By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Fifth-year senior defender Josie Boyle had to wait her turn to crack the lineup for Washburn University's soccer team.
And now that she did, the former multi-sport star at Baldwin, wants to cherish every moment she has remaining with the Ichabods.
Josie Boyle
"For me, last year was kind of my first year making an impact on the field during a game, so I'm nowhere near wanting to be done,'' Boyle said. "It is my fifth year and my last year, but I am proud. I think I've achieved more than what I thought I ever could, honestly, and as a team, but I do have more individual goals that I want to reach this year and more to strive for.''
After Boyle's first season at Washburn was cancelled due to Covid, she saw action in just six matches as a freshman and 11 matches with one start as a sophomore before starting in 21 matches and playing a total of 1,849 minutes (seventh high in program history) last fall as the Ichabods advanced to the NCAA Division II championship game.
Baldwin product Josie Boyle, a fifth-year senior defender, has helped Washburn soccer post six straight shutouts. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
"I didn't know how much I would be able to achieve, but I think I've gone beyond that and the girls I've been with for five years, I think us three (Boyle, Viviana Soto-Herrera and Cloe Quintana) are very happy with how it's all gone,'' said Boyle, who scored her first goal and earned All-MIAA honorable mention last season.
This season Boyle has helped 4-2-2 Washburn make school history with a six-game shutout streak entering Friday's 7 p.m. MIAA road contest at Nebraska-Kearney.
On Sunday against Newman the Ichabods set a school record for consecutive minutes played without allowing a goal. Washburn has played 568 minutes and 44 seconds since allowing its last goal, dating back to the 62nd minute of the game against Maryville on Sep. 7.
"The first weekend, allowing the goals that we did (four goals in 2-0 and 2-1 losses), it was a shocker because we didn't allow that many in lots of games last year, even in the national tournament,'' Boyle said. "So the first weekend it was like, 'Oh, we should not be letting in these goals,' but now we're on this six-game streak and it's the most minutes ever of no goals allowed so we're happy about that for sure.''
Washburn coach Davy Phillips said he has high expectations and a great deal of respect for Boyle and her fellow defenders.
"Within our game model our first priority is defending and being hard to break down and organized, '' Phillips said. "We want to attack out of that. I think you'll always have a chance to win the game if you defend well, so I think that's why we prioritize it. I think this particular back four especially is experienced, it's mature.
"It's three seniors and a junior and the junior has started every game of her career, so they've played a lot of soccer and I think that's a big part of college defending is recognizing the situations and seeing them before they develop. This group's played together, they've been around college soccer for a long time, they know what it should look like and they're kind of leading from the back. There's a lot of trust put in that back four right now.''
Now the goal for the Ichabods is to make another deep playoff run after last season's career year.
"The two words, pressure and expectations, have been thrown around a lot, but Davy has said a lot that he recruits girls that are competitors and have had a lot of success, in high school and before that, so a lot of us come from winning programs, championship teams, so pressure's not new to any of us,'' Boyle said.
"We had pressure even before coming to Washburn and I think having pressure is a privilege as well because there's a lot of teams that can go into weekends being like, 'Well, if we win we win, if we lose we lose, it's OK.' But for us, a tie is not good enough any more.''
Washburn went 1-0-1 last week in two home games to begin MIAA play, battling to an 0-0 draw with Central Oklahoma and defeating Newman, 3-0.
WU, ranked 22nd in the latest United Soccer Coaches Division II Women's National poll, will make its second trip of the season to Kearney, continuing MIAA play against the Lopers.
The Ichabods visited Kearney earlier this season to play two neutral-site matches and now return to play the Lopers for the Ichabods' first MIAA road game of the 2024 season.
WU sophomore goalkeeper Hailey Beck, a former Washburn Rural standout, is tied for fourth in the nation in shutouts, 16th in goalie minutes played and 32nd in goals against average. Beck was named the Co-MIAA Goalkeeper of the Week last week, totaling six saves on the weekend.
Senior Ana Maruzabal is now the Washburn team leader in goals and points after scoring two goals against Newman. She now has three goals and one assist on the season, good for seven total points.
Junior forward Aubrey Tanksley scored her first goal of the season to open the scoring against Newman while senior Viviana Soto-Herrera recorded her first assist of the season to close out the win over Newman. Sophomore Mackinly Rohn assisted on Muruzabal's first goal to put Washburn up 2-0 against Newman.
Nebraska-Kearney is 4-0-4 so far this season, with an 0-0-2 mark in MIAA play. The Lopers have already surpassed their win total from 2023, when they went 3-13-2, and the Loper are off to the best start in program history.
The Lopers are coming off a pair of draws to open conference play. UNK played to a 2-2 tie at Pittsburg State on Sep. 27, then drew 1-1 at Missouri Southern on Sep. 29.
Junior forward Hanna Schimmer leads the Lopers with five goals. Schimmer has also tallied one assist for a team-leading 11 total points.
Washburn will be back at Yager Stadium for a home game against Missouri Southern on Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. The Ichabods will also host Pittsburg State on Oct. 13 at 1 p.m.
