High fives for history-making women’s soccer team
Women’s soccer put together a historic season that culminated with a trip to the NCAA Tournament last fall.
The 2021 team wrote its name all over program history. They won the Midwest Conference Tournament title with a brilliant shootout win over Knox College to secure the first league tournament championship in program history. With that win, the Bucs punched their first ticket to the NCAA Division III tournament.
Before making their debut, four Bucs, including Natalie Ortiz’24, Makenna Downing’22, Lauryn Volza’25, and Audrey Ketterer’23, were named All-Midwest Conference, making up the largest Beloit contingent to be named all-league since the early 1990s. Additionally, Connor McKee became Beloit’s third head coach of women’s soccer to earn MWC Coach of the Year honors.
The Bucs’ defense also set several program records along the way, including fewest goals allowed in a season (16) and lowest goals against average (.84). The individual goals against average for the three Beloit goalies in the usual rotation take over the top three spots in the program record book.
The team’s phenomenal run came to an end Nov. 13 with a 4-0 tournament loss to host Washington University in St. Louis.
Credit: Jeff Curry
