The Pitt women’s soccer roster took on several changes during its offseason — head coach Randy Waldrum stepped down from his coaching title and his son, Ben Waldrum, is taking the reins. The Panthers also have talent from all over the world on this season’s roster.
Randy Waldrum held the head coaching position since 2017 and has now moved to the technical director role for the team. From start to finish, Waldrum took the women’s soccer program from ending the season 3-12-3 in 2017 to their historic 17-6-1 in 2023’s season. Waldrum holds a 75-51-11 career record, which includes two NCAA Championship appearances and one Elite Eight appearance.
While Waldrum’s time as head coach has come to an end, his legacy lives on as his son, Ben Waldrum, is ready to take on the head coaching role full-time. Ben Waldrum served as associate head coach alongside his father for six years and substituted as head coach a few times during the 2024 season when his father was away.
After a disappointing end to the 2024 season (9-6-3, 3-5-2 ACC) with no NCAA Championship appearance, exchanging a coach who has sent 15 players to professional leagues seems like it could become another step in the wrong direction in what may be a slippery slope for the program. But Randy Waldrum is confident that his new role is a strategic move that benefits his team.
“Shifting my role to technical director will allow me to focus my attention on roster makeup, scouting, game planning and all aspects of player development,” Randy Waldrum said. “I’ve seen this model have great success on the professional and international levels and am excited to be in position to mirror that here at Pitt.”
If there’s one thing fans can count on, it’s Randy Waldrum to deliver on his word. Since taking on his new role, Randy Waldrum has recruited 17 new Panthers — 13 of which are international.
In doing so, Randy Waldrum wasn’t shy in using his connection as the previous head coach of the Nigerian National team. This season’s roster features three recruits from Nigeria to follow in former Pitt Panther Deborah Abiodun’s footsteps, and current senior midfielder Cekube Ottah. Randy also recruited from Canada, France, Morocco, England and the Netherlands — finding talent in all four corners of the world.
While the Panthers lost several key players from last season to professional leagues, such as Sarah Schypansky, Abiodun and Chloe Minas, there are solid returners. Pitt returns senior defender Katie Zalinski, junior defender Olivia Lee, junior forward Lucia Wells and senior goalkeeper Ellie Breech to hold down the fort while the new recruits find their footing.
Zalinski, Lee and Wells lay a strong foundation for the new recruits to follow, historically playing all 90 minutes of nearly every match. Breech is another constant the Panthers will have headed into the 2025 season. The goalkeeper accrued an impressive resume at Pitt, including the most wins while in goal last season after a historic win against Clemson.
The 2025 season will host 11 out of its 18 games at Ambrose Urbanic Field. This year’s schedule also features eight matches against 2024 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, including Santa Clara, Cal, Stanford, Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, Virginia and Notre Dame.
The Panthers already kicked off their regular season on Aug. 14 against Xavier on their home turf, defeating the Musketeers 2-0. So far, the Panthers are off to a 4-0 start and look to pick up where they left off in the 2023 season with a new head coach and a fresh strategy.
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