2023 W&L Women's Soccer Season Preview

Generals claim three first-place votes, No. 2 spot in ODAC preseason poll

8/24/2023 8:10:00 PM

LEXINGTON, Va. - The Old Dominion Athletic Conference released its 2023 Women's Soccer Preseason Poll on Friday and Washington and Lee collected 131 points to take the No. 2 spot.

The 2022 ODAC champions and national semifinalists Virginia Wesleyan Marlins topped the poll with seven first-place nods, edging out the Blue and White by just five total points. The Generals earned three first-place votes, and Bridgewater garnered the final three first-place tallies and 121 points to take third. Rounding out the Top 5 teams in the poll were Lynchburg, who finished just two points behind Bridgewater, and Randolph-Macon at 97 points.

Under the leadership of first-year head coach Tiffany Pins, the Generals had yet another strong season in 2022, which began in historic fashion. W&L went undefeated across its first 19 games last fall, winning 14 and drawing five, to set the program record for longest unbeaten streak to start a season. That streak also marked the second longest single-season and overall unbeaten streak in program history, just one game behind the 2002 team's streak of 20 (16-0-4).

The Generals also received national recognition towards the end of the season, moving into the D3soccer.com Top 25 (No. 18 and No. 20) for the final two weeks of the regular season and through the ODAC Tournament. Despite falling in the semifinals to Virginia Wesleyan, W&L's season-long resume earned the Generals an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the program earned an automatic selection in 2016.

Pins was recognized as the ODAC Coach of the Year in 2022 and led eight players to All-ODAC laurels, five of whom return for the upcoming season. Despite losing three First Team All-ODAC players from last year's team, this year's W&L squad returns seven players who made at least 18 starts a season ago and nine who started at least 10 times.

2023 ODAC Women's Soccer Preseason Poll

Virginia Wesleyan University (7) 136 pts.
Washington and Lee University (3) 131 pts.
Bridgewater College (3) 121 pts.
University of Lynchburg 119 pts.
Randolph-Macon College 97 pts.
Roanoke College 84 pts.
Guilford College 78 pts.
Shenandoah University 78 pts.
Ferrum College 52 pts.
Averett University 44 pts.
Randolph College 36 pts.
Eastern Mennonite University 25 pts.
Hollins University 13 pts.

Our team has been working incredibly hard this preseason. The players are committed to our priorities and core values. It has been wonderful to see the returners' intensity and leadership daily.

We are excited about the individuals we have added in our first-year class. Our staff is most proud of how dedicated these women are to continuing to build the foundation of this program.

Head Coach Tiffany Pins (Second Season)

2023 Schedule Overview

The Generals will play a 17-game regular season in 2023 with seven home games and 10 away from Alston Parker Watt Field. W&L will begin the season on the road in five of their first six contests, three of which will be at neutral locations. The season commences on September 1 and 2 against Stevens and Puget Sound, respectively, on the campus of Messiah University. The Generals will then travel to Franklin & Marshall on September 9 before playing in their home opener against nearby foe Southern Virginia on September 12.

W&L will get back on the road for the next two contests, the first of which will take place on the campus of King University in Bristol, Tenn., against Berry (Ga.). The final road game in this season-opening stretch will mark W&L’s first ODAC contest of the season, a September 23 meeting at Bridgewater.

The Generals will then play four of their next five games on the home pitch against Shenandoah (9/27), No. 6 Christopher Newport (10/1), Eastern Mennonite (10/4) and Lynchburg (10/7), with a visit to Ashland, Va., on September 30 against Randolph-Macon mixed in.

A road game at Hollins on October 11 precedes the final non-conference game of the season, a matchup with Salisbury just two days later. With four games remaining after the Salisbury trip, the Generals will travel to fourth-ranked Virginia Wesleyan (10/21) and Ferrum (10/24), while hosting Roanoke (10/18) and closing with Averett (10/28).

Out of the seven non-ODAC schools that W&L will meet this season, the Generals did battle with four last season, with two wins and two draws to their credit. Those matchups involved scoreless draws against Stevens (9/3) and F&M (9/10), and respective 2-1 and 3-0 wins over Berry (Ga.) and SVU.

W&L has sparingly faced Puget Sound, Salisbury and CNU in its history, with the September 2 game against Puget Sound going down as the first all-time meeting. The Generals hold an all-time record of 3-0-2 against the Sea Gulls, with the last meeting being a 1-0 win on September 12, 2021, and they are also 2-0-1 all-time against the Captains. W&L and CNU have not met in women’s soccer since November 14, 2009, a contest that favored the Generals, 4-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Generals went unbeaten in ODAC play last season, with eight wins and two draws. The two ties came against Randolph-Macon (1-1, Oct. 5) and Lynchburg (0-0, Oct. 26), and W&L outscored its other eight conference counterparts, 38-3, en route to the No. 2 seed in the ODAC Tournament.

The 2023 ODAC Women's Soccer Tournament will commence with the Quarterfinals on October 31 at each of the top four seeds. The semifinals will then be played on November 3 at the two highest remaining seeds, followed by the championship game at the highest remaining seed on November 5.

Key Returners

The Generals return five of their eight All-ODAC selections from the 2022 team, led by seniors Louisa Bynum, Mady Laudisi and Sydney Smith and junior Ann Riley Huber, who all made the second team, as well as sophomore Sarah Zimmerman on the third team.

Bynum was a strong piece of the W&L defensive unit a season ago, one that yielded a 0.67 goals-against average in its 21 games. She also added one goal on the offensive end which came in a 3-0 win at Southern Virginia on September 21. Laudisi was another key component on the defense and matched Bynum’s goal, as she scored in a 3-0 win at Eastern Mennonite on October 8.

Smith shined as the starting goalkeeper in 2022, compiling a 0.72 GAA in 1,757:42 of game time as a first-year starter. Smith added nine shutouts as well, the first nine of her collegiate career, which has her in eighth place on the program’s career leaderboard. Huber stepped her game up as well after a solid rookie season. In 2022, Huber logged eight points on three goals and two assists, with all three of her goals counting as game-winners.

Zimmerman looks to follow-up an All-ODAC Third Team nod with another strong season. She was one of five players from a season ago to reach the 10-point mark, doing so on four goals and two assists. Zimmerman finished with one game-winning goal, as well, when she dented the scoreboard first in a 2-0 win against Roanoke in the ODAC Quarterfinals.

The Generals return two more offensive pieces that cracked the double-digit point mark last season in sophomores Helen Otteni and Sophie Berman. Otteni leads all returning players with a 13-point 2022 season, which came on four goals and five assists. Berman matched Otteni’s four goals and supplied a pair of helpers in back-to-back wins at SVU and Shenandoah.

Sydney Smith enters her senior season as the likely starter between the pipes for the Blue and White. She has made 24 appearances in her first three seasons, 21 of which came as a junior, with over 1,800 minutes logged and a 0.769 career goals-against average.

Smith’s junior season was one for the books, as she earned Second Team All-ODAC honors with a 0.72 GAA in 1,757:42 with nine shutouts. She also earned each team decision in goal, going 14-2-5. Out of Smith’s 1,836:45 career minutes played, nearly 96 percent came last season.

Off the field, Smith is a four-time W&L Scholar Athlete, three-time ODAC All-Academic student and was named to the 2022 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team. She is the Secretary of Alpha Epsilon Delta (National Health Pre-Professional Honor Society) and a member of the Red-Cross Club and Pre-Health Club.

Emma Mansfield has been a consistent midfielder for the Generals across her first three seasons in Lexington, with 47 appearances and 14 points on five goals and four assists.

As a junior, Mansfield racked up five points on a pair of goals and one assist. Her goals came in 3-0 wins over Southern Virginia and Eastern Mennonite, and she added the assist against Bridgewater on an 87th-minute, game-winning goal by recent graduate Lindsay White ’23 on October 19.

A business administration and journalism double-major, Mansfield is a member of WLU Lex and is a W&L Career Fellow, who has collected six W&L Scholar Athlete and three ODAC All-Academic citations. Mansfield has also completed internships over the past two summers in the production department at NFL Films in Mount Laurel, N.J., (2022) and as a 2023 summer intern at CBS News in Washington, D.C.

Another player who has been vital to W&L’s success over the last three seasons, Louisa Bynum has appeared in 49 games in her career, and she has helped the Generals post a three-year combined GAA of 0.532.

Last season, Bynum aided in another sub-one GAA for the team by playing in 20-of-21 games as a junior. The Generals owned a combined GAA of 0.67, and Bynum also added a goal in the team’s 3-0 win at SVU.

Off the field, Bynum is both a three-time W&L Scholar Athlete and ODAC All-Academic Team pick as a neuroscience major and Chinese minor. Bynum is a member of the Delta Society, Outing Club and Community Table at W&L, and she served as a shadow for therapists over the summer.

Liz Sullivan enters her senior season tied with Bynum for most career appearances among this season’s captains with 49. Also on the defensive unit, Sullivan has helped the team post 28 shutouts over the last three seasons, while adding six points on a goal and four assists on offense.

Last season, Sullivan’s strong play helped the Generals post 11 clean sheets across their 21 contests. Sullivan also assisted on two goals as a junior, which came in a 4-1 win over Gettysburg on September 11 and a 4-0 victory against Averett on October 22.

Off the field, Sullivan is a five-time W&L Scholar Athlete, a three-time ODAC All-Academic pick and she also earned CSC Academic All-District laurels as a neuroscience major. Sullivan traveled to Belize in the summer of 2022 for a research project and conducted data analysis.

Noteworthy Numbers

Sydney Smith shined in goal for the Generals in 2022 as a first-year starter, logging nine shutouts in 21 starts. Her nine career shutouts are already the eighth most in program history, and she can move into a tie with Emily Barker '05 for seventh place on the program list with seven more.

Not only did head coach Tiffany Pins collect the ODAC Coach of the Year award in her first season in Lexington, she also set a program record for the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history (14). Pins has proven successful throughout her 12 collegiate coaching career, compiling a 146-56-32 (0.692) record across 11 years at Wartburg and one at W&L. Needing four more wins to reach the 150-win mark, Pins is one of 26 active Division III women's soccer head coaches with at least 146 wins with a winning percentage of 0.692 or better.