Women's Sectional Previews: Northeast

By D3soccer.com Contributor

Third Round - Saturday

Quarterfinals - Sunday

Sectional Final, 1:00 pm ET

How they reached the Sweet 16

2015 Statistical Overview

William Smith Season Review

The Herons are the automatic qualifier from the Liberty League and are the league’s regular season champions for the ninth straight year. This year's seniors last lost a conference match in September 2012 to RPI and have a four year conference record of 31-1-0. Despite dominating the offensive statistics, William Smith lost their season opener at Wheaton (Ill.) 1-2 in the 105th minute of the double-overtime game. It remains their lone loss of the season meaning they are five minutes from being unbeaten entering the Sweet 16. With a draw with Messiah in the third match of the season, the Herons have a nineteen game unbeaten streak highlighted by a seventeen match winning streak.

Entering the tournament, William Smith had five contests against teams in the NCAA field. They went 1-1-1 against Wheaton (Ill), Messiah and Ithaca, respectively. They also defeated Liberty League member St. Lawrence, who made the tournament as an at-large selection, twice: once in regular conference play and again in the conference tournament championship match. As hosts, the Herons were untroubled in rounds one and two, winning comfortably over Penn State-Berks 3-0 and handing Roger Williams their first and only loss of their season, 5-1.

Brandeis Season Review

The Judges are one of the three UAA at-large selections in the 2015 tournament. Brandeis compiled a 3-3-2 conference record for fourth in the UAA behind No. 4 Washington U., No. 5 Carnegie Mellon and Chicago. They own a signature win, a 1-0 victory over the Wash U., one of the Bears' two blemishes on their season. The Judges defeated four other teams in the NCAA field during the regular season: Lasell, Lesley, Babson and Westfield State. Brandeis has earned its second-straight berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament and third for this year's seniors who advanced to the Elite 8 in 2012 where they fell to Misericordia 0-2. Last year they bowed out, once again, to Misericordia 1-2 in the second round.

Despite a dominating performance in their tournament opener, Brandeis could only convert one of their 27 shots for a narrow 1-0 victory that required a defensive clearance of the line to preserve the lead and shutout. It would get even more nervy the next day as a 1-1 draw in an even-battle with host Amherst was decided by penalty kick shootout where two consecutive saves by Alexis Grossman after trailing 1-0 enabled Brandeis to advance. The Judges enter the Sweet 16 on the back of a stout defense. They have recorded 13 shutouts to date trailing in Brandeis history only the 14 posted by their 2012 Elite 8 team. Their goals allowed and 0.41 goals-against average are projecting to be all time Brandeis records.

Williams Season Review

The Ephs have been on a tear over the last two seasons highlighted by their run to the 2014 championship match. They are now a combined 39-2-3 overall for the two years as they enter the Sweet 16 for the third time in a row. Both years they won the NESCAC regular season titles with identical 9-1-0 records. Williams has been to the NESCAC championship match nine consecutive years, winning five, but had not lifted the trophy in either of the last two seasons. This year they broke that unwelcome streak with a 2-0 result over Bowdoin to earn the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

In the regular season, Williams was a perfect 4-0-0 over teams (Springfield, Amherst and Bowdoin twice) in the NCAA field. That perfection continued with a pair of 3-0 home wins in the opening rounds of the tournament. They outshot Westfield State 41-1 to get things started and then comfortably dismissed TCNJ who limped into the tournament with a 1-3-1 mark in their last five games.

Stevens Season Review

Stevens finished 2014 on an upswing as they claimed the ECAC Division III Metro/Upstate Women’s Soccer Championship. They built on that success improving from 14-7-0 in 2014 to 18-3-1 this season overall and finished atop the Empire 8 table with a 7-0-1 mark. Along the way, the Ducks hit a major milestone capturing the program’s 250th win on October 24, 7-1 over Utica College. They earned the conference’s automatic ticket to the big dance by defeating Ithaca in E8 tournament championship. It's not the first time that a team missing out on the NCAA tournament has used an ECAC regional championship as a springboard to NCAA qualification and success the following year.

Stevens compiled a 3-1-1 record against NCAA tournament participants with wins over Montclair State, TCNJ and a loss to undefeated Messiah to go along with a draw and a win over conference foe, Ithaca. Steven’s offensive firepower—they are the highest scoring team in the sectional—was evident opening weekend of the tournament as the Ducks jumped in front 2-0 within twenty minutes in both matches as they cruised to 5-0 and 4-1 victories on their home turf against Lesley and Bowdoin, respectively.

Head Coaches

Seniors' 4-year Record (through Nov. 15)

Tournament Experience

William Smith is the headliner in this sectional with a long and highly successful history in the NCAA tournament. They are tied with Ithaca for the most appearances all time at 26, including nine consecutive starting in 2007. They rank fourth in the 2015 field in tournament victories with a now 47-19-8 record including this year's early rounds. And of course, they have four appearances in the championship match, winning in 1998 and just two years ago in 2013. Williams also has an impressive history including 17 all-time appearances and match William Smith with nine consecutive trips. After last weekend they have an all time tournament mark of 28-15-4 featuring last year's run to the championship match. While Brandeis and Stevens cannot match those impressive histories, the vast majority of other Division III schools would love to have both their long term and recent tournament experiences. Brandeis has been in the tournament five times overall and three of the last four years which includes a 2012 Elite 8 appearance. They carry a winning record in the tournament currently standing at 5-4-1. This is the first time participating in the tournament for Stevens since 2011 but they have been in the field eight times in total and with victories in the first two rounds now have a 7-6-2 record all time. With that, all four teams in this section have winning NCAA tournament marks

Players to Watch

William Smith: F Kara Shue (Jr.) – 7g, 11a, 3 GWG (2x 1st Team All-Liberty League, 2014 2nd Team All-Region) | F Krista Longo (Sr.) – 14g, 4a, 5 GWG (Liberty League Off. POY, 2014 3rd Team All-Region) | D Zoe Jackson Gibson (Sr.) (2x Liberty League Def. POY, 2014 D3soccer.com 3rd Team All-American) | M Brie Ruane (Jr.) – 10g, 5a, 3 GWG (1st Team All-Liberty League)

Brandeis: M Holly Szafran (Sr.) – 6g, 4a, 3 GWG (2nd Team All-UAA) | M Mathilde Robinson (Sr.) (2x 1st Team All-UAA) | GK Alexis Grossman (Jr.) – .848 Sv. Pct., 0.36 GAA, 11 ShO (GAA and ShO are Brandeis all-time records)

Williams: F Kristi Kirshe (Jr.) – 12g , 7a, 5 GWG (2x 1st Team All-NESCAC , 2014 2nd Team All-American) | F Audrey Thomas (Jr.) – 11g, 4a, 5 GWG (2x 1st Team All-NESCAC, 2014 2nd Team All-Region) | M Mai Mitsuyama (Sr.) (3x 1st Team All-NESCAC, 2014 D3soccer.com 3rd Team All-American) | M Maddie Swarr (Jr.) (1st Team All-NESCAC)

Stevens: F Raba Nassif (Jr.) – 19g, 19a, 4 GWG (E8 Off. POY, 3x 1st Team All-E8) | F Zisi Komar (Fr.) – 20g, 10a, 8 GWG (E8 Rookie of the Year, 2nd Team All-E8) | M Carly Bean (Sr.) – 6g, 5a (1st Team All-E8) | D Bella Romano (Sr.)

Tournament Re-Matches

There have been no contests between any of these schools in 2014 and 2015 before these sectional games. Early in the 2013 regular season William Smith downed Stevens 6-2 at the TCNJ tournament. The only NCAA tournament match in recent times was in the 2011 Elite 8 when William Smith knocked Williams out 4-0.

Why they will advance to the Final Four

William Smith: The question should be, "why won't they"? The Herons are on a massive unbeaten streak, have an explosive offense, an impenetrable defense, experience with the vagaries of November weather on the shores of Seneca Lake and, of course, several players from the 2013 title run. The Herons are going to Kansas City.

Brandeis: There are studies that show soccer has a higher frequency of upsets than any other major sport. With their earlier victory over highly ranked Wash U., the Judges have shown they can spring an upset. With the confidence that knowledge brings, they take down another top five squad and advance to face the Williams / Stevens winner who prove unable to overcome the karma lifting Brandeis to the Final Four.

Williams: Quality depth with long term winning habits sends upstart rookie Stevens home. Highly motivated to return to the Final Four and capture the championship that barely eluded them in 2014, the Ephs push past the William Smith / Brandeis winner and punch their ticket to K.C.

Stevens: Looking at the competition it would seem that the Ducks are a year ahead of schedule but their Cinderella story continues. They have been putting the ball in the back of the net at an impressive and seemingly accelerating rate. The Eph's strong defense breaks down twice and the offense cannot generate enough pressure to equalize. In the Elite 8 match the Ducks score the winner late against an exhausted winner of the William Smith / Brandeis battle which was settled the day before in PK's.

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