The Women’s soccer team of Saint Leo University had a big regular season, winning the Sunshine State Conference’s regular season title as well as the conference tournament. Finishing with a record of 13 wins, 3 losses and 1 tie, the team entered the NCAA division two women’s soccer national tournament as the seventh ranked team in the country, and a favorite to have a deep run.
Unfortunately, that’s where the season ended for Saint Leo, falling to the sixteenth ranked West Florida in the second round 2-1. Falling behind at the half 2-0, thanks to a pair of goals from Emily Vogler, the Lions could only get a 64th minute goal from senior Genevieve Gignac in the second half, and were otherwise stifled the rest of the game.
“It was an unbelievable season and a record-breaking one at that,” Head Coach Ged O’Connor told saintleolions.com. “Playing UWF is always tough and I believe the girls played their hearts out, to go down 2-0 in the first half and be able to battle back to cut it to 2-1 is difficult and I think they did the best they could to get back into the game.”
Coming off of a tough season Saint Leo rebounded into the best season in five years, something Head Coach Ged O’Connor is happy to credit the players on the roster.
“We had, if you look at the roster from last year to this year, it’s practically the same. The last season we had fantastic players, like we do this year, but addition by subtraction with the roster. So now we’ve got an excellent core of players who basically, they run the program. My job now is to, basically, guide the train and keep it on track. My job becomes a lot easier when I’ve got better players who are dedicated and ready to try and get better,” said Coach O’Connor.
Saint Leo was the number two seed in their region, something that both benefits the team but also is an odd selection by the tournament committee, as they chose the 10-3-2 Barry University as the top team in the region.
“It helps in a number of ways. To be honest, we expected to be the first seed, we won the regular season, we won the tournament, we beat Barry University in the regular season as well, Barry lost in the Semi-final in the conference tournament and they get the one seed,” said Coach O’Connor.
It furthers the question as to what could have been, had the Lions been the number one seed. Instead of one of the top 25 teams in the nation, St. Leo would have faced off against unranked Rollins College, a team they defeated in the SSC tournament semi-finals, who lost to the one seed Barry 2-1.
Saint Leo made it this far through strong team play, as well as with the scoring touch of Senior Arielle Kabangu. Called “Gu” by her teammates and coaches, Kabangu lit up the scoreboard, netting 16 goals and 4 assists in 17 games this season. Her efforts have not gone unnoticed either, both by the NCAA as well as Coach O’Connor.
“Players like Gu come along once in a decade maybe. She’s different, she’s got accolade after accolade after accolade, she should be a three time All-American and so on,” Coach O’Connor said.
Kabangu has left a definite impression with the team and the university, something that Coach O’Connor remembers noticing as soon as he met the player.
“I even said to her as a freshman, I remember clearly, I told her, ‘Your influence is presidential.’ There are other good players, but the influence that she can have on those around her, not just in soccer, but in life, she’s different. It’s great to have her and it’s a shame that some point soon we’re gonna be seeing the end of it,” Coach O’Connor said.
With a tournament field of 32 teams, having a chance to expand their horizons was a big deal to Coach O’Connor. Had they made it out of their region, they would have gotten to see more teams from around the nation.
“The way our region works out, where six teams make the national tournament and generally it’s at least four from our conference, I’ll just be happy playing somebody new. Just anyone new, the girls want to play someone new. If you make the national tournament, you’re one of the 32 best teams in the country. Everyone’s good, but that’s why you play, you want to beat the best teams,” Coach O’Connor said.