Dempsey Lajoie
The 2023 Women’s Soccer NEC Regular Season Champions, Merrimack College have continued their run to playoffs but have made an upgrade in the process.
Merrimack College changed conferences before the 2024-2025 academic year, from the North East Conference to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Former athletic director Jeremy Gibson made this move specifically for the men’s basketball team to give them more competition.
Lucky for Merrimack Women’s Soccer in the 2023 season they made school history in being the first Women’s team to win a championship at the Division 1 level. The Women knew that nothing this season would come easy to them and that they would have to work for everything.
Senior Captain Aja Alimonti said “Once we found out we were moving conferences it was just another challenge for us to accomplish and we were already holding such a high performance standard from last year. We went into the season knowing that no one in the MAAC would respect us or expect anything from us, which is why we were ranked 7th in the preseason polls.”
Throughout the season the Warriors experienced triumphs and tribulations; winning, losing and ending in ties.
Senior Ella Cormier said “Once we got to our last three games in the regular season, we knew we could not afford a loss, so from then on, every game was a playoff game to us. We had to change the mindset that WE were going to determine the outcome of the rest of the season, not the other teams.”
As Cormier said the last three games of their regular season games were huge to determine their outcome and position in the playoffs. Saturday October 19, the Warriors played Manhattan University, right out the gate Ella Cormier scored with 3:01 on the clock. This being Cormier’s third goal of the season and 20th career goal. This goal secured her spot as the all-time leader for goals in the D1 era for Merrimack Women’s Soccer
Cormier said “My record breaking goal against Manhattan will always be a special moment in my life that I will never forget. During warm-ups, I had rolled my right ankle pretty bad, but told my coaches I would just tape it up and use my left foot instead. Within the first 5 minutes of the game is when I scored my 20th career, and record breaking goal, with my left foot. I was so excited and happy to score and break the record, but also put my team in a good position to tie or win the game and keep our playoff dreams alive.”
Which she did, the Warriors and the Jaspers of Manhattan University tied 2-2. With this the Warriors knew that they had to win their last two games in order to make it to the MAAC playoffs.
Later that week the Warriors faced off against Sacred Heart University at home on October 23, where they defeated the Pioneers 2-1. Three days later the Warriors were on the road to Mount St. Mary, where some had their doubts in the Warriors because they no longer had their home field advantage. Despite the doubt the Warriors came home with a 3-1 win over Mount St. Marys and secured their spot in the MAAC playoffs.
Alimonti said “We came together in a much harder conference and reminded each other of our goals. We showed up in big moments. Making the playoffs and continuing our success means so much to us and we’re so proud to represent our school.”
November 3, the Warriors faced off Canisius University in the first round of playoffs. Unfortunately the Warriors came up short losing 0-2.
Cormier said “As this season is my last season, making the playoffs meant the world to me, and seeing the same determination and heart come from every player, whether they were on the field or bench, showed me how much of a family this team is. No matter what, we never gave up, we kept working until the last whistle.”
With this being Merrimack’s first ever appearance in the MAAC playoffs, Merrimack Women’s Soccer let the MAAC know we are here.
