Sophomore Olivia Clemons dribbles past a defender in the Bears’ 8-0 win over Westminster (Bri Nitsberg | Managing Photo Editor)

In their record-setting 2024 season, it took the WashU women’s soccer team three games to score 14 goals. The 2025 team achieved that goal total in just two games. It will be hard to follow up the Bears’ unbeaten championship season in 2025, but this year, the Bears are off to a hot start.

“We are thrilled on winning the 2024 national championship, but now it’s 2025,” head coach Jim Conlon said. “We just need to focus on this group of women. The team is in a really good place and we just need to focus on us right now.”

WashU swept its opening two games of the regular season, dominating Westminster College and Illinois Wesleyan University, 8-0 and 6-0 respectively. Following the weekend routing, sophomore forward Olivia Clemons and senior forward Grace Ehlert led the Bears with 3 goals each.

On Friday, Aug. 29, the Bears proved that their dominance was not simply a thing of the past during their home opener against Westminster. Outshooting their opponents 34-0, WashU shut Westminster out 8-0. Even more impressively, just four members of the Bears’ starting 11 on Friday had previously started in last year’s national championship game.

The Bears demonstrated their dominance right away. Within the first five minutes of the match, WashU took three shots on the goal, picking apart Westminster’s defense early on.

The Bears scored their first goal of the season 17 minutes in. Off of a header, sophomore Cami Colpitts made a quick pass to senior Ella Koleno, giving Koleno a clear scoring chance that she did not miss. Ten minutes later, Ehlert added to the scoreboard, putting the Bears up 2-0 at halftime.

The Bears’ momentum continued through the half when Clemons, the reigning University Athletic Association (UAA) player of the year, scored back-to-back goals to give the Bears a 4-0 lead.

Following Clemons’ goal, first-years Heidi Fesler and Annika Park notched their first collegiate goals to make the score 6-0.

“Scoring my first college goal was an unforgettable experience,” Fesler said. “As a local from St. Louis, last year I had the privilege of watching almost all of the team’s home games. So going from admiring them last year to scoring my first goal for WashU on Francis was an incredible feeling.”

To finish off their first win of the season, senior Kerrigan Ferland and junior Anna Rosato each added their names to the scoresheet to secure the 8-0 victory.

“For us to go out there and win game one, in the fashion we did, with the way we moved the ball, and the way we passed, and the way we connected with each other, I thought was a great start to the season,” Conlon said.

After a successful home opener, WashU traveled to Illinois Wesleyan the following Tuesday for their first away game of the season.

The Bears got off to a quick start for the second straight game when sophomore Kate Martin scored a goal less than two minutes in. This continued when Clemons got control of the ball at the 15-minute mark, and assisted Colpitts for her second goal of the weekend.

The first half ended with back-to-back goals, the first from junior Sophie Viscovich and second from Ehlert. In the 43rd minute, Illinois Wesleyan tried to get on the board, but sophomore goalie Suzie Green stopped the Titans’ attack, saving the first of two shots on goal.

The pile-on continued, as Ehlert and Clemons each added another goal to the scoresheet. Despite their second shot on goal, Illinois Wesleyan failed to find an opening past junior goalie Charlotte Shapiro, preserving the 6-0 shutout until the final whistle blew.

Over the weekend, the Bears took a total of 39 shots on goal and gave up just two. The Bears will play their first-ranked opponent of the season on Friday, Sept. 5 when they host No. 25 Calvin University.