WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – With a school-record 12 wins, the Lycoming College women's soccer team will step into the postseason for the first time in the program's 29 years when it heads to No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology as the No. 3-seed in the MAC Freedom Championship semifinal on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m.
 
The Warriors (12-5-2 overall, 5-3 MAC Freedom), ranked eighth in the latest United Soccer Coaches' Region IV poll, are facing a Stevens' team that is ranked seventh, while sixth-ranked and No. 4-seed DeSales takes on the nation's top-ranked team, Misericordia, in the other semifinal. The championship game is set for Saturday, Nov. 5, at the highest remaining seed.
 
Admission to each round of the championship has the following ticket prices:
Adults - $5
Senior Citizens - $4
Students (valid ID) & Children - $2
Pre-school (under 6) with Adult – FREE
 
The 2022 MAC Freedom Women's Soccer Championship merchandise is available now on SquadLocker. Fans can order their MAC Championship gear and have it shipped directly to their homes. Available merchandise includes casual and performance t-shirts (short- and long-sleeve), tank-tops, sweatshirts, hoodies and more. There will be no merchandise sold at the site of competition. Order now here.
 
The Warriors have come tantalizingly close to reaching the postseason many times in the program's 29-year history, but it wasn't until a 1-0 win over DeSales on Oct. 22 that the team finally clinched a spot in the conference tournament. The 1997 and 1998 teams finished third in the Freedom League under head coach Jack Shafer in the days when only two teams from the Freedom and the Commonwealth League's entered a combined MAC Championship. The 2001 and 2004 teams finished fifth in the Freedom Conference, one slot out of the conference tournament and the 2008 team actually finished tied for fourth in the MAC Commonwealth under head coach Joe Balduino, but Arcadia earned the tiebreaker thanks to a win over third-seeded Elizabethtown. The 2021 team won three conference games, the most in 16 years, but came up a point short of reaching the tournament, behind FDU-Florham and Wilkes.
 
Lycoming has used a rather balanced scoring attack, averaging 1.68 goals per game while the defense has played consistently, posting a 1.12 goals-against average, the third-best in program history, and recorded a school-record 11 shutouts.
 
The consistent performance has turned heads, as the team has earned the program's first regional ranking from both the United Soccer Coaches and the NCAA (fifth in the second Region IV rankings). The team also beat regionally-ranked teams during the year, including both DeSales and Stevens, helping them finish with a school-record five conference wins this year.
 
Sixth-year head coach Kenny Fern, a Glasgow, Scotland native, has overseen the consistent growth in the program, as the program's longest-tenured and winningest coach, taking the team from two wins in 2018 to the record 12 this year, having led the team 10-win campaigns in each of the last three seasons (2019, 2021, 2022), with 2020 cancelled due to the pandemic.
 
At the heart of the team's renaissance has been the seven-member senior class, that includes a pair of midfielders that have developed into two of the most talented players in program history in Bella Green (South Williamsport, Pa./South Williamsport Area), who decided to come to her hometown school, Lycoming in August after signing an NLI at a Division II school, and Bridget Maaloum (Lynbrook, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy), and a quartet of defenders that have grown into key cogs in the team's game plan in center back Emily Mort (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg Area), Kylie Magaro (Enola, Pa./East Pennsboro), Evelyn Cronise (Pasadena, Md./Northeast) and Madison Wineburg (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville Area). Rorie Bass Foresman (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) has helped solidify a young group of forwards.
 
Eleven players have scored and maybe more impressively, 14 have at least one assist, and the team's 32 goals and 26 assists shows that the Warriors' selflessness has been key in their offensive opportunities. The team's depth has also been a key factor, as Fern has turned to up to 22 players in the 2-1 win over Juniata on Wednesday, while also playing as few as 15 in the 1-0 win over DeSales that clinched the team's playoff slot on Oct. 22.
 
While the four seniors have been key to the team's success defensively, it has also gotten the benefit of sophomores Haley Schafer (Camden, Del./Caesar Rodney) and Madison Maihle (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore Area) and junior Taylor Snyder (Milton, Pa./Milton Area), who have all stepped into larger roles.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Abbey Gerasimoff (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg) stepped into the starting role for the first time and has provided a school-record eight shutouts, plus she has saved 81 percent of shots that she has faced this year.