As the semester comes to a close, it is time for The Pitt News to grade how each fall sports team did in their previous season. Some passed with ease, and others had a semester they would like to forget.
Football: B+
All things considered, Pitt football had an extremely successful season — it found its quarterback of the future in first-year Mason Heintschel and its running back of the future in first-year Ja’Kyrian ‘Boosie’ Turner. If this grade was about the hope fans should have for the future, this team would earn an A+.
But the team earned a B+ for its 2025 performance, which included some really heartbreaking losses, especially the loss to a bad West Virginia team in Morgantown. If it weren’t for that loss, this team would have earned an A- from me.
Pitt football was projected to finish No. 9 in the ACC preseason media poll — it ended up tied for No. 2 in the ACC with a 6-2 record. If the team maintains the roster it is supposed to return for next season, it should see itself contending for an ACC title and a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Volleyball: A
If I gave Pitt volleyball anything other than an A in my end-of-season grading, then I should have been put in a mental hospital. Yet again, for the third straight year, Pitt volleyball is a No. 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. That alone should give any team an A in its report card, even if it was only projected to become a one-seed.
The team lost a lot of talent in the offseason, and somehow, they are back at an identical spot to last season. It has a chance to host tournament games in the Petersen Events Center all the way into the Final Four. Plus, it has a shot to make its fifth consecutive appearance in the Final Four, which is unheard of, especially when it comes to Pitt athletics.
What head coach Dan Fisher and staff have done for the volleyball program at Pitt is nothing short of remarkable, and as long as the team has him and his staff coaching on the sideline, this team will continually earn As.
Pitt volleyball, however, did not earn an A+ because, at this point, I need to see a National Championship. A No. 1 seed has become the standard, and until I see Fisher and company raise a National Championship trophy, I will keep this program’s grade at a standard A.
Men’s soccer: D-
Men’s soccer, like volleyball, had sky-high expectations. It had one of its best seasons in the history of the program the year before and returned tons of talent. But, unlike volleyball, it failed to meet, or even come close, to its lofty expectations.
The team was selected No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason poll. The Panthers finished nowhere near that ranking. They finished the season unranked and with a record below .500 for the first time since 2018, completing the season with a 6-7-5 record.
Pitt men’s soccer was given the poorest rating of the four teams because it also came into the season with the second-most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, with six, and the team didn’t even come close to the postseason, breaking its impressive streak.
Women’s soccer: C
Before its final game of the season, women’s soccer would not have had a passing grade, but with its 1-0 win against No. 1 Notre Dame, it just barely passed for this season. In that game, it made program history, beating the country’s top-ranked team for the first time ever.
But the rest of the season was not sunshine and rainbows. Before the Notre Dame game, the team lost six straight contests by a total of 16 goals and only found the back of the net two times during that losing streak.
Pitt women’s soccer didn’t have lofty expectations to begin the year, as it was picked to finish No. 11 in the ACC in the ACC Women’s Soccer Coaches Poll. With its 6-10-2 record and 2-8 ACC record, the team finished one spot below where it was projected to finish at No. 12.
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