Dorothy famously said in the Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home …" The Lawrence University women's soccer team begs to differ.
For the fifth time in school history, the Vikings claimed a Midwest Conference Tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament. And for the fifth time, they did it away from the friendly confines of the Banta Bowl. Lawrence knocked off Lake Forest College 1-0 in the semifinals on November 6 and then defeated the home team, Luther College, 1-0, in the championship game the following day.
"That's our goal every year, to play in the last game of the Midwest Conference Tournament and go from there," said Lawrence coach Joe Sagar, who rebuilt the Vikings and has posted a 73-62-19 record over eight seasons. "Our next goal is to win a game in the national tournament and see where we're at."
The Vikings (14-2-5) are making their second NCAA Tournament appearance in three seasons after winning the MWC Tournament title in 2024. Lawrence plays in the first round at UW-La Crosse (20-1-0) on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. Carleton College (13-1-3) faces Elmhurst College (14-4-2) in the other first-round game at the regional. The winners meet in the second round Sunday at 6 p.m.
"I feel like generally on the road we perform pretty well," senior forward Hannah Kalt said. "There's a lot of mental and physical preparation that goes into it. It's kind of a team bonding thing. You have to go into it with a winning attitude and make the most of the experience and the opportunity that we are given."
The Vikings are 9-1-3 away from the Banta Bowl this season, and they went through the season with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. After being picked for third in the preseason conference coaches poll, Lawrence had something to prove.
"I really did feel that we were a little bit overlooked by the conference in the preseason poll. No one selected us as potential winners," said Sager, who added that a home loss to Lake Forest early was a turning point. "From that game, we just got stronger and stronger. … We had something to prove and we really deserved the (win) against Lake Forest (in the tournament). Playing Luther twice and having them not score against us was nice for our back line and our goalkeepers for sure."
Lawrence had to claw its way to the MWC Tournament semifinals with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Knox College in the quarterfinals. Despite outshooting the Prairie Fire 31-3, Lawrence found itself trailing 1-0 with six minutes left.
"It got a little hairy towards the end," Sagar said. "I did feel confident that once we got one (goal), we would go on and win it."
Lawrence drew a foul in the box and junior defender Kate Noonan calmly buried the penalty kick in the back of the net to tie it with just under six minutes left. Just 2:41 later, Kalt sent a corner kick to the back post, and Ava Elders headed it in for the game-winning goal.
"I remember looking at the clock at like 12 minutes," Noonan said. "I didn't want to say our season was over, but if we're going to do something, we've got to do it now. It's now or never. It was almost like a panic."
Panic is one thing Noonan never does when it comes to taking penalty kicks. Lawrence's goals in the MWC Tournament semifinal and championship came off penalty kicks from Noonan. She is 5-for-5 on penalty kicks this season.
"When I go up there, there's not really any doubt," said Noonan, who has used the same routine since before high school.
"Whatever happens, I'm not going to miss. My mindset is a positive one. It's going to sound kind of corny, but sometimes before games I visualize it happening. Nothing is negative when I walk up to it. I almost have too much confidence going into it."
While Lawrence has cleared some serious hurdles on the road this season, facing La Crosse will be the toughest test to date. The Eagles are 12-0-0 at home and have posted 16 shutouts on the campaign. The Vikings remain undaunted.
"La Crosse is a very talented team, but I think we have a lot of talent too," said Kalt, who is second on the team with seven goals and 18 points. "If we focus up and play to the best of our ability, we can pull off something great."
Noonan said this team's tight-knit persona has spurred them to achieve. Instead of facing 11 Vikings, La Crosse will take on one solid wall of blue.
"Going and playing a lot of games far away has really helped. Joe called it the meat grinder," Noonan said. "There is kind of a road warrior mentality, and I think it's kind of fun when we get to go and ruin someone else's season."
