NCAA Women’s Soccer: Swarthmore, Messiah and Penn State Harrisburg advance to Sweet 16

It took two overtime periods playing with 10 and a penalty shootout with their backup goalkeeper in net but Swarthmore outlasted Case Western Reserve on Sunday night in Cleveland to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III women’s soccer tournament.

Swarthmore took an early lead through Charlotte Carleton’s fourth goal of the weekend off an assist from Ava Gizzie in the 6th minute of play but Alexis Sassower equalized in the 19th minute and the two teams engaged in a tightly contested match the rest of the way.

Starting Garnet goalkeeper Dahlia Bedward left with an injury in the 81st minute but was replaced by another senior with the same number of career starts (20) in Lila Travers, who stepped seamlessly into a physical and testy contest that saw a major momentum shift with a straight red card shown to Gizzie for an extended arm to the back of a Case Western defender after a no call on a collision near the top of the box.

Playing down a player, Swarthmore put all 9 field players behind the ball and ran the clock down in both overtime periods by repeatedly clearing the ball down field. Once into the penalty shootout, Travers stepped up with a big save on the first attempt and watched as the other two shot takers missed their attempts. Aminah Evans, Liesel Blau and Celia Kanellakos converted their kicks to win the shootout 3-0 and set up a Round of 16 match with Carleton College on Saturday.

The Garnet (15-3-4) join Messiah (21-2) and Penn State Harrisburg (16-5-4) in the Sweet 16 after the two Harrisburg-area schools picked up 1-0 wins earlier in the day on Sunday.

Hannah Adair scored in the 8th minute on a windy day at Shoemaker Field and it was all the Falcons defense needed to edge Amherst 1-0 and advance to the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight year. Messiah will next take on Calvin College on Friday

Kylie Yap was the hero for Penn State Harrisburg in the program’s second ever NCAA Tournament win, following up an upset win over No. 14 Christopher Newport with an upset of No. 11 Rowan thanks to a late winner from Yap from outside the box off an attempted clearance of a corner kick from Ciera Frick.

Penn State Harrisburg move on to face Mary Washington next after they advanced on penalties following a 2-2 draw with Williams.

Kylie Yap's game-winner to put Penn State Harrisburg into the Sweet 16. @EGSgirlssoccer pic.twitter.com/nv64iwsV6c

— Philadelphia Soccer Now (@phlsoccernow) November 17, 2025

Scranton and Misericordia both were knocked out of their first round games on Saturday, Misericordia on penalties against Rowana and Scranton on a 1-0 loss to Carnegie Mellon.

Wilmington University earned an automatic bid to the Division II women’s soccer tournament with a 2-0 win over Caldwell on Saturday in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference final at Post University. The title is Wilmington’s first since 2012 and second overall. Wilmington beat Jefferson 2-1 in overtime to advance to the conference final.