Women’s soccer (5-9-4, 2-7-1 Atlantic 10) concluded its season Sunday with a 4-0 loss to Fordham (10-6-2, 5-4-1 A-10), finishing 12th in the conference to finish one spot ahead of its 2024 conference standing.
The Revolutionaries’ final match highlighted one of the team’s recurring struggles this season — a failure to build a consistent attack, which resulted in the team securing just two conference wins. In an interview at the start of the season, second year Head Coach Jeremy Williams identified qualifying for the Atlantic 10 conference tournament as the team’s main goal, but the Revolutionaries fell short of the mark.
The Revs in the first half of Sunday’s contest found themselves outmatched, conceding 17 shots, two of which found the back of the net in the 20th and 36th minutes, while registering only three shots. The Revs were more competitive in the second half — registering seven shots compared to the Rams’ 10 — but the scoreline doubled regardless after the Rams scored in the 45th and 48th minutes.
The team this season has again struggled to replicate their pre-COVID form, when they won 10 or more total games per season from 2014 to 2019. Since the pandemic, the Revs haven’t had a 10-win season.
The Revs slightly surpassed expectations set by the conference coaches, who picked them to finish one spot lower at 13th in the A-10 preseason poll released in August. This season marks the team’s third consecutive losing record, though it showed a slight improvement over the previous two seasons, when the Revs finished with an overall record of 4-11-3.
The Revs this season started off slightly better in non-conference play, holding a winning record of 3-2-3 going into their first conference game against George Mason. But once the A-10 conference season began in late September, their slump began, only earning one win in their first seven conference matches as they struggled to defend against the tougher competition.
The rut began during their first conference game on Sept. 20 against rival George Mason, when the Patriots outscored the Revs 2–1, aided by a second-half penalty kick. The Revs’ first conference win came two weeks later on Oct. 5, a 3–2 victory over St. Bonaventure.
They then suffered back-to-back defeats to La Salle on Oct. 11 and Rhode Island on Oct. 16, conceding a combined 10 goals in 5-1 and 5-0 defeats respectively.
Following a 1-1 result against Richmond on Oct. 19, they earned a surprise win against Davidson 2-1 on Oct. 23. Junior forward Kate McGrath opened the score in the 20th minute for the Revs. Redshirt freshman forward Kathleen Ngulefac would then go on to double the Revs’ advantage in the 55th minute.
Throughout the season, the Revs struggled in attack, scoring just 20 goals, lacking a true goalscorer they could turn to. The top scorers, graduate midfielder Elizabeth Cruz, McGrath and Ngulefac, had 3 goals each to their name.
Despite troubles in scoring the ball, the Revs’ attack was serviceable at creating chances, with sophomore forward Kalia Kau and graduate defender Amelia Booth holding four assists throughout the season.
The Revs also had difficulty keeping the ball out of their own net, allowing 38 goals — 2.11 goals per game — and only holding two clean sheets against American and Howard universities early in the season.
Coming from Sydney, Australia, freshman goalkeeper Jasmine Black started her first collegiate match against Rhode Island, giving up five goals and saving three shots. She started the remaining three matches of the season as well, replacing sophomore Kate Silverstein who started the first 14 matches in net for the Revs.
Black expressed excitement in August about playing in the States before taking over the starting role later in the season. She held a 0.667 save percentage in the seven games she played in, coming up with a career-high 11 saves in the season finale against Fordham.
The Revs’ record away from home (3-3-3) was better than their record at home (2-6-1), scoring at least one goal in every away game. At home, they failed to score on four separate occasions, highlighting their offensive struggles this season.
Despite early optimism to qualify for the A-10 tournament and a mixed start during the non-conference season, the conference gauntlet proved too much for the Revs, as their struggles lasted through this season.
