Women's Soccer's Unbeaten Streak Comes to an End

COUNCIL BLUFFS - All good things eventually come to an end. For the first time in 1,119 days, Iowa Western Women's Soccer lost a match, falling 2-1 to Southwestern Illinois.  The Reivers' last defeat came on August 27th, 2022, when Eastern Florida State won 4-3 in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  Iowa Western would eventually avenge that loss in the NJCAA National Semi-Finals, 4-2 in Evans, GA.

The Reivers (7-1-5) opened up the scoring in the 30th minute when Sophomore Forward Honoka Nohara gathered the ball at midfield, then found Freshman Quinci Smith on the near wing, just outside of the 18-yard box. Smith then made a move past her defender and fed Nohara, streaking towards the top of the 18, and struck the ball on her first touch into the top right corner of the goal.

The Blue Storm found the equalizer right away in the second half when Tayler Webb shot from distance and sent it past Goalkeeper Shu Ishida.  SWIC then took the lead, less than 10 minutes later, and held off a pair of free kicks by the Reivers just outside of the penalty area in the final five minutes to secure the win.

"A disappointing result when compared to the overall performance," said Head Coach Bruce Erickson. "We had great energy and came out sharp from the beginning to take the lead. Unfortunately, two moments in the second half resulted in goals, and we couldn't find the second goal after all of our chances. We'll get back to work on Monday to continue on our path to reach our goals we set out to accomplish."

A run of 68 matches in a row for IWCC saw a pair of NJCAA D1 Women's Soccer National Championships in 2022 and 2023 and a streak of 36 wins in a row from September 31st, 2022, to the first match of the 2024 season, a 3-3 draw with Navarro to open up the season. 

The 2023 championship campaign was the first unbeaten and untied year in program history, with a perfect 18-0-0 record. Last season, the team reached the NJCAA National Semi-Finals before exiting after a 1-1 draw to Daytona State, with the Falcons advancing on penalty kicks.

The 68-match unbeaten streak surpassed Tyler JC's run of 52 wins in a row from 2019 to 2021 that ended with a 1-0 loss to Eastern Florida State in the national tournament.  The Reivers scored 306 goals over their unbeaten streak and conceded just 66.

The team is back in action, looking to start a new streak, on October 1st at the John & Harriet Wiebe Complex against ICCAC rival Indian Hills.