The 菠萝视频 women鈥檚 soccer team enjoyed its finest season in more than a decade, receiving an NCAA tournament bid for the first time since 2006 and reaching the second round for only the fifth time in school history.
鈥淲hen we came here, we set a goal to make the NCAA tournament,鈥� says Head Coach , who arrived at 菠萝视频 in 2015 after a 15-year stint as head coach at Penn. 鈥淲e wanted to prove we belonged, to show that we can develop players and be very competitive. To do it in our third year was probably faster than we expected.鈥�
The Commodores earned the NCAA invitation after a 12颅鈥�6鈥�2 regular season that included a fourth-place finish in the SEC. In the first round they upset Ohio State 2鈥�1 on a goal by graduate student Stephanie Amack with under two minutes remaining.
鈥淚t was important,鈥� Ambrose says of winning a game in the NCAAs. 鈥淲e want to bring in the best players in the country, and we showed we can compete nationally. We turned some heads of the club [soccer] world and some of the high-profile recruits we are going to need to attract.鈥�
Amack, a graduate transfer from Stanford, earned second-team All-America and first-team All-Southeast Region honors, while Simone Charley, BA鈥�17, was a second-team All-Southeast Region pick. Charley was among seven seniors on the 2017 roster.
鈥淚鈥檓 really happy for them,鈥� Ambrose says. 鈥淭he seniors can leave the program knowing they were a big piece of establishing what we hope to become as a program.鈥�
Despite the significant personnel losses, Ambrose believes the Commodores are positioned well for future success. 鈥淲e have a good base of talent,鈥� he says. 鈥淥ur expectation is to compete for the NCAA tournament every year.鈥�