Coming off its best season ever in 1997, the easy thing tor this fall's Mary Washington College women's soccer team to do would have been to rest on its laurels. Instead, the Eagles repeated the magic, finishing with a birth in the NCAA National Quarterfinals for the second straight year and a bold 17-2-2 record, bringing their two-year mark in 1997-98 to a gaudy 35-4-4. (.860 winning percentage) Along the way, the Eagles defeated national powers such as the College of New Jersey (3-1), and Elizabethtown College (3-0), won the Capital Athletic Conference title for the seventh time in eight seasons, and won the NCAA Division III South Region title for the second time in as many years. Success has become the norm at MWC, with the Eagles advancing to the NCAA Tournament seven times in the past ten years. Also becoming a tradition is success in the tournament, as the Eagles boast seven victories in the National Championships over that span.
The Eagles of '98 were characterized by the best offense the school has yet seen, including five players with twenty-plus points, as well as a stifling defense that allowed opponents few shots at goal. Heading the charge was All-America and CAC Player of the Year, rising senior captain Johanna Klein. Klein was among the nation's leaders in assists, with 15, and tied for the team lead with eleven goals. Rising junior Laura Stafford scored ten goals and added seven assists en route to All-CAC and All-South Region honors, while all-conference and all-region selection Ellen Anderson scored nine goals and tallied six assists. The emergence of rising junior Martine St. Germain (nine goals, four assists) toward the end of the season provided an offensive charge into a unit that shattered the school record for goals in a season, with 77 (eclipsing the old record by ten goals). Other offensive contributors returning for 1999 include rising senior captain Leah Phillips (three goals, three assists), junior Sarah Zelenak, and rising sophomores Bridget White, Giselle Guarino, Anile Bryce and Lisa Germano.
The Eagles will look to remain among the nation's elite in 1999, with the loss of just two seniors, all-stare selection Kristen Mercer and defender Stephanie Whichard. Mercer scored a team-high eleven goals and added four assists in her final collegiate campaign, while also achieving Academic All-America status with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Whichard became one of MWC's top defenders in '98, exhibiting a quick, physical style that limited her marks opportunities to score.
Among the defenders that will return to the fold for 1999 include All-Capital Athletic Conference defenders Sarah Downey and Rebecca Vaccaro, who helped in limiting five MWC opponents to five shots or less in a game. Also back is junior Sara Andersen, who missed the entire 1998 season with a knee injury, as well as captain Jill Stecher and Brooke and Colby Carrier. Sophomores Meghan Salo and Shari Krug round out a unit that allowed more than one goal in a game only four times in 21 games.
Rising sophomore goalkeeper Katy Cohen improved steadily through her freshman season, registering a minuscule 0.63 goals-against average and eleven shutouts. In a season full of memorable moments, several in particular stand out, including back-to-back wins in as many days over fifth-ranked College of New Jersey and 1997 Final-Four team Elizabethtown College; an eleven-goal outburst against Methodist College on Homecoming; and a triple-overtime win over Salisbury State University for MWC's fourth straight conference title.
After dropping the second game of the season, the Eagles reeled off nine straight wins, before a scoreless tie interrupted the winning streak. Rather than become despondent from the tie, MWC responded by scoring eleven goals in the next game, follwed by nine-goal outputs against .Marymount and Catholic, the team they had earlier tied. But perhaps the Eagles' most dramatic moments came in the NCAA South Regional Tournament, where the Eagles first squandered a two-goal lead only to score in the final minutes to defeat Lynchburg, 3-2; in the serninals, then defeated Emory University in penalty kicks, 3-1, to claim the region title.
After a 1-1 tie through four overtimes, Coach Glaeser called upon backup goalkeeper Colby Carrier to appear for only the third time all season in the kicks, and Carrier responded by stopping three of Emory's four shots to clinch the championship, sending the Eagles to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the second time in as many years. When the dust had settled, MWC had put the finishing touches on a season which saw an unprecedented 18-match unbeaten streak, a school-record 77 goals scored, and numerous post-season awards, including a national post-season ranking of #6 in the nation.