For the first 725 minutes of the season, no one scored on the Swarthmore College women’s soccer team. They opened with eight consecutive shutouts—the last squad across all three NCAA divisions to allow a goal in 2015.

Under the direction of longtime head coach Todd Anckaitis, Swarthmore made its deepest run in the NCAA Division III Tournament; set program single-season records with 18 wins, 83 goals, and 16 shutouts; and achieved its highest national ranking ever, reaching 10th in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll.

The Garnet’s success is not surprising. The Swarthmore women’s team qualified for last year’s NCAA Tournament as the Centennial Conference champion and has posted 10 consecutive winning seasons. 

“We walked onto that field from the first day of preseason knowing what our amazing team is capable of and wanting to prove it,” says senior captain Reba Magier ’16.

“We all knew our team was going to be talented during the spring,” adds senior captain Amanda Bosworth ’16. “We had a large number of returners and a skilled freshman class.”

That talent was on display in a 3-0 win over Rowan University Sept. 10. Rowan was one of the final 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament after beating Lynchburg, the 2014 national champion.

The program matched on-field success with its 11th straight NSCAA Team Academic Award, which recognizes teams that average a GPA of 3.0 or higher during the academic year. The women’s soccer team embodies the Division III mission by emphasizing both sides of the student-athlete equation.

“Our entire team understands that we are here to get an education and we are choosing to play competitive soccer at the same time,” says senior captain Emily Gale ’16. “This is something we are very proud of and will continue to work towards.”

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