A penalty shootout spelled the end for the NYU women’s soccer team this season, handing the Violets an unexpected first-round exit in the NCAA Division III tournament.
“Walking up to that line, they had four [shootout goals], we had three,” senior midfielder and captain Rena Kalargiros told WSN about the team’s Nov. 15 game against Wesleyan University. “I practiced what I was gonna do a million times that week, and it just hit off the crossbar, and I was in shock for a moment. It didn’t really process to me, what had just happened.”
After a tumultuous fall season that ended in a 9-4-6 record, the team is relying on its tight bond to push through the loss and onto the next year, along with head coach Scott Waddell’s mentality for what makes a successful game — putting in effort, supporting each other and having fun.
Even before they hit the field, the Violets had heavy shoes to fill — 12 seniors graduated after last season, including seven starters and the program’s all-time leading scorer, Kelli Keady. Taking their place were 13 new members, made up of eight first-years and five transfer students.
The team took to the challenge of a new roster with ease, securing a 6-0 road win against Mount Saint Mary College in its first game back. The following 10 matches improved the Violets to an 8-2-1 record heading into the stretch of conference games that made up the back half of the season.
The first-years, guided by the team’s senior members, didn’t shy away from the competitive landscape of collegiate athletics.
“I think we meshed pretty well,” first-year goalkeeper Maddy Tohanczyn said. “At some points, we had up to four freshmen consistently playing or starting. We definitely contributed our part, and the team was so welcoming and made it that much easier to mesh with them.”
Among the team’s early wins was a staggering 11-0 shutout against John Jay College. Junior midfielder and transfer from Fordham University Sari Frankl scored a hat trick, her only one of the season, and junior forward from the University of Miami Sonia Neighbors made two goals and assisted on a third. John Jay managed just one shot in the entire game, suffering its second loss of the season.
The Violets’ momentum halted to a stop when UAA play began in early October. NYU faced a foreboding schedule — as of the Sept. 30 United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll, the last before NYU faced off against its first conference opponent, all eight members were ranked in the top 25. NYU was last on the list.
“The UAA is, without a doubt, the most competitive conference,” Waddell told WSN. “Sometimes the margins are very thin. We just try to focus on working as hard as we can, and keep moving forward.”
Opening UAA competition with a 3-2 loss against the University of Chicago, the Violets stayed competitive through the game, earning five shots on goal, and sophomore goalkeeper Mia Capo’s four saves kept it close in Chicago.
NYU’s toughest matchup was against the No. 1-ranked Washington University in St. Louis, which held the Violets to just three shots. The team ultimately lost 3-1, but made the few attempts count, finding a way to score against WashU’s overpowering defense.
“Once you reach UAA, you start to realize that you just have to take the loss — you learn what you can, and you move to the next game and you do even better,” Tohanczyn said. “That helped us at least make it through 110 minutes against Wesleyan, which I don’t think we would have at the beginning of the season.”
The team’s sole win during UAA play came against Carnegie Mellon University. Despite the fact that the Tartans outshot the Violets 17-4, none of the attempts landed. NYU, on the other hand, capitalized on both its shots on goal to claim a victory on the home field.
“The program is resilient by nature,” Waddell said. “Things don’t always go our way, and that’s just a part of our journey. We’ve always focused on trying to be the best every single day, and working really, really hard and controlling the things that we can control.”
On Senior Day, NYU fell 1-0 to Brandeis University, despite holding majority possession and seeing a strong defensive show from the team’s midfielders. The loss could have brought an end to the team’s season, but the Violets earned an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament shortly after, entering at No. 21. The second chance marked team’s highest point this year — but was almost immediately followed by its most heartbreaking loss.
In the first-round match against Wesleyan University, senior defender and captain Elizabeth Argenziano broke the game’s scoring drought three minutes into the second half. At that point, the team’s energy was electric. Wesleyan followed suit shortly after, but six saves from Tohanczyn forced the game into extra time, and eventually a shootout. Tohanczyn played all 110 minutes, stepping out to let sophomore Demetra Sideridis defend the net during penalty kicks.
After three converted penalties from NYU and four from Wesleyan, Kalargiros’ ball hit the crossbars, cutting short the Violets’ tournament hopes.
“We kind of knew as a whole team, this is definitely a winnable game,” Kalargiros said. “We should be able to put it in the back of the net and move on.”
The early exit sets NYU two steps back from its prior progress under Waddell — who led the Violets to the Sweet 16 round of the tournament in his first two years in the program — but it doesn’t define the team, nor its coaching staff. He credits the senior captains for the team’s strength in the face of the season’s lows: Kalargiros puts 110% into everything she does; Argenziano is versatile on the field, hammering out goals for the Violets; senior forwards Hunter Hoelscher and Yukino Wakatsuki make up the heart and soul of the team.
“You adapt, you just keep learning,” Tohanczyn said. “Every single person on this team brings their own skills and knowledge, and we’re all learning from each other. You just keep going, and have four years to do that.”
Contact Kiran Komanduri at [email protected].