This Saturday marks the first time a team that includes a University of Pittsburgh alumna will compete in the NWSL Championship. But that honor is not held alone—two former Panthers are in San Jose, gearing up for battle on Saturday. Sarah Schupansky and Deborah Abiodun are rookies for NJ/NY Gotham FC and Washington Spirit respectively, and have both impressed this season. Their contributions to the two teams that have outlasted all the others are a testament to the program that former head coach Randy Waldrum created in Pittsburgh, and, for Abiodun, Nigeria.
Both players credit their time at Pitt playing under Waldrum with their success this year.
“Pitt’s helped me in ways I could not imagine because you know, in college it was quite fast, a different pace,” Abiodun reflected on Thursday. “I feel like the staff, everyone there—academically, soccer wise—everyone was really, really great and the coaches at Pitt were really, really intense coaches that played different types of patterns.”
