The WashU women’s soccer team poses with the NCAA second place trophy, after losing the national championship game, Saturday in Salem, Va. (Photo courtesy: WashU Athletics)
| NCAA Division III Championship Game | 1 | 2 | Final |
| #2 WashU (17-2-4) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cal Lutheran (19-1-6) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Scoring Summary
| Time | Team | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 16:39 |  | Isabella Veljacic (10) GOAL By CLU Veljacic, Isabella. |
Steven Millbrook
Staff Writer
SALEM, VA — The team that set a record for most consecutive games without allowing a goal had the tables turned on them in the NCAA Division III women’s soccer national championship game on Saturday.
The Washington University Bears managed six shots in the game and three on goal, but could get none of them into the California Lutheran net. The Regals did score one goal and were able to make that stand up in a 1-0 defeat to claim that program’s first ever national championship.
WashU was seeking its first national title since 2016, but just couldn’t find the back of the net.
The Bears’ best scoring chance came in the 61st minute, when when junior Sara Gianotti drilled a hard shot that just missed going into the goal, but banged off the post and bounced away.
Another solid chance came in the 70th minute, when an offensive rush led to a shot attempt by Ally Hackett, but Cal Lutheran’s goalkeeper made an easy save to keep the score 1-0.
The Regals scored the game’s lone goal in the 17th minute, when forward Isabella Veljacic fired off a high corner shot that hit the crossbar then bounced off WashU goalkeeper Sidney Conner’s back and rolled into the Bears’ net.
From that point on, Cal Lutheran mostly just played defense, but the Regals were so good on D that they denied WashU every time it made a move to try to score.
The Bears finished their season 17-2-4 and were the national runners-up for the second time.