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The Voice

Remember the name: Huskies look to improve recruiting after PSAC title and Elite Eight run in 2018

     Bloomsburg University’s Women’s Soccer team had their amazing season conclusion on Sunday afternoon after they lost 3-1 to the University of Bridgeport in the NCAA Elite Eight at Steph Pettit Stadium.

     Along with their appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight, the BU women’s soccer team won its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) tournament win since 2002.

     The Huskies were able to finish out the season with an impressive 17-3-3 record. The girls also managed to exceed preseason expectations as they were picked to finish eighth for their PSAC division. Their season was set for greatness as they then managed to go on a 16 game win streak after winning four of their first six games.

     After being awarded the top seed in the Atlantic region, the Huskies returned to the NCAA tournament. This marked the first time since 2010 that Bloomsburg had made an appearance. The decisive win over West Virginia Wesleyan earned them the regional title and sent them into the quarterfinals. The girls have not made it to the quarterfinals since 2000 and marked the third time ever in school history.

     Most impressively is the 17 victories the girls earned this season. While so close to beating it, the girls were only one game away from matching the 18 season win record held by the 1996 team.

     Then when questioned about how this season will impact future recruitment McCabe was emphatic in saying, “This will absolutely be huge for recruiting, and it’ll make recruiting easier for Coach Haney and his staff because everybody wants to be a winner.”
McCabe continued to elaborate on the future recruitment opportunities by stating,

     “I think anytime you go this far into whether it be conference playoffs or the NCAA tournament, that’s definitely going to be a huge leap.”

     Beyond the enormous impact towards the women’s soccer program, McCabe cited how well the students responded to the success of the team. “Student attendance was great!”

     Specifically, McCabe referenced the Huskies second round win over East Stroudsburg University where he estimated around 150 students attended the game.

     However, McCabe pointed out that the success of being a number one seed in the region and hosting these games wasn’t foreseen at the beginning of the season, as the team started out ranked eighth in the preseason coaches’ poll.

      “While we always feel confident about all of our teams, to the rest of the PSAC our success could’ve been seen as a surprise.”

     Then when questioned on how the administration has felt the impact of the women’s soccer team success McCabe had this to say,
“There’s a lot of excitement, especially since we’ve been able to host the games.”

     Furthermore, McCabe then shared how the university as a whole has felt the impact of this success by being awarded the bid to host all of these games.

     “Anytime you’re able to gain national interest it’s good for public relations, and it’s good to get the schools name out there. Even if you’re not an athlete it’s good promotion.”

     McCabe then pointed to the teams that are traveling to Bloomsburg from areas out of state like Connecticut and New York. “Our name is going to be known in those areas because of this.”
 

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