Now, after the 3-0 victory, the Bears will make their second straight National Championship appearance on Sunday, Dec. 8. After losing in last season’s title game, the Bears — who now hold a WashU record with 22 wins in a single season — are looking for one final win in the season’s final game.

At the start of each season, the players on the WashU women’s soccer team create a goal pyramid, starting with listing off small goals that set the building blocks for their larger aspirations. So far this season, the No. 1 ranked Bears have been ticking many of their goals off the list: have an undefeated season at home, win the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship, and make the Final Four. Now, the Bears have their “top goal” left to achieve: to win the national championship.

Hosts Rishi Chiniga and Elias Kokinos turn up the heat as they sit down with WashU’s head men’s basketball coach, Pat Juckem.

WashU’s women’s and men’s cross country teams placed 10th and 15th respectively in a 32-team field at the 2024 NCAA Championship in Terre Haute, Indiana on Nov. 23. Graduate-student Cullen Capuano was the Bears’ top finisher and an All-American.

Late in the second half of their Elite Eight matchup against University of Chicago, the No. 1 WashU women’s soccer team was struggling to find a breakthrough. The conference rivals — who had tied their last five matches against each other — were locked in a defensive stalemate on Francis Field with a Final Four spot on the line.

With their two early goals, the Bears lit a flame that never went out. The Bears added three more goals before halftime, and despite conceding mid-way through the second half, defeated the Simpson Storm 5-1. Just a day after kicking off their playoff campaign with a 2-0 victory over DePauw University, the Bears locked up a spot in the round of 16 for the eighth season in a row.

One year later, the Bears are back on the prowl for the program’s second-ever national championship, and their journey to Las Vegas kicks off in St. Louis this weekend.

The WashU men’s and women’s swim and dive teams competed in the D3 Shootout tournament at the University of Chicago on Nov. 8-9. The No. 9 men’s team finished in second place, and the No. 16 women’s team finished in third against some of the best programs in Division III. 

For the first time since 2018, the No. 1 WashU women’s soccer team ends the regular season unbeaten.

A win over Rochester next weekend would clinch a second-straight UAA title for WashU and the conference’s automatic qualifier to the tournament.