Women’s soccer: Cuba off to quick start as a Panther

Before every game, Ashley Cuba sits in her place in the locker room beside teammate Emily… Before every game, Ashley Cuba sits in her place in the locker room beside teammate Emily Peters. She remains quiet, listening to a song that Peters chose for her. Her teammates know not to speak to her.

“I’m really mean [before games], actually,” Cuba said with a laugh.

Before she leaves the locker room, she does a special handshake with Peters — who she calls her go-to person — then the sophomore soccer star steps out on the field, where she’s already climbed to sixth place on the Pitt women’s soccer all-time goal scoring list.

Cuba didn’t expect to find so much success this early in her Pitt career.

“I didn’t even think I would play, really,” Cuba said. “But it’s just a bonus. I want to play and I want to win. I don’t care who scores as long as we win.”

Last season, Cuba became only the third player in school history named to the Big East All-Rookie Team. She played in all 18 games as a freshman, starting nine, and her seven goals in a season tied for third in Pitt’s history.

Head coach Sue-Moy Chin described Cuba as a “gamer.”

“She tends to thrive in the game situation,” Chin said. “She’s not your most polished player, but she just has a knack for scoring goals.”

Chin said that when her assistant coach saw Cuba play in high school, he simply told Chin of Cuba’s capability to score.

“She wasn’t the flashiest player,” Chin said. “She just has that ability around the area to put balls away. We needed to add that to our team.”

And when Cuba decided she wanted to come to Pitt, Chin said nothing was going to deter her.

“She really did a lot to promote herself,” Chin said. “She was very aggressive. She wanted to come here. She contacted us and contacted us.”

Cuba came to Pitt from Poland, Ohio, an area she describes as being much more suburban than Pittsburgh.

“There aren’t that many people around you there, even when you go out on the street,” she said. “There are no yards here in Pittsburgh. It’s very busy.”

But Cuba said she never felt uncomfortable in the city.

“That was actually a reason that I liked Pitt, because of the city,” she said. “I always liked it, even when I was young I would visit. It’s different, but it’s a good different.”

Cuba said she saw the chance to make a difference at Pitt.

“Pitt soccer was going to do big things within the next four years and I wanted to be a part of it,” Cuba said. “That was the biggest thing.”

She said the university was a good fit for her both athletically and academically: Pitt has an anthropology major and Cuba is interested in pursuing forensic anthropology after school.

Cuba said the television show “Bones,” which depicts the partnership between a forensic anthropologist and an FBI agent, inspired her intended career path.

“I’m completely obsessed with that show,” Cuba said. “I watch it all the time. That’s what got me interested.”

Concerning her soccer career at Pitt, Cuba said that keeping soccer in her life would only be a bonus.

“I hope [to keep soccer in my life],” she said. “It’s not a necessity, though. I have a career to fall back on. It’s just an option.”

Early in her career on the field, Cuba said playing soccer wasn’t an option — her mom forced her to take up the sport.

“My mom made me play when I was 4 years old and I hated it,” she said. “I wanted to quit. But I stuck with it and I guess I ended up doing good with it.”

Now, as a collegiate athlete, Chin said Cuba is one of Pitt’s top-scoring threats.

“She’s very important for us,” Chin said. “It’s work with the other forwards, too, the runs that they make to create space and vice versa. It’s a tandem of them working together.”

Cuba said she’s improved since arriving at Pitt as a freshman — getting increasingly stronger, faster and smarter. But there’s still plenty she can improve on, she said.

Cuba’s inner drive and urge to do better will help her continue to improve, Chin said.

“She’s always talking about soccer, wanting to learn and get better,” Chin said. “She’s always asking for help and that’s something you want to see.”