A vital part of the highly successful athletic program at the University of Mary Washington, the women's soccer program has developed into one of the finest in all of NCAA Division III, and continues to strengthen that tradition. Over the past 17 years, the Eagles have advanced to 12 NCAA Tournaments, including in 1992, when they hosted the national championship.
More recently, the University of Mary Washington has advanced to seven of the past nine NCAA Division III Championships, posting an 8-7-3 record in the national tournament and a pair of regional titles over that span. In addition to all the success UMW has achieved in the NCAA Tournament, the Eagles also have thrived in the Capital Athletic Conference. The Eagles have won 13 of the 16 CAC Championships since the advent of the conference back in 1991.
Head coach Kurt Glaeser has been named as CAC Coach of the Year on seven occasions, and has also been named as NSCAA Regional Coach of the Year three times. The Eagles have had 12 players named as CAC Player of the Year, including in two of the past three seasons. The program has long been known on a national scale for success.
In addition to the team goals, the program has yielded eight All-Americans and numerous all-region and all-conference selections. The Eagles have posted a 260-94-34 record, good for a .717 winning percentage, in 20 years as a varsity program, which is one of the highest winning percentages in all of NCAA soccer. In addition, UMW has been ranked in the national top 25 final poll twelve times, including six top ten finishes.
The 2005 Eagles, featuring a roster that included a large senior and freshman class, won 12 games (achieving that number of wins for the 13th straight season), including several memorable victories. After dropping the season opener to nationally-ranked University of Rochester, the Eagles edged Ithaca College, 2-1 in overtime, with freshman Katie Patchett netting the game winner. A 2-1 overtime win over Eastern University in the home opener followed (with junior Jaclyn Gebbia providing the game winner on a give and go from midfield with Kristin Stankus.)
After dropping home games to nationally-ranked Moravian College and Messiah College, the Eagles began one of their patented win streaks, as they won their next eight games by a combined score of 28-0. Among the wins that highlighted the streak were shutouts over York College of PA, Salisbury University, and Christopher Newport University. Amy Kingsbury, Rachel Gerstein, and Alia Lanewala provided decisive goals in 1-0 wins during the streak.
After a scoreless tie with Catholic University in the regular season finale, the Eagles lost a coin flip and were slotted into the second seed in the CAC Tournament. After a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over Maryrnount in the quarterfinals (in which Kelley Hardgrove netted the game winner), the Eagles fell to York College, 3-2, marking the first time in program history that the Eagles lost to the Spartans. The loss also prevented the Eagles from reaching the CAC Championship for the first time in the 16-year history of the conference.
The loss of four key starting seniors - Jacqui Forsythe, Amy Kingsbury, Heather Hapeman and Sarah Campbell - will leave a void for the 2006 squad, which will depend on a strong class of newcomers and the off-season work put in by the returnees. All-CAC selections Jaclyn Gebbia, Margaret Vaccaro, Kristina Ashwell, and Hannah Pearson spearhead the Eagle attack, one that outscored its opponents, 39-14, in 2005, and recorded nine consecutive shutouts.
Pearson, along with Patchett, and Gebbia, return as the team's top three scorers from 2005. Lanewala, Megan Vaughan-Albert, Gerstein, Stankus and Lauren Harkness will provide depth at the midfield, and Vaccaro, Ashwell, and goalie Laura McCarthy provide experience defensively. Newcomers will again have every chance to earn starting roles, as Glaeser's philosophy of the best players playing despite their class continues.
The hunger of the returnees to reclaim the program's stronghold on the conference title, and the annual NCAA Tournament appearance that follows, will be the key to a return to national prominence in 2006 for Coach Glaeser's squad. With another challenging schedule that will see them play some of the top teams in the nation, another first-rate recruiting class will be needed to complement and improve the roster for 2006. An aggressive recruiting plan hopes to yield some of the top players from up and down the East Coast, and looks to push the Eagles back to the NCAA Final Four in 2006.