The Saint Vincent women’s soccer team was in cruise control. The Bearcats won 12 of their first 14 matches — the 12 wins represented the most in program history — and were on a 10-0-1 run heading into the home stretch of the 2024 season.

That’s when the wheels came off. Saint Vincent dropped its final four regular-season matches to finish 6-4 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. SVC bounced back with a 2-1 win over Bethany in the first round of the PAC playoffs — the first conference tournament win in program history — before losing in the semis to top-seeded Westminster, 1-0.

Youth, at least in part, played a role in the late-season swoon. The bulk of coach Bryan Butler’s roster was freshmen and sophomores.

But Butler, entering his fourth season at Saint Vincent, said there was another factor in play.

“I also think we got a little bit comfortable with the results we were getting early and maybe thought it was going to be … I don’t know if ‘easy’ is the right word,” he said, “but I think we thought it was going to be something that we could just go out and get a good result because we had results in the past.”

Added senior captain Hailie Stamm: “We all definitely wanted more out of our season, and I think that pushes us further.”

With a more experienced roster and a host of key contributors returning, the Bearcats are hoping to reverse last season’s discouraging finish.

One gaping hole that was left in the lineup was that of leading goal scorer Tanisha Grewal, who graduated. Grewal scored 17 goals last season — third in the PAC — and 54 for her career. That is a lot of offense to replace, but Butler is confident he has the players to do it.

Rising junior Emma Koller returns after posting eight goals and four assists. Rising senior Maddie Geesaman (6 goals, 1 assist) and three-goal scorers Jordan Kirkwood (rising junior/Valley), Kyra Smith (rising senior) and Jude Galvin (rising senior) also are back.

“I feel like, in the spring, we saw a lot more players being involved in our goal-scoring,” Butler said. “We’ll, obviously, miss ‘T’ … but with the creativity and the dynamic attacking players we have, we’re going to be able to pick up the slack, and I think we’re going to have a more spread out scoring sheet.”

Butler, further, said his team has a lot of players who are effective in the air, which should make the Bearcats dangerous on set pieces.

Defense, as it was last season, should be a strong suit for SVC. Behind a pair of freshman stalwarts — keeper Rilyn Warner and center back Alexis Arlaus — the Bearcats led the PAC with a 1.10 goals-against average. Over 20 matches, Warner played all but 85 minutes, 31 seconds in goal.

“Rilyn is very organized, and she knows what she’s doing,” Stamm said. “She knew exactly where she wanted you, what she wanted to do. And she made some incredible saves.”

Rising juniors Emily Ambrose and Cori Bieber, whom Butler calls the “anchor” of the defense, also return to strengthen that unit.

There was plenty of good that came out of Saint Vincent’s 2024 season, but the ending put a damper on everything else the team had accomplished. Stamm said the returning players won’t let that happen again.

“I think a lot of us were, for lack of a better term, disappointed with where we finished,” she said. “I think all of us are very hungry for that title. The team has grown a lot in the four years I’ve been here, and I am really optimistic as to where we can go.”

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