012, but went 7-8 against a Big East schedule that sent two teams—Notre Dame and Marquette—to the NCAA Tournament but each was bounced in the first round.

This season, Pitt’s schedule features four NCAA Tournament teams, highlighted by a Florida State team that finished No. 9 in the season’s final poll. 

While the going does get tougher, Pitt returns 12 players from last year’s team. More importantly, five of the team’s six starters from last year are back in the fold, as is new head coach Dan Fisher who compiled a 75-2 record at Concordia University. 

On the frontlines, Pitt returns leaders in nearly every major statistical category. Junior setter Lindsey Zitzke led the team with 909 assists last season, junior libero Delaney Clesen notched 292 digs, senior outside-hitter Monica Wignot racked up 267 kills, and junior outside-hitter Jessica Wynn blocked 80 shots last season.  

Prediction: (18-15, 9-11 ACC). Pitt’s experience and returning talent should keep the Panthers around .500 for most of the season, but the wear-and-tear of a tougher slate of games may take its toll late in the season.

Men’s Soccer

The Panthers’ men’s side started last season strong, but finished it anything but. Pitt won six of its first eight contests, and tied in the other two. 

From there, though, Pitt was outscored 31-7 and lost its final nine games to finish 6-9-2 and 0-8 in the Big East. While last year’s schedule featured six teams ranked in soccer’s Top 20, including the 2012 National Championship-winning Georgetown squad, it only gets tougher in the ACC — especially on the road. 

Pitt must travel to Maryland, Notre Dame, Syracuse, North Carolina State, Virginia, and Clemson. Not to mention the fact that the Panthers enter a conference that won 64.6 percent of its games last season. And that five of the past eight national soccer champions emerged from the ACC.

On the bright side for Pitt, the Panthers return eight of last year’s top-10 scorers and bring back their captain, senior John Cordier. 

Prediction: (3-10-2, 1-10 ACC). While Pitt had some marginal success last season and should build off it, the difficulty of playing in soccer’s toughest conference will mitigate much of the improvements made in between 2012 and 2013. 

Women’s Soccer

The women’s contingent of the Pitt soccer program should fare a little better than the men’s, but the youth of the Panthers combined with a schedule featuring eight teams from the Top 15 at the end of 2013 will make the first go around in the ACC difficult for the Panthers.  

Coach Greg Miller brings back a group of contributors from last season that includes Roosa Arvas, Katie Lippert, leading-scorer Alex Charlebois, Jackie Poucel, and Nicole D’Agostino. That group should help lead Pitt’s starting 11, and improvements from those names would be boons to Pitt’s all-around performance. 

Prediction: (6-12-1, 2-11 ACC). The schedule Pitt plays may be the toughest in the history of the program, and it will take some time for Pitt to adjust to ACC competition. The team should start well in its first six non-conference matches, but wins will be hard to come by when the calendar turns to September and October.

Football

It’s the one sport fans anticipate the most at Pitt, but the story of Pitt football in 2013 is no different than any other fall sport in Oakland. In a transition year, the challenges will be frequent for the Panthers starting with Week 1 on Labor Day against Florida State.  

The presence of head coach Paul Chryst for a second year and a quarterback with a strong arm in Tom Savage should see the Pitt playbook open up, and the Panthers offense build off a successful 2012 season. On the defensive side, Pitt may bring one of the best units to ACC stadiums this season. 

But the reality is, just as in other sports, the other conference schools just have more at this point. 

Prediction: (6-6, 3-5 ACC). Pitt could very well start 3-1 against the likes of Florida State, New Mexico, Virginia, and Duke, but then face a murderous stretch late in the season against Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, North Carolina, and Miami in four of the season’s final five weeks. But the Panthers should make a bowl and finishing with a .500 record against a difficult schedule would be a success in its own regard.