San Antonio, TX – The road was vastly different for the Messiah women's soccer team this season.
The result was very much the same.
Messiah claimed its second straight NCAA Division III National Championship behind a 1-0 win over Washington University-St. Louis Saturday afternoon at the Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio, Texas, concluding an impressive – if not competitive – run through NCAA Tournament play.
After outscoring their opponents by a 20-1 count in last year's NCAA Tournament, the Falcons put up just seven goals in their final five games this year, winning four contests by 1-0 scores – one of which coming in double-overtime.
Saturday's championship was a bit more of the same, as an early goal from senior Amanda Naeher stood for the duration, giving Messiah (25-0-1) its third title in program history.
“(This year's run) always felt on edge, and it had a different feel to it, no question,” said Scott Frey, Messiah head coach. “But I think we always felt that we were the team. That's the type of confidence we had. But the perception that it was easy last year? It's never easy. When you sit back and look at what this group has done, you realize that you need hard work and some breaks to go your way. And it happened for us.”
Early in Saturday's tilt against Washington-St. Louis, it appeared that Frey's club was on its way to a reproduction of last year's 5-0 win in the national championship game, as Messiah dominated both early possession and shot attempts against the Bears. The Falcons recorded eight of the game's first 10 shots over the course of just 20 minutes of game clock, and when junior Erin Hench had a breakaway opportunity just four minutes in, it seemed Messiah would claim a 1-0 lead before players had even broken a sweat.
Hench was taken down just steps outside the Wash-St. Louis 18-yard box by the Bears' final defender, however, and Messiah's ensuing free kick sailed just over the crossbar, averting near instant disaster for the designated visitors.
That dodged bullet would not keep the Falcons from piling on early chances, though, as just five minutes later it was senior Emily Cope getting into the Bears' defensive third, taking a nifty slip from junior Joanna Haqq before pushing a right-footed blast just wide of the far post from a flat angle.
“Messiah is a very, very good team, and we congratulate Scott Frey for putting together a nice game plan today,” said Jim Conlon, Washington head coach. “They put three forwards up high, and they had us on our heels.”
Frey's attack yielded the game's only goal just 12 minutes later, as senior Amy Horst took a throw-in on the left side, some 30 yards off the Bears' endline. Hench received Horst's pass and turned downfield, spotting Naeher a few paces behind and toward the center of the pitch.
Hench slipped a nice pass to Naeher, who took two touches while cutting her defender back to the middle. Naeher then fired a low, hard bouncer on frame, beating Washington freshman keeper Clara Jaques to the left from about 15 yards away.
“Our mentality is to attack and to go at teams, and that was our plan from the very beginning,” Frey said. “I thought our girls did a great job of that today, but Wash U. is a very good team. Their back row held it together. We tried to get that second goal to end it, but we just couldn't.”
Despite outshooting the Bears by a 16-6 count on the afternoon and placing seven shots on frame to Washington's one, Messiah could not tack on the equalizer through the remaining 66 minutes of action. Hench drew two more fouls in scoring territory during the game's second half, but both ensuing free kicks went begging, keeping Washington just one score away from knotting things up.
Most of the Bears' opportunities were provided by senior defender Libby Held, whose cannon for a right leg served as instant offense whenever (and wherever) Messiah was called for a foul. With 14:41 left in the first half, Frey's club got its first true look at Held's ability, as the senior blasted a serve into the Messiah box from some 45 yards away – an effort that was eventually scooped up by sophomore goalkeeper Autumn Reilly following a header attempt.
As the second period began, it was Messiah that again controlled the majority of play, but Washington proved aggressive: With Held's long ball ability and glimpses of quality interplay from the designated visitors, Frey said he never felt truly comfortable.
“I thought they were very dangerous in transition, and I thought their front three players were fantastic,” he said. “To their credit, they played some great soccer today, and it was a great match.”
Perhaps Washington's best opportunities came as the clock wore down in the second period, where the Bears looked for counter-attacking chances, slowly garnering their share of possession in the midfield.
A quality buildup put Messiah's back row in retreat mode with just 16:30 remaining, but sophomore Leah Sipe made a long run and slide tackled the ball to the sideline, killing the chance. With 1:45 remaining and the Bears pressing, Held again started a push with a restart blast, leading to senior Elyse Hanly getting in on the right side, firing a shot across the goal mouth from just yards off the endline.
Reilly was able to punch the ball away and out of danger, however, the ball eventually deflecting off a Washington player and harmlessly off the endline.
“Our team always plays 90 minutes, and it's a shame we couldn't get one,” the Bears' Held said afterward. “We fought back, but just didn't score the one we needed.”
Frey claimed that much of that had to do with his back four of senior Carey Cortese, sophomore Kelsey Gorman and juniors Molly Bletz and Katie Hoffsmith, as the group helped Messiah to its 19th shutout of the season – and fourth blanking of the NCAA Tournament.
“Our defense is the best defensive back row in the country, period,” Frey said. “I'll say that, and I'll take them against anybody. They've won two national titles in a row, that back four. They don't give anybody good looks. There's very few good looks by very good teams. They always keep us in the game. On a day like today, when we feel like we should score two or three and we don't? One's enough with our back row.”
As the game clock expired with Messiah controlling the ball in the Bears' defensive third, a smile slowly crossed Frey's face: The Falcons had collected back-to-back titles, becoming the seventh program in NCAA Division III women's soccer history to achieve the feat.
“We put so much work into this, there's nothing greater than this culmination,” Naeher said in the post-game press conference. “We really feel we did this as a group. And we had to (do this) as a group. Starting with our back four, they never stopped working, and they motivated us in the middle to never stop working, and Erin up top chasing people down never stopped working … there's just an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment, and some of that may have to do with the fact that we had to overcome a little bit more adversity than we did last year.”
Hench agreed.
“It wasn't just our starters, our bench worked their tails off every single day,” she said. “Including the girls who knew they weren't going to play (in the NCAAs due to roster size limitations). They still would go out and practice hard every day, knowing they weren't going to step on the field, but they'd do it for the ones who were.”
For senior Katlyn Musser – named the defensive player of the tournament – it's no concern if Messiah's journeys to the two championships were completely different or not.
“I'll take 1-0 wins or 5-0 wins, it doesn't matter,” she said. “I think we have confidence that we'll get it done, no matter what. If today's game went to overtime, I was sure we'd put another one away.”
Musser and Naeher were two of five seniors that capped utterly remarkable careers in Saturday's win, joining Cope, Cortese and Amy Horst with a career record of 90-4-4, including a 72-1-3 mark over the last three seasons.
The group's only defeat in that stretch came in a 1-0 loss to Wheaton College in the 2007 national championship game – a moment that obviously fueled a burning desire to complete an unprecedented two-year push.
“How do you put what this (senior) group has done into words?” Frey asked. “It's unbelievable. To win two national championships, go to three national championship games and four national semi-finals … every year we ask, 'how does it get better?' I don't know if it can get better. What they've done is upheld the tradition that they've stepped into, and shown what it takes. And I think that's probably the biggest legacy that they'll leave: They've shown us what it takes to compete.”
Naeher was named the offensive player of the tournament, while Hoffsmith and Horst joined her and Musser on the all-tournament team. Saturday's win capped the Falcons' seventh 'Final Four' appearance in the last eight years and 10th straight NCAA Tournament appearance – adding a golden trophy to last year's hardware along with that from the 2005 campaign.
After Messiah's men defeated Calvin College by a 2-0 in the men's national championship, the programs' third dual national championship was complete. Messiah remains as the only NCAA institution – regardless of level – to claim men's and women's soccer national championships in the same season.
“We're (the men's team's) biggest fans, and I think they're our biggest fans,” Naeher said. “There's no rivalry, just a desire to see each other succeed. These last two years have been amazing, to win it with them. I honestly can't describe it.”
