For the first time in more than a decade, the Penn State women's soccer team ended with a first-round loss in the NCAA tournament.
Perhaps this was a fitting end to a season that was filled with firsts for the program, though not all were good. Even with a disappointing end to the season, coach Erica Walsh remains excited about what next season holds.
"This team faced about as much adversity as any team I've been a part of, whether we're losing players to World Cups or a couple of early losses," Walsh said. "They're a team that's 26 players strong and I'm just really proud of what they've done this season."
The Lions finished with a 16-8 record, the first time ever the team recorded eight losses. Most of the defeats came in the team's non-conference slate, when Penn State played No. 6 Florida State, No. 3 Portland and No. 1 Notre Dame, all at home.
These three losses, plus a late-season defeat to Ohio State, meant the Lions lost more games on Jeffrey Field than any other season. The loss to the Buckeyes also marked the first time since 1995 that Penn State dropped a conference home game.
"It's upsetting. It's definitely upsetting," sophomore forward Dani Toney said after the Ohio State match. "We never want to lose on Jeffrey."
Despite all that went wrong in the season, Walsh remained positive looking back on her second season at the helm. After losing in double overtime to Rutgers in the first round of the NCAA tournament -- the Lions' earliest exit since 1997 -- Walsh huddled the players up and told them she was proud of how far they'd come.
"She really made us realize how proud we were of our accomplishments and our season," junior forward Katie Schoepfer said. "And we started to look back and realize what we did."
Penn State claimed its 11th consecutive Big Ten title, going 8-2 in conference play and moving to within one behind Michigan women's swimming and diving team for first all-time in consecutive Big Ten championships.
The Lions also won the Big Ten tournament, avenging an earlier loss to Michigan State along the way. It was Penn State's fifth tournament title and its second in three years.
This season also saw the solidification of Schoepfer and Toney as a dynamic scoring duo. The tandem finished first and second in almost every offensive statistical category, with Schoepfer leading with 11 goals and Toney dishing out a team-high seven assists.
Penn State also saw significant input from its freshmen, which made up almost half of the team. Defender Emma Thomson and midfielders Jess Rosenbluth and Meghan Gill played in nearly every game this season, and goalkeeper Krissy Tribbett allowed only two goals in seven games filling in for Alyssa Naeher, who played throughout the season with the United States under-20 World Cup team.
Although the team will feel the loss of graduating seniors Jessie Davis and Zoe Bouchelle, Walsh expects the class of 2010 to lead the team deeper into November next year. Juniors like Schoepfer, defender Maura Ryan and Naeher, who led the Big Ten with 90 saves, should be ready to step into the leadership roles left behind by Davis and Bouchelle.
"Obviously next year we're looking at having an extremely good senior class and I think, if you look around the country and you look at the best teams, you're looking at very senior-laden teams," Walsh said. "Certainly since this junior class came in as freshmen, I think everybody in the program was waiting for these guys to be seniors and I kind of felt like the sky's the limit for this group."
