Sidney Conner News Today

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.

It may have taken 90 tense minutes and a little bit of help from division rivals, but after a stalemate in the regular season finale, the No. 2 Washington University women’s soccer team clinched the 2023 University Athletic Association (UAA) women’s soccer conference title with a 0-0 draw against conference rival University of Chicago. The Bears have now won eight of the last nine UAA titles.

With the victory, WashU handed the Violets their second loss of the season in a closely fought game, dropping them to 1-1 in University Athletic Association (UAA) conference play and bringing the Bears to 3-0.

As the team ranked 4th in the nation, Washington University women’s soccer was expected to handle its business this week. Through five games, the squad had shut out its opponents with a combined score of 23-0, so anything short of two dominant performances would’ve been disappointing.

“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.