Our 2011 journey was filled with many special memories. It started in the off-season with our awesome seniors and their leadership. This 2011 group headed into the off-season and one word comes to mind…opportunity. After graduating seven very good core players in 2010, this 2011 group had to step up…and they did! The group went undefeated in the spring beating Western Illinois, Truman, Maryville, and the Alumni…and tying Evansville. Once August hit, this group kept building its momentum. We started out going 7-0 and Nationally Ranked as high as 3rd in the Country...a school record. Two major keys to this year’s success were our team defending and having a variety of players step up at different times to score goals. Total team effort.
Our defense only allowed 10 goals all season and recorded 14 shutouts, which both tied school records. Some thrilling games were the WI-Parkside 2-1 home win, Drury 1-0 road overtime win from a Lauren Drewett bomb, Truman 3-0 home win, two Rockhurst home wins, and knocking off Northern Kentucky on their home turf in the GLVC Semifinals. All of those were magical nights but that NKU night was something every one of our Lady Hawks will remember for the rest of our lives as we will never face the Norse again.
This was a very strong year for the GLVC as five teams made the NCAA Tournament. The opponents were as tough as our program has ever faced but as always, we focused on the next game/opponent. In those tough games, two key sayings we used often were “find a way to win” and “Enjoy da Moment”. Lead by our seniors, this team went 15-5-2, made a record sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and we were a PK shootout away from taking home the GLVC Championship. It was tough going into that shootout when our opponent was in the stands watching during our semifinal shootout. Just ask the 2011 US Women’s National team. Even though we fell a shootout short, every one of these ladies were Champions. The experiences we had together will last a lifetime and the memories with this group are priceless. This group did all the little things right.
For the third year in a row, another class of seniors will get to graduate from Quincy University saying they made FOUR NCAA TOURNAMENTS. Wow, that is special. It has almost become expected and part of our Quincy Lady Hawk tradition. What outsiders do not truly understand is that the real reason to the success we have does not get seen. The true key to our success is our teams behind the scenes off-season work (goals and development), in-season training and preparation, and our team cohesiveness. Our togetherness is the key to everything we do.
What a fun group lead by awesome seniors, what special memories that were earned through preparation and training, and what a year we will always remember. I am thankful for the memories...let's do it again! "The Lady Hawk Way!"
Dave Musso
