Senior Jessica Greven scores a penalty kick against Rochester on Oct. 29. (Jialing Sun｜Student Life)

Just four minutes after the opening kickoff in Sunday’s divisional matchup vs. Rochester, the Washington University women’s soccer team found itself in uncharted territory.

After a cross was cleared out of the box by a WashU defender, Rochester midfielder Natalie Kocsis unleashed a first-time strike from 25 yards out. As the ball sailed towards the goal, it narrowly passed a defender and found the net, despite the best efforts of an outstretched Sid Conner, WashU’s senior goalkeeper.

For the first time all season, the Bears had conceded a goal, and they quickly found themselves playing from behind. Ultimately, despite a resilient attempt to mount a comeback, they would fall to the No. 6 Yellowjackets 2-1, ending college soccer’s best clean-sheet streak and placing their UAA division lead in jeopardy. Just five days after they had been named the best team in the country, the Bears were knocked off their perch and are back to the No. 2 spot in this week’s rankings.

The streak, which lasted 1354 minutes and 15 games, was the third-longest stretch in Division III women’s soccer’s history. WashU was five games away from the division record of 20, which was set by the University of Puget Sound in 2005. In addition, with two goals allowed on the season, WashU is now level with No. 1 Christopher Newport University for the fewest goals allowed this year in DIII women’s soccer.

Entering the Senior Day matchup, the squad looked to build on the momentum they accumulated during last Sunday’s victory over Case Western Reserve University. After Rochester’s early score, the Bears were forced to regroup. This moment was one the Bears had been waiting for, according to senior midfielder Jessica Greven.

“Something we have been talking about for a long time is the response to that [first goal] — because a lot of people were hyping it up to be a bigger deal than it was. We wanted to make sure that our response was one of resilience. Getting scored on doesn’t mean anything if we don’t respond properly,” she said after the match.

After a brief huddle of all 11 players on the pitch, the Bears attempted to claw back in the game. However, the remainder of the first half was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team able to break the deadlock. At the end of the first half, both teams had four shots apiece, and the Bears went into the break down 1-0.

The side’s reaction when they went down early impressed head coach Jim Conlon. When asked about his takeaways from the game, he said, “I think the biggest one was our response and our resiliency. I thought after getting down a goal and then down two goals, we responded well. We put a lot of good shots on frame, we put ourselves in position to equalize the match on the scoreboard, and they just didn’t fall.”

Early in the second half, the Bears had one of their best stretches of the match, displaying the resilience Conlon praised. In the 53rd minute, senior midfielder Anna Viscovich hit a half-volley from around the penalty spot that forced a leaping stop from Rochester goalie Grace Kuropatkin. Two minutes later, a through ball by Greven split the defense, giving the Bears a sequence of opportunities. After Kuropatkin misplayed the ball, junior Gaelen Clayton, the Bears’ leading scorer, shot the ball towards the keeper-less goal, but it was cleared off the line by a defender. Sophomore Grace Ehlert then won back the ball for WashU, but her shot was denied by another diving save by Kuropatkin, one of six stops she made that day.

After the set of attacking chances, the momentum appeared to be in favor of the Bears once again. The sizable crowd of families and fans began to roar, urging the team forward in the cold and rain. With just over 30 minutes remaining, WashU looked like they had the attacking threat to level the match or even take the lead. Though they were chasing the victory, the Bears likely would’ve been content with a tie. Earning just one point in the match would’ve sealed the University Athletic Association (UAA) title for WashU.

However, in the 63rd minute, Rochester doubled their lead against the run of play, dimming WashU’s hopes of a comeback. When a free kick from a few yards outside of the box sailed towards Conner, she bobbled the catch. The ball bounced kindly to Rochester first-year Lauren Blanch, who was in the right position to slot home her fourth goal of the season. Despite complaints from players and fans that Conner was bumped by a Rochester attacker, no foul was called, and the Bears found themselves trailing by two goals.

As frustration mounted amongst the crowd, the Bears pushed players forward, looking for a spark to get themselves back in the game. In the 72nd minute, after first-year Julia Moore received a cross from sophomore Ella Koleno, she was brought down in the box by a defender. The referee blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty spot. As Greven stepped up to take the ensuing kick, she found herself in a familiar position.

“It’s something that we practice all the time. We take plenty of penalty kicks in practice and just know that if you do your job and get done what you know you’re able to do, then there’s nothing to worry about. So just take a deep breath, and finish what you know [that] you can do.”

Greven did her job, slotting the ball into the bottom-right corner of the goal. With the score at 2-1, the crowd’s energy began to swell once again. 

Despite WashU’s best efforts, however, Rochester’s defense held strong for the last 18 minutes. As WashU repeatedly lumped the ball up the field, they couldn’t beat the Yellowjackets’ stout back line, despite logging nine shots in the second half and outshooting the visitors 13-7 in the game. When the clock hit zero, the Rochester squad stormed the field to celebrate their hard-fought 2-1 victory. 

Despite the loss, Conlon stayed positive after the match. “In the post-game [team talk], I just told them I was proud of them. The game didn’t go our way today, the ball didn’t bounce our direction, but I thought our response and our resolve to put ourselves in a situation to tie that game up or even win it was fantastic.”

After being knocked down for the first time all season, the Bears will have a whole week to figure out how they are going to pick themselves up. As Greven noted after the match, the loss presents the team with an opportunity to improve.

“Something about this team is that the learning never stops. It’s really important to go into our future goals prepared. And I think taking a loss like this gives us a lot of really important lessons to learn from. We’ve got some great material to look at for film. I think that Rochester gave us a challenge that hopefully we can learn from, and we’re just excited to go forward because this is just another stepping stone of being prepared, which will help us to meet our future goals.”

(Jialing Sun｜Student Life)

While they were unable to win the UAA title, their 4-1-1 (13 points) conference record is still top in the conference. Since a win by Case Western this weekend narrowed WashU’s lead to just two points, the conference championship will be decided on the regular season’s final day. WashU will need either a point against the University of Chicago or to have Case Western and Rochester not win their games in order to celebrate their 16th UAA crown, a prize that also awards its recipient an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Though the Bears were forced to put their celebrations on ice, they remain in first place in the conference and will host the University of Chicago Saturday with a trophy on the line.