The women's soccer team at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College has qualified to participate in the 2009 USCAA Women's Soccer National Championships, held November 6 - November 8, 2009 in Burlington, Vermont. SMWC's Pomeroy soccer program is now in its tenth year and has racked up some serious accomplishments. Opponents have ranged from similar small colleges like Franklin College and St. Catharine College to larger institutions like Anderson University.

Coach Mike Aycock said, “I'm delighted for these young women because I feel that they have earned this chance. It has taken us a while to get to this point, a team that can play as consistently well and as hard as this team can. We've had to take on some very good competition and learn from some matches that didn't go our way to make ourselves better. If we look at the best teams on our schedule, like Earlham, Hanover, or Rose-Hulman, we still have a ways to go. But we're starting to win some good ones, and success creates success. We went 2-2 against teams from the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference this year and have only lost one match to a USCAA opponent in the last three years. These players have had to rise to a higher level of play, and have put in the work that it takes, without a single complaint. A lot of that work ethic has come from team leaders. They're fun to train with, fun to watch play, and fun to be around, and I can't wait to turn them loose against some of the other ranked teams in USCAA and see what happens. I know we'll have a great time going to Vermont to see what we can do.”  

The last time the Pomeroys competed at the national level was in 2005 when they hosted the USCAA national championship.  This year, they will be traveling to Vermont to compete.  Team captains are Caitlin Smith, a senior from Terre Haute with a pre-professional major; Arrika Garcia, a senior from Dayton, Ohio with a marketing major; Britt Simmerman, a junior from Oolitic, Indiana with a pre-professional major; and April Baranowski, a junior from Arlington Heights, Illinois with a biology major.

Captain Smith said, “We earned this success by being a team and by everyone, whether a starter or not, giving 100 percent every time our feet hit the field. We practiced hard everyday and it showed when we were able to do what we worked on in practice in the next game.”  Another team captain Garcia commented, “I am most proud of how every last one of these girls put their heart and soul into every game and practice.  Even when they didn't want to practice they were there. These girls have always stayed positive through the rough times and game losses.  This is the most inspiring, crazy, amazing group of girls I have ever played with. They have made our last year perfect for Caitlin and I.”

Garcia also mentioned that after a loss the team would talk about it, learn from the mistakes, and move on.  She said, “We are very strong and don't let something small keep us down. Before every game, one of our other captains, Britt Simmerman always has an inspirational quote for us, sometimes from Martin Luther King and sometimes from Saint Mother Theodore Guerin (SMWC's foundress).  They motivate us for sure.”  

Simmerman said, “I always talk to Arrika or one of the other captains before a game and tell them an inspirational quote. Afterwards, we try to re-word the quote to pertain to our game at hand and then I say it in the team huddle before the game starts. For example, when we were still fighting for a bid to nationals, we referenced MLK's ‘I have a dream' speech and related it to our dream and our vision of going to nationals. As far as Mother Theodore, I have always enjoyed one quote that says, ‘When a person has nothing left to lose, the heart is inaccessible to fear.' I think that goes right along with our team. When we learned we were in the running for a bid to nationals, it was one of those things where we felt like if we made it, everyone would be pumped. Having never made it to the national tourney, we really didn't have pressure from anyone else but ourselves. So when you look at it, we had nothing to lose and everything to gain from focusing our season on making the national tournament. With that goal in mind, we defeated teams that we had never beaten before, played well against teams that traditionally hand us huge deficits, and generally played with no fear in our hearts. I guess Mother Theodore had the right idea.”

She continued, “My favorite part of being on the SMWC soccer team is the bond that our team has shared and built over the season. We are truly a family, as cliché as it sounds. Families may have their disagreements, but when it all comes down to it, we all know that each and every person on the team feels a responsibility and a desire to work hard for the rest of the family and to step up and be supportive when times may be bad. This year we go by the name, ‘TEAM AWESOME.' It is not a conceited term, but rather it is a reminder to all of us that at the end of the day, we have an amazing group of young women. It gives us a sense of pride, responsibility, and cohesiveness. Just look at any Woodsie's Facebook status on game day and you will see 18 soccer players all with the status, ‘GO TEAM AWESOME! BEAT _____!' It's beautiful thing.”