Women’s soccer celebrates a win against UW-La Crosse, sending them to the Final Four for the first time since 2018. (Bri Nitsberg｜Student Life)

After a dramatic win against the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, the Washington University women’s soccer team is back in the NCAA Division III Final Four for the first time since 2018. In the semifinals — which will be played on Thursday, Nov. 30 in Salem, VA — the Bears will take on a familiar foe: Messiah University. 

The Falcons are a women’s soccer powerhouse from Mechanicsburg, PA that has won six national titles, including a victory over WashU in 2009. Though the Bears lost that contest in the program’s first ever national championship appearance, they avenged their loss in 2015. That year, they beat Messiah on penalty kicks in the Final Four before losing in the national championship game. In 2016, the Bears won WashU women soccer’s only national championship when they topped the Falcons in a shootout.

Most recently, however, the Falcons soared past the Bears in the Elite Eight last season, ending the Bears’ 2023 campaign in another penalty kick shootout. This year, the NCAA tournament will pit the two top-notch programs against each other once again, and WashU head coach Jim Conlon is expecting another thrilling clash.

“Any time WashU and Messiah matchup, you know we’re having a really good season,” said Conlon this week. “We know we’re gonna have a good match tomorrow night because they’re well-coached and organized, just like we’ve seen them in past years.”

While it is impossible to say that this matchup was expected at the start of the season, the fact that these two teams earned spots in the Final Four was never unfathomable. In the United Soccer Coaches polls, the national rankings used in college soccer, both teams started the season in the top 10. Though WashU rose from No. 10 to No. 2 by October 31st’s final rankings and Messiah fell from No. 3 to No. 5, both teams have been ranked amongst the nation’s ten best teams all season long. 

From the start, the Bears proved they were worthy of national attention. Despite playing their first two games with sophomore midfielder Sophia Raudez in goal because senior goalkeeper Sidney Conner had COVID and first-year backup Charlotte Shapiro was injured, the Bears won their first two games 8-0 and 2-0 against non-conference opponents.

After Conner suffered a recent injury, Conlon dismissed any concerns that the team’s three-year starter would not start in Salem.  “She’s scheduled to play on Thursday. She’s moving well and we expect her to be at her best,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.

Conner’s play has been crucial to the Bears success this season. She has kept 16 shutouts, the highest mark in Division III. In fact, the Bears didn’t give up a goal for the first 1354 minutes of their season, a streak that ended with a 2-1 loss to Rochester University in late October. While Conner has been stellar, her performances have been supplemented by a consistently strong back three of graduate student transfer Ally Hackett, senior Sarah Neltner, and junior Emma Riley McGahan.

Led by their rock-solid back line, the Bears earned the No. 1 national seed in late October after impressive performances on the road against Carnegie Mellon University and Case Western Reserve University. After those games, which they tied and won, respectively, the Bears were in the driving seat in the standings of the University Athletic Association (UAA), one of the nation’s most competitive conferences. Despite their loss to Rochester, they clinched the conference title with a draw against the University of Chicago in their final regular season game.

The Bears kept the momentum rolling into the postseason. After two dominant showings swept the Bears past the opening weekend, the Bears took down Calvin University in the Sweet 16. 

Though the team’s offense, which averages 2.95 goals per game, had been strong all year, some of its star players stepped up even more in the postseason. Sophomore forward Grace Ehlert, who leads the team with 10 goals, has been on fire, scoring five goals in the last three games. Junior midfielder Gaelen Clayton, who boasts a team-high 14 goal contributions (9G/5A), has three goals and one assist in the tournament so far. Finally, sophomore forward Ella Koleno, who has a team-best six assists, and senior midfielder Jess Greven, who is 4/4 on in-game penalty kicks throughout the season, both have two assists and one goal in tournament play.

In their toughest test of the tournament so far, the Bears hosted UW-La Crosse in the Sweet 16. After UW-La Crosse took a 4-3 lead in extra time, the Bears were on the ropes, but an unlikely hero — first-year forward Julia Moore — scored her second goal of the game off of the bench with just one minute left to revive the Bears season. After the first UW-La Crosse shooter missed her penalty kick, the Bears scored all five of theirs, culminating in an Ally Hackett strike that sent the team to Salem.

While the matchup against Messiah and the Final Four stage will bring added nerves, Conlon noted that the Bears are looking forward to Thursday’s opportunity.

“We’re fired up,” he said. “I think the [players are] confident in their preparation. I think they know who they are as a team and they believe in each other, and I think we’re gonna come out ready to go.”