Gonzaga women’ soccer misses out on NCAA Tournament, despite program-best season

Despite finishing third in the West Coast Conference, the Gonzaga women’s soccer team was left out of the NCAA Tournament field on Monday.

The Zags finished 10-3-5 overall and 5-1-3 in the WCC, matching their best conference mark in program history. They also reached 10 wins for the 10th time.

Gonzaga ended the regular season Saturday night with a 2-0 home win over Portland, giving some slight hopes of making the field along with first-place Santa Clara (7-0-2 in the WCC) and runner-up BYU (6-0-3).

Gonzaga lost just once in its last 13 matches and outscored opponents 30-6 during that span. However, the Zags were only 1-3-2 overall against teams in the NCAA’s top 50.

Going into Monday, the Zags were ranked 58th in the NCAA’s ranking index.

Instead, fourth-place Portland (5-4-0) earned a spot in the 64-team field. The Pilots went 11-4-4 overall and were ranked 41st by the NCAA. They also went 6-0-4 against a nonconference schedule that included four Pac-12 teams.

Gonzaga won 10 matches for the fifth time in the last six seasons.

Prior to the last match, Gonzaga honored 10 seniors that played their final match at Luger Field. The 2022 class is the winningest by percentage over a four-year span in program history.

Also on Monday, the conference named GU goalkeeper Lyza Bosselmann the WCC Defensive Player of the Week after she recorded shutouts in her last two matches.

It’s Bosselmann’s fourth WCC weekly honor, and second this season. It is the third WCC weekly honor for a Zag this season.

Bosselmann tops the program’s top 10 in fewest goals allowed in a single season (13 in 2022) and in a career (47 since 2019). She is also first all-time at GU in career goals-against average.