Sally Hackett News Today

After spending hundreds of hours on the sidelines, in the bleachers, and glued to the live stream, I’ve compiled the top-four WashU sports moments of the past four years, in no particular order.

Despite a resilient second-half effort that included control over the majority of possession, three shots, and five corner kicks, the Bears never put the ball in the back of the net. With their one goal, Cal Lutheran rode to their first-ever national title, becoming the first unranked team to achieve the feat.

After 110 minutes of gridlocked soccer in this year’s Final Four matchup, the Bears and Falcons headed to a penalty shootout once again. “The history of these two teams, these two programs — we could have just gone to PKs and been done with it. Saved ourselves some time,” Messiah head coach Scott Frey quipped after the game.

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.

“We knew it was coming,” said senior midfielder Jess Greven after the match. “Not for a second did I doubt that we wouldn’t equalize, and eventually we did. We knew that we were gonna get what was coming because we’ve been working for it. We deserved it and we earned it.”

From Saturday’s opening whistle to Sunday’s final tweet, WashU played 180 minutes of top-notch soccer to cruise through Maryville College and Sewanee: The University of the South and earn a spot in the Sweet 16.

“We're exactly where we want to be. We worked pretty hard and played really well against super-talented and very strong opponents. So there were no hard feelings. We're just looking forward to getting back on the field for our next game,” senior goalkeeper Sid Conner said after the weekend’s matches.

There are 1,893 NCAA men’s and women’s soccer teams. All but one of them have conceded a goal over the last two months. Eight games into its season, the Washington University women’s soccer team is the sole exception: college soccer’s only clean sheet.

Last spring, talks for new transfers for the Washington university women's soccer team began. With three new transfer players from D1 schools, the Bears team is hopeful for a great upcoming season and hopes to reach nationals with the addition of these graduate athletes.

“We have a lot of work to do to get where we’ve got to go, but the best way of learning is learning while winning,” said Coach Jim Conlon in his message to the Washington University women’s soccer team following their home opener against Carroll University on Friday afternoon. If the best way of learning includes winning, then the 10th ranked squad in the country has definitely learned a lot through three games.