{"id":118313,"date":"2025-09-04T03:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T03:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/118313\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T03:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T03:19:11","slug":"womens-soccer-kicks-off-season-with-3-1-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/118313\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s soccer kicks off season with 3-1 record"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a magical run from 2019 to 2023, during which the women\u2019s soccer team clinched four consecutive Ivy League titles and posted an impeccable conference record of 25-0-2, last year\u2019s overall 7-5-5 season showed that the team was mortal after all. But with the fall semester picking up again, the Bears are back and aiming to succeed where they faltered a year ago.<\/p>\n

Four games into the season, Brown (3-1) has already picked up three victories, besting the University of New Haven (0-2), the University of Rhode Island (4-1) and the University of Connecticut (1-2-1).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team came into preseason in a really good place from a fitness, and general health standpoint,\u201d Head Coach Kia McNeill wrote in an email to The Herald. That \u201callowed us to hit the ground running as a coaching staff to immediately start talking about our core pillars and (the) overall DNA of our program.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, the Bears took the pitch for the first time without the star-studded trio of Sheyenne Allen \u201923.5, Ava Seelenfreund \u201923.5 and three-time All-American Brittany Raphino \u201923.5, the latter two of whom now play professionally in Portugal. Allen played in Portugal for a season and now plays for Fort Lauderdale United Football Club.<\/p>\n

With a sizable portion of the team graduating the year prior, last year\u2019s squad was incredibly young, McNeill explained. But \u201cthis year, you can just tell that we have a bit more maturity and leadership on the field,\u201d she wrote. \u201cA lot of freshmen got experience in meaningful games last season, and I think that experience is already paying off for them as sophomores in terms of the impact, focus and confidence they are bringing to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears dominated their season opener against New Haven. Joy Okonye \u201927 was a master set-piece taker, scoring twice on free kicks. She slotted her first goal in the bottom corner in the 33rd minute, and after Ayla Sahin \u201928 scored a goal to start the second half, Okonye netted her second free kick to cement the 3-0 victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur success has come from the work we\u2019ve been putting in as a group since preseason,\u201d Sahin wrote in a message to The Herald. \u201cWe\u2019re really focused on playing for each other, and when we connect and play our style, the chances come naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown carried this momentum into the second game of the season: the home opener against URI. In a heavily contested affair, the Bears fought their way to a well-deserved 3-2 victory.<\/p>\n

Beneath the lights at Stevenson-Pincince Field, senior captain Naya Cardoza \u201926 made quick work of the Rams\u2019 defense, scoring the first goal of the game less than six minutes into the contest. Ella Weil \u201928 built on that effort, scoring 13 minutes later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite giving up a goal to round out the first half, the Bears came back swinging in the second, with Sahin scoring the third goal. Under pressure from URI, who netted another goal of their own in the 75th minute, Brown stood strong, walking away with the victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a dog fight, and we knew it would be, but it\u2019s good to scrap out that win,\u201d McNeill wrote in a message to Brown Athletics<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re a team that wants to be multi-dimensional in that attack \u2014 we want to be dangerous on set pieces, but we also want to be dangerous in the run of play \u2026 definitely something to build off of going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concluding the three-game debut, Brown picked up a 1-0 victory over Connecticut last week. For the third game in a row, Sahin put on the afterburners to torch the opposing defense and find the back of the net. On Tuesday, she was named the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s got unbelievable pace,\u201d McNeill wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge weapon for us, getting behind defenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI came into this season wanting to be a more dominant player and really show how I have developed since last season,\u201d Sahin wrote. \u201cMy teammates have done a great job creating opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

But after a picture-perfect start, the Bears tasted defeat for the first time this season on Monday night. After conceding an early goal, Brown was unable to overcome the deficit and lost 2-0 to nationally ranked University of Minnesota (4-1).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started the game a bit slow, and in that time we gave up a goal, which had us chasing \u2026 for the rest of the game,\u201d McNeill explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had 4 games in 11 days, so I think rest and recovery is important,\u201d McNeill wrote after the loss, describing the team\u2019s plans to watch film and plan for their next match on Thursday night against Northeastern University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis group is resilient so this loss is only going to make us stronger as a team which is exactly what we want as we continue to build to Ivy League play,\u201d she concluded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cOur mentality is really strong heading into Thursday,\u201d Sahin wrote. \u201cLosses are part of being an athlete: They test you, but they also make you stronger. I know our team will use this as motivation to keep pushing forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lydell Dyer<\/p>\n

Lydell Dyer is a sports editor for The Herald. A junior hailing from Bonn, Germany, Lydell is studying nonfiction English and political science, and if he’s not off “making words sound pretty,” you can find him lifting heavy circles at the Nelson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a magical run from 2019 to 2023, during which the women\u2019s soccer team clinched four consecutive Ivy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-118313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}