How does a team recover from losing eleven seniors from a team that won its first-ever conference championship, set a school record for wins, and set a school record for winning percentage? The Marian University women's soccer team had to answer that question heading in to 2009.

Head coach Kurt Guldner, 2008 Mid-Central College Conference Coach of the Year, and his staff had to rebuild a team decimated by, a good thing, graduation. They were charged with replacing the 2008 MCC Offensive Player of the Year, a goalkeeper who set school records for shutouts and wins, and a senior class that earned 11 All-Conference first team honors during their four years. The coaching staff was buoyed by the fact that they had a strong corps of returners, and their returning goalkeeper was a sophomore who had match experience.

The addition of two sophomore transfers and five freshmen brought the total to seven players charged with filling the shoes of the 11 departed seniors.

This team did not disappoint. At the beginning of the season, the coaches knew they had a strong team, but were unsure of whether or not they would live up to the standard of a team that lost just once in their last 19 matches.

The season opened with a difficult task. The Knights faced a team that reached the NAIA National Tournament opening Round to open the campaign. They took on Houghton College with confidence, and ninety minutes could not settle the proceedings. However, inclement weather brought the match to a halt after the full 90 and gave both teams a scoreless tie. So the coaches knew the defense was still pretty strong and the goalkeeping was going to be sound, but the offense was still a little suspect. The next day the Knights defeated Cedarville University, 1-0, to give them their 17th win in their last 20 matches. Sophomore Katy Toth scored the first goal of the season, but the 1-0 score line left the coaching staff a little unsettled.

The home opener put their minds at ease a little bit, at least. The Knights pounded out six goals in a 6-1 romp over the University of St. Francis (Ill.) at the newly-christened St.Vincent Health Field, the same pitch on which they won the 2008 MCC title. The two sophomore transfers, Lauren Gerbick and Nikki Schmidt, tallied a combined three goals, while freshman Hannah Spencer and juniors Laura Copeland and Mika Jackson notched the other three. The late goal by USF disappointed the coaches, but enraged the defense.

That rout touched off a string of 13 straight victories in which the Knights conceded just one goal. That is one goal in 1,170 minutes of action. Amazing is the only way to describe it.

The Knights won their next six straight matches by a combined total of 21-0 and did not score less than three goals in any of the six matches. During that string, just to bring some numbers to the table, the Knights out-shot their opponents, 140-61, and allowed just 30 shots on goal. Gerbick notched seven of the 21 goals, while Toth had four, freshman Samantha Cook had three, and Schmidt had three. Sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Fisher had four of the six shutouts, while her understudy, freshman Julia Naab, had two of the clean sheets. Just some amazing numbers for a team that opened the season with an 8-0-1 record for the second straight season.

The University of Saint Francis (Ind.) presented a bit of a challenge after rattling off those kind of numbers. The Knights have beaten the Cougars just twice, both times last season, in their 11-year history. Cook gave the Knights the lead, but the Cougars answered in the second half to snap a streak of 599 minutes without a goal conceded. It was just seconds after the equalizer, 73 of them to be exact, that Schmidt sent the Knights into the lead. They hung on and stayed unbeaten at 9-0-1, more importantly, it was one challenge in the MCC they overcame.

After conceding just their second goal of the season, the Knights did not allow another goal for the next 581 minutes. During that streak, the Knights only out-scored their opponents, 17-0. This time, however, they allowed just 47 shots during the six-match span and just 15 of them were on frame. Additionally, the biggest win in school history came around on October 13, 2009.

The Knights traveled to then No. 9-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University, a team they have never defeated, for a showdown to potentially decide the conference title and tournament seeding. While IWU controlled the first half, the Knights defense had a bend but don't break attitude. They only faced eight shots, but Fisher was called into action on three of them. The teams went to the break headed for another regular season draw. However, Gerbick broke through at the 47:35 mark and notched the match's first goal. The Knights had the lead, and the defense was not about to let it slip. Fisher was only forced into one save in the second half as the defense tightened down and earned the program's first-ever win over IWU and its first-ever win over an NAIA Top 10-ranked opponent.

They were flying high with the victory and won their next three matches by 4-0, 2-0, and 3-0 score lines. The 3-0 win was on Senior Night as they honored seniors Jill Tonetti and Priscila Brito in their final regular season home match.

However, the final hurdle in the way of their second straight regular season title was standing right in front of them. The regular season conclusion was on the road at Spring Arbor University on October 27, 2009. The Knights defeated SAU to clinch the title in 2008, and they would do the same thing with a win in 2009. The Cougars broke through first to take the first lead on the Knights during the entire season. It lasted 40 minutes and 30 seconds as sophomore Lacey Hersman tallied the equalizer. The teams had played even over 90 minutes and, no surprise, they went to extra time. The first overtime session was pretty uneventful, even though the Knights notched the only shot. The second overtime frame was when the Knights were caught as the COugars tallied the match-winner to send the Knights to their first defeat in 17 matches and second in 36 matches. However, the win over Indiana Wesleyan gave the Knights a share of the title, with the tiebreaker only for seeding purposes. The Knights finished the regular season 15-1-1 and 7-1 in the MCC.

Over the last two regular seasons, the Knights are an astounding 29-1-3 overall and 14-1-1 in conference play. The postseason was in front of the Knights and, with their highest-ever ranking in the NAIA poll, they looked poised for their first-ever trip to the NAIA National Tournament.

As the No. 1-seed, the Knights hosted throughout and they showed why in the opening match. They dominated Huntington University for the entire 90 minutes in a 7-0 win to open the tournament. However, the second round was a much different story as a much-improved Grace College team came calling in the semifinals. The Lancers took the Knights to the breaking point as they opened the scoring in the second half and looked like they were going to cruise to a 1-0 win. But, Hersman, Jane-on-the-spot, tallied another one to save the Knights with just 31 seconds remaining. The magical season was not over yet. It was in the second overtime session that the Knight punched their ticket to the final. Sophomore defender Ally Higgenbottom scored just her second career goal, but it was the biggest of the season with just 3:51 remaining in the match.

It was on to the championship final for one last showdown with Indiana Wesleyan University, and a potential berth in the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round.

The Knights picked a bad time to fall into a shell as IWU unloaded in the first half by out-shooting them, 13-1. However, they did not concede under the barrage. But, it seemed a matter of time. IWU tallied just four minutes out of the break and sealed the win with 9:30 remaining to book their place at nationals. The Knights had every reason to be disappointed with their game that day, however, when one looks at the story of the season, they have got to be amazed.

The 2009 team set the standard for the most wins in school history with 17, a goals-against average of just 0.34, and a campaign in which they out-scored their opponents, 57-7. Wow, what a season!

Postseason accolades were little consolation after the defeat, but the Knights were honored for the most impressive season in school history.

Guldner was named MCC Coach of the Year for the second straight season, while Gerbick was named MCC Player of the Year. Gerbick, Schmidt, Higgenbottom, Fisher, and Toth were named All-Conference, and Gerbick was named NAIA All-America honorable mention.

Individual school records fell as well. Fisher shattered every goalkeeping record for a single season that is kept at Marian University. She set a new gold standard for goals-against-average (0.36), shutouts (12), and wins (14). While not tested often, Fisher came up large when she faced shots.

The 2009 campaign will go down as one of the greatest for any sport at Marian University in its history.