After a stellar regular season that led to its second- ever No. 1 national ranking, the Washington University women’s soccer team will try to maintain that perch in the postseason. At the center of the push is sophomore goal- keeper Amy French, who has been nearly unflappable throughout her first season in the net.

While Wash. U.’s offense has been electric and its defense stout, French has become the Bears’ most pleasant surprise, allow- ing only four goals over the entire regular season for a 0.25 goals allowed per game average and 93.2 percent save percentage. For her strong play toward the end of the season, French was named the Disney Soccer/National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division III National Player of the Week on Nov. 5.

“Just fantastic, just amaz- ing,” junior forward Lillie Toaspern said of French. “She has really stepped up this year and owned the posi- tion. It makes it a lot easier for the team to know that we have that solid rock back there that will pick up any shots that come through and who’s done a really good job of not making very many mistakes.”

French says that she has played goalie all of her life because she didn’t like to run as a kid but has blossomed in the position since. She stressed that playing behind senior goalkeepers last season helped her learn how to play in a new system at the colle- giate level.

“It was a really valuable experience for me to play behind three senior goalies,”

French said. “Coming into a new program, especially as a goalie, is kind of scary. You don’t really know exactly how [the coaches] want you to interact with the defense. Having [freshman year] geared to just learning every- thing and getting to know the defense and how everything works on the team was pretty valuable to me.”

Her worries were calmed even more when the team opened the season against weaker opponents, saving the more difficult conference games for later in the year.

“It was helpful that the first few games we played, I didn’t really have to do anything besides a few saves,” French said. “Those were the games where we won 5-0, 7-0, and I was just able to shake off the nerves about being on the field with the team so that by the time I really had to step up making saves, I felt kind of used to it.”

Head coach Jim Conlon heaped praise on French and her growth this sea- son. “[She] has played well, she’s a young player, and the seniors have encouraged her to be the player she is, and I think that’s helped her quite a bit,” Conlon said. “She’s very excited to have the oppor- tunity [to start]…she’s just taken the role and run with it.”

French and the defense have led the Bears to a 17-1 record, with an unbeaten 7-0 record in the University Athletic Association. Their season has been marked by key wins, like the 1-0 vic- tory in Atlanta against UAA rival Emory University that French deems her best game of the season. The numbers back up her belief: French tallied a career-best nine saves in the narrow win over Emory.

Practicing against the team’s high-powered offense has fostered defensive consis- tency for the entire team.

“Going in practice all the time against our offense is harder than anything we’re going to face in regular time, [and our defense] is really reliable,” French said. “I never feel like I’m under a whole lot of pressure because people can’t get by them, and when they can, I usu- ally feel like it’s a manageable situation.”

The postseason, however, is an entirely different animal for the Bears to attack. First, the Red and Green will host St. Norbert College at 5 p.m. Friday. If Wash. U. wins that game, the Bears will play again Saturday evening at Francis Field, taking on the winner of a game between No. 19 Calvin College and Aurora University.

Wash. U. will have no easy test when it comes to St. Norbert. The Green Knights were 14-4-2 in the regular season, beating Monmouth College in the Midwest Conference championship to automatically qualify for the tournament. They are led by junior forward Katie Vanden Avond, who has 36 goals this season, most in the NCAA, and 90 in her career, the most by any active player spanning all divisions.

“No matter who we play, we always try to get a little scouting information, but we are mostly focusing on ourselves and how we can tighten up our play and make sure that we come out 100 percent,” French said.

French and the defense will be tasked with stopping Vanden Avond’s goal scoring, a key to the Bears moving to the next round of the tournament, which is why their communication and teamwork on the back end is so important.

“Our sweeper, [junior] Tessa Delaney, is new in that position this year and because we’re so close to each other [on the field], we had to work out how we were going to communicate,” French said. “I think we’ve done a good job of that with our entire defense…the big- gest thing this year when I started was that I didn’t know whether [the defense] was

going to trust me. I was a new person starting in that posi- tion. The worst thing for a goalie is to not be confident, to be indecisive. To know that my defense is able to trust me in the way we’re able to communicate throughout the game is really big for me.”

French and her teammates and coaches have been par- ticularly fired up about the upcoming postseason, espe- cially being able to play at home after a stretch of four

road games. “It’s been a long time since

we’ve played on Francis,” Toaspern said. “I think we’re all excited to have our families come and have our friends be there to support. It’s just a lot easier when you’re in your own locker room and you’re able to do all your pregame routines. We feel more comfortable at home, so we’re really excited that we get to host this weekend.”