While two early deficits almost turned the weekend sour for the No. 1-ranked Washington University women’s soccer team, the Bears fought back in both home games to advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The Bears defeated St. Norbert College 5-2 on Friday and No. 19 Calvin College 3-1 on Saturday.

The opening minutes of postseason play certainly did not start the way the Bears had intended Friday evening. The team faced a bit of a shock at Francis Field as St. Norbert scored two goals less than 12 minutes into the game.

“I think everybody is really excited to be in the tournament, and especially in that first game, things were a little spastic,” junior midfielder Anna Zambricki said.

Wash. U. had allowed only four goals to their opponents all season behind stout defensive play and solid goalkeeping by sophomore Amy French. The Bears never had to play from behind outside of their lone loss, in which Wheaton scored a goal to immediately end the game in overtime.

“It was a little bit shocking at first because it hasn’t happened to us yet,” senior midfielder Kate Doyle said. “But our team is tough mentally, and we just had to come together and say, ‘We know that we can do this—we’ve scored more than two goals on teams this season.’ We weren’t really worried about it.”

The first of the Green Knights’ goals came off of the foot of their top scorer, junior forward Katie Vanden Avond, who tallied her NCAA-leading 37th goal of the season. Vanden Avond was marked by a single Wash. U. defender for most of the early part of the game.

“Unfortunately, Coach didn’t necessarily have the greatest game plan, and the players changed it on the field,” head coach Jim Conlon said, referring to himself in the third person. “I thought we were better when they went to playing their defensive style instead of what I had schemed up. I think we did a good job of understanding where [Vanden Avond] was but not chasing her all over the pitch and getting ourselves out of balance. I tip my hat to the girls—they were better than Coach.”

A second Green Knight goal, one-timed off a flicked corner kick, cast a cloud of nervous energy over the many fans in attendance, if not the team itself. However, the Bears kept pressing forward on offense, and the tide of the game seemed to turn on a Wash. U. corner kick taken by senior forward Becky Berels.

From the right side of the goal, Berels sent her corner kick curling toward the top left corner of the net, and a slight touch from the head of Doyle knocked the ball into the goal and slashed St. Norbert’s lead in half.

“I think I stole that one from Becky,” Doyle said. “It might’ve gone in on its own, but I had to make sure that it did.”

Less than four minutes later, Zambricki scored a goal of her own off a cross from junior forward Lillie Toaspern. The goals from Doyle and Zambricki brought the Bears into a tie at the end of the first half with a shot advantage of 13-3, heavily important for the momentum of a team that could have been shaken by an uncharacteristic deficit to start the game.

“The two goals we scored were really quick, back to back,” Doyle said. “They were really huge for our mentality to get our momentum going and to just shut the other team down a little bit.”

The second half was an entirely different story for the Bears, who looked the way the No. 1 team in the country should, dominating on both ends of the field with a 24-3 shot disparity, starting with a goal by Berels in the early minutes of the half.

Wash. U. put the game out of reach with another quick pair of goals, this time only 19 seconds apart, by Doyle and freshman forward Katie Chandler. In all, the Bears scored five unanswered goals following the early St. Norbert run to advance to a second-round matchup with Calvin, which had dispatched Aurora College in a double-overtime contest that directly followed the game between Wash. U. and St. Norbert.

In a wet and windy Saturday evening game against Calvin, Wash. U. found itself in another early hole, giving up a goal just two minutes into the game. Calvin forward Paige Capel scored on a shot from the right side that deflected off French and into the net.

Fortunately for the Bears, Zambricki equalized things relatively quickly with a goal in the 10th minute.

Heading into halftime with a 10-2 shot advantage but the score still tied, the Bears had to summon untapped energy for the second half. Wash. U. was playing its second game in as many nights, something it has not seen since early September and certainly not against a team of Calvin’s caliber.

“You try to train for [a back-to-back], but there is nothing like facing NCAA tournament-quality opponents,” Conlon said. “You have to try to recover, get your bumps and bruises healed, and I thought the girls did a good job of coming back and being ready to play.”

In the second half, Wash. U. gained a 2-1 lead on a header from junior midfielder Kaylin Balley off a corner kick.

The game was locked at this score for some time as both sides fought their tired legs to claim victory. The Bears’ search for an extra insurance goal finally ended when Toaspern beat two defenders on her own and put the ball into the back of the net to give Wash. U. a 3-1 lead.

Toaspern’s goal “was huge,” Conlon said. “You saw us stand up a little straighter and then realize that [the lead] could be a bigger mountain to climb. They could’ve tied the game at 2-2 at any time.”

The Bears surged to their 19th win of the season, which tied a school record. Fans’ support for the team was critical during each game over the weekend as both players and coaches agreed that the crowd at Francis Field was more raucous than ever to cheer on their team.

“It’s always exciting to finally have our stands full of people,” Zambricki said. “We don’t really have that during the regular season…it gets us really pumped up.”

“It could just be a another home game depending on the environment,” Conlon said, “but the fans were absolutely amazing this weekend.”

Next weekend, fans will have another chance to create a home environment for the Bears. Wash. U. will host the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, starting Saturday afternoon in a game against No. 18 University of Puget Sound.