The Saint Anselm women’s soccer team received the program’s first ever bid to the NCAA Division II tournament on Monday night, November 15. The Hawks are the #4-seed in the East Regional, set to play #5-seeded Jefferson in Albany, New York on November 19 at 1pm. 

The Hawks had an incredibly successful season with a very strong overall record of 10-6-1. Some major reasons for their success have been their unbreakable team chemistry and their impressive work ethic.

“I am blessed to be on a team as close and fun as this one. Being able to lead as a captain is a whole different blessing. In other words, this team means the world to me,” said Senior captain midfielder, Marissa Greene. 

“There is so much talent on this team and every girl on the team has their own role that has made us so successful this year. Everyone on the team pushes each other to be the best they can, and I think that’s a big reason why we have been so good this year. Everyone on the team is so competitive, and it makes the team better,” added Sophomore forward, Kathryn Costello. 

A huge motivating factor for this team was experiencing a full season, after the disappointment of not being able to play last year. “It was tough not having a season last year, and it sort of inhibited us from becoming as close as I would have liked. This year it’s been completely different, and I think we all have a mutual understanding that we are much more than teammates. Everyone’s love for the game is strong, but our love for each other is even stronger. It’s the reason I believe we are in the spot we are today. I wouldn’t want my career to end with any other team,” said Greene.  

The Hawks recently just wrapped up their NE-10 playoffs, coming up short to #8 nationally ranked Saint Rose in the semifinals. Despite their loss, the Hawks have shifted their focus and been hard at work, preparing for the NCAA tournament.  

“A huge goal for us was to win the NE-10 and to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Although we fell short of winning the NE-10, we still finished with a good record and continued to climb the rankings for most of the season. Not to mention we made it to the NE-10 semifinals, which is the farthest the seniors have made it in this program. Qualifying for the NCAA tournament is an unbelievable accomplishment, one that nobody before us has ever done. I am so incredibly proud of the team for what we have managed to accomplish this season,” said Greene.

The Saint Anselm women’s soccer team has trained hard in practices all season, and their hard work has really paid off, as they’ve continued to improve and make history for this program. 

“A big part of our success this year came from all of the possession drills we would do at practice. Our statistics of the amount of time we possessed the ball during games were drastically better than our opponents…Another focus was just being a competitive team. We started playing competitions during practices and keeping track of our scores. We even played rugby and girls were on the ground fighting for the ball. It helped us be competitive during practices and it showed in our play,” said Costello. 

“As a team I think we’ve grown to not be so timid with our opponents and rise to the occasion. I think we really surprised a lot of teams this year, especially SNHU. They were number one in the rankings and had only one loss, and we were able to beat them 1-0. That was one of the best games our team has ever played, against an opponent who was very talented, and we were able to come out strong and get the result,” said Greene.

Along with practice, keeping a positive attitude and remaining poised are also both essential for being successful in sports. And the women’s soccer team has really excelled at bringing a positive mentality to practices and games each and every day.   

“We have persisted through a lot this season as a team together. We are always able to come together when we are struggling during games and figure out what we need to do in order to win. It’s important to have a strong mindset like this, especially in the NCAA tournament,” said Costello. 

“After every loss, the team was always really good at picking each other up and making sure we were looking forward and preparing for our next opponent. I think we are a positive team in general, and we all truly believed we could beat anyone as long as we stuck together and went into every game giving it everything we had,” said Greene.