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2024 W&L Women's Soccer Season Preview

Generals take No. 2 in ODAC preseason poll

8/21/2024 2:00:00 PM

LEXINGTON, Va. - The Old Dominion Athletic Conference released its 2024 Women's Soccer Preseason Poll on Wednesday and Washington and Lee collected 156 points and five first-place votes to take the No. 2 spot.

The 2023 ODAC champions Virginia Wesleyan Marlins topped the poll with nine first-place nods, edging out the Blue and White by just six total points. Lynchburg garnered 149 points to take third, while Bridgewater and Roanoke rounded out the Top 5 teams with 134 and 110 points, respectively.

W&L progressed a step further last season from the 2022 campaign, making it to the ODAC championship game for the first time since 2016. Overall, the Generals completed the 2023 slate with a 13-4-4 overall record, 7-1-2 in conference play and earned their second straight at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.

The Generals opened 2023 with an 8-0-4 record, before their first loss of the season in their next game ended a 37-game unbeaten streak in regular season play (28-0-9). W&L claimed six total All-ODAC Team players, led by recent graduates Cameron Grainger ‘24 and Mady Laudisi ’24, and juniors Bryn Bissinger and Sarah Zimmerman on the first team.

2024 ODAC Women's Soccer Preseason Poll

Virginia Wesleyan University (9) 162 pts.
Washington and Lee University (5) 156 pts.
University of Lynchburg 149 pts.
Bridgewater College 134 pts.
Roanoke College 110 pts.
Guilford College 109 pts.
Shenandoah University 103 pts.
Randolph-Macon College 93 pts.
Randolph College 63 pts.
Averett University 58 pts.
Ferrum College 57 pts.
Eastern Mennonite University 42 pts.
Hollins University 22 pts.
Sweet Briar College 16 pts.

Our team has been working incredibly hard this preseason. This group has done an outstanding job of committing to our priorities and core values. The returners have shown great leadership both on and off the field. We are excited about the first-year players we have added. These first years are eager to make an impact.

Our staff is most proud of how dedicated these women are to continuing to build the foundation of this program. We have an incredible schedule this year that will stretch us and allow us the opportunities to showcase our talents. We are looking forward to a competitive season!

Head Coach Tiffany Pins (Third Season)

2024 Schedule Overview

The Generals will play a 17-game regular season in 2024 with eight home games and nine away from Alston Parker Watt Field. However, despite the nearly 50/50 split, W&L has two homestands of three straight games with the other two home contests mixed in among their road and neutral site games.

The 2024 season kicks off on Friday, August 30, when the Generals travel to William Smith College in Geneva, N.Y., to take on The College of New Jersey on the first day of the 2024 Stand on Their Shoulders Invitational. W&L will then play the host Herons the next day at 1:00 p.m. W&L then returns home for their first three-game homestand of the season, hosting Franklin & Marshall (9/7), Berry (Ga.) (9/14) and York (Pa.) (9/15).

Following the matchup with the Spartans, the Generals will have nearly two weeks off from game action before they enter into ODAC play at Shenandoah on September 28. The team will then remain on the road against Lynchburg for an October 2 matchup that will not count towards the teams' ODAC records, in an effort for both sides to beef up their non-conference strength of schedule.

The Generals are then home just twice over their next seven games, which feature contests against Randolph-Macon (10/5) and Bridgewater (10/16). This will be the final stretch of road games in the regular season for the Blue and White, and also includes a matchup at No. 5 Christopher Newport on October 20. The other four road games in this span include Averett (10/9), Roanoke (10/12), Sweet Briar (10/19) and Eastern Mennonite (10/23).

W&L is then home for its final three games on October 26 and 30, and November 2, against Virginia Wesleyan, Ferrum and Guilford, respectively.

Out of the six non-ODAC schools that W&L will meet this season, the Generals did battle with three last season, with a win and two draws to their credit. The lone win came in a 3-1 decision over Berry on September 16 in Bristol, Tenn., while their draws came via 1-1 and 0-0 outcomes against F&M and CNU, respectively. W&L's scoreless draw against the Captains last season came on October 1 while Christopher Newport was the No. 2-ranked team in Division III.

The season-opening games against TCNJ and William Smith will be the first ever matchups against those schools in W&L women's soccer history. The Lions went 16-3-1 in 2023 and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, while William Smith logged a 14-1-4 record and also made an NCAA Second Round appearance.

The Generals went 7-1-2 in ODAC play last season, with the only loss coming in a 2-1 defeat at Virginia Wesleyan on October 21. The Generals outscored the rest of the league by a 33-3 margin across the other nine games, en route to the No. 3 seed in the ODAC Tournament.

The 2024 ODAC Women's Soccer Tournament will commence with the quarterfinals on November 5 at each of the top four seeds. The semifinals will then be played on November 8 at the two highest remaining seeds, followed by the championship game at the highest remaining seed on November 10.

Key Returners

The Generals return four of their six All-ODAC selections from the 2023 team, in juniors Bryn Bissinger, Sarah Zimmerman, Sophie Berman and Helen Otteni. Bissinger and Zimmerman were both picked to the All-ODAC First Team, later picking up second team all-region accolades, while Berman placed on the All-ODAC Second Team and Otteni on the All-ODAC Third Team.

Bissinger was a weapon on both ends of the field for the Generals, as her strong defensive play helped the defense post a 0.66 goals-against average for the season, plus 11 shutouts. Offensively, Bissinger was a primary corner kick taker, which led to a team-best seven assists on the season. She also added a goal in a win at Ferrum for nine points total.

Zimmerman followed up a Third Team All-ODAC rookie season with a First Team All-ODAC and Second Team All-Region 2023 season that saw her scoring output increase across the board. She tied for the team lead with 20 points, double her 2022 total, which came on seven goals and six assists, both of which were second-best on the team.

Berman and Otteni round out three of the top scorers from last season, after Berman tied with Zimmerman atop the team leaderboard in points and led W&L outright with eight goals. Otteni matched her 2022 season with another 13 points that came on six goals and an assist.

Senior Sarah Lathrop also reached 10 points last season on four goals and two assists, while sophomore Stephanie Zawtocki returns as the leading scorer from the Class of 2027. Defensively, sophomores Amelia Manke and Shay Bowman are back for the defensive unit with Manke having started 20 games last season. Bowman played in 19 contests as a rookie with eight starts, but all of her eight starts came over her final eight games of the season.

Ann Riley Huber is one of two senior captains on this year’s team, bringing 53 games-worth of experience to the pitch and 15 points on four goals and seven assists.

During her junior season, Huber saw action in 15 games and assisted on two goals, which helped the Generals to two wins in those games. Huber is a 2022 All-ODAC Second Team performer and has been named to the ODAC All-Academic Team all three years so far.

Off the field, Huber is the Founder of LoveForSeniors Charity, co-Chair of Delta Fundraising Society (2022-23) and is a Rockbridge Area Relief Association volunteer. This past summer Huber was a Tournaments Marketing and Communications Intern at U.S. Kids Golf Foundation

Sarah Zimmerman is one of W&L’s top returning players, following an All-Region Second Team nod and an All-ODAC First Team citation. Through two seasons, Zimmerman has played in 41 games and has 30 points on 11 goals and eight assists.

During the 2023 season, Zimmerman tied for the team lead in points (20) while ranking second in both goals (7) and assists (6). She was also named to the All-ODAC Tournament Team, VaSID All-State First Team and was a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District student.

Zimmerman’s triumphs at W&L have extended into the classroom, as she has earned W&L Scholar Athlete status in all four terms so far, as well as two ODAC All-Academic Team citations. Also a member of the W&L women’s basketball team, Zimmerman spent the past summer as a Finance and Data Analytics intern at Dewey's Pizza.

Sarah Lathrop is the second senior captain for the 2024 Generals, bringing 30 games of experience to the squad plus 14 points on five goals and four assists.

Lathrop saw her production take a massive step forward during her junior season, as she registered career highs in points (10), goals (4) and assists (2). All 10 of her points came across four different games, with two efforts in which she accounted for two goals.

Another standout student for the Generals, Lathrop is a six-time W&L Scholar Athlete and three-time ODAC All-Academic Team recipient. This past summer, Lathrop was a Collaborative Undergraduate Biostatistics Experience Intern, conducting biostatistics research at Virginia Tech's Center for Biostatistics and Health Data Science.

Noteworthy Numbers

After her team-leading seven assists last season, junior Bryn Bissinger has positioned herself to move into the W&L women's soccer program all-time Top 10 for career assists this season. With an average of six assists per season across her two years, another six helpers in 2024 would tie Bissinger with Erica Reineke '97 (18) for ninth place in program history.

Head coach Tiffany Pins is off to a 27-6-9 start in two years leading the Generals, for a career coaching record of 159-60-36 (0.694) after compiling a 146-56-32 (0.692) record across 11 years at Wartburg. Pins is one of 23 active Division III women's soccer head coaches with at least 159 wins with a winning percentage of 0.694 or better.