In just two years, Elon University’s women’s soccer team has transformed from a three-win team in 2023 to Coastal Athletic Association champions, winning Nov. 9 against Stony Brook in a 1-1 match that came down to penalty kicks, where Elon prevailed 6-5.
Their turnaround not only earned an NCAA Division I Tournament berth against Duke University, but it also came as a rewarding accomplishment for everyone who spent the last two years changing the team’s fortunes.
One of those people is head coach Neil Payne, who oversaw Elon’s 3-9-5 season two years ago. He said the championship was extremely gratifying, and he could not be more pleased with how much everyone has progressed leading up to this point, especially for the upperclassmen who were on the 2023 team.
“I’m so proud of how far this group of players have come because there were a lot of players on that team,” Payne said. “I’m really happy with the way this team has developed over the last two years.”
Payne has seen improvement from the team both physically and fundamentally. He said everyone pays a ton of attention to detail in practices and games. In addition, Payne said the team is well-conditioned and able to respond to any challenge.
Throughout the season, Elon’s focus wasn’t on anything besides the opponent they were playing next. Payne described the team’s improvement as a game-by-game process, and the result was an 11-win season.
“We’re moving the ball around really well, and our technical application has been at a really high level,” Payne said. “On the physical side, we’re a lot stronger, which allows us to be more resilient.”
Elon’s renaissance initially occurred in 2024, where the Phoenix engineered a 10-win improvement, finishing 13-4-1.
Sophomore defender Jessica Hill and sophomore goalie Katie Bisgrove each played integral roles in that turnaround, emerging as immediate contributors during their freshman year.
Although neither player was there for the 2023 season, Bisgrove said they were just as determined to help improve the team’s performance as the returning players.
“It just gave us all a drive and motivation to turn things around for this team now,” Bisgrove said. “Last season, Neil talked a lot about building a foundation so we were able to build our values as a team.”
Despite losing in the semifinals, the defeat didn’t leave the team dejected but rather motivated for more success. Hill said that because everyone now knew what it took to win, they were fully invested in Payne’s philosophy.
“One of the biggest differences between this year and last year is just everyone was bought into the concept of winning,” Hill said.
However, that didn’t come without adversity. The Phoenix got off to a poor start in conference play, going 0-2-2 in their first four CAA games.
Bisgrove said she acknowledged that this stretch could’ve derailed the team’s confidence, but everyone knew what they were still capable of and managed to rebound. She said the team managed to become closer, which helped their performance down the stretch.
“Other people might’ve doubted us with the performance we had in the opening weekend of conference play, but we knew we could trust each other,” Bisgrove said. “The positive attitude everyone had was really important because nobody turned against each other. We all just kept pushing through it, and it gave us a lot of opportunities to strengthen our friendships.”
By the time the playoffs arrived, Elon was firing on all cylinders. They finished the season 4-0-2 and had snuck in as the final seed in the CAA South Division.
Although the Phoenix would have to play all its playoff games on the road, Bisgrove said the team was already battle-tested and ready to go.
“We got to the point where we stopped worrying about a game being away from home,” Bisgrove said. “We have a real appetite to go be as successful as we can in conference, so we would take each game as it comes.”
Those games proved to be tight contests, with the last two coming down to penalty kicks. They won the first game 1-0 thanks to an early goal by senior Ashlee Brehio. A missed penalty kick by the University of North Carolina Wilmington secured a trip to the championship. Freshman defender Abby Brinker delivered the team their title with the winning penalty kick.
Bisgrove described the championship as a defining accomplishment not just now, but in the long run. She said that the last two seasons can set this notion that the Elon women’s soccer team is expected to win CAA titles.
“We’ve come a long way in these past two years,” Bisgrove said. “It’s promising for the future of this program as a whole, and hopefully we can continue to have some more championships under our belt.”
Elon’s season came to an end in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Tournament with a loss to the Duke University Blue Devils Nov. 14. Even with the loss, Payne said losing the game should not take away the team’s success.
“It wasn’t about tonight, it was about the entire season,” Payne said. “I couldn’t be more happy with the response that we had, especially over the last month and postseason play. I can’t speak highly enough of my team.”