BRONXVILLE, N.Y. - The Sarah Lawrence women's soccer team made its third consecutive Skyline Semifinal appearance this season, capping off a 12-win season. The Gryphons played 110 minutes of scoreless soccer in the semifinal before heading to penalty kicks.

Awards and Achievements

The Gryphons saw six student-athletes named to the all-conference teams after their strong season, with Viktoria Balbin, Chloe Barker and Daniela Perez earning first team honors and Katey Beaver, Grace Carter and Cora Colvin donning second team recognition. The Gryphons also dominated the Skyline's weekly awards, with Barker earning rookie of the week twice, Beaver and Sydney Atherley earning offensive player of the week honors and Bella Vaca taking home a defensive player of the week nod as a first-year keeper. Vaca joined Barker and Perez to lead all Skyline schools with a trio of student-athletes on the United Soccer Coaches All-Region Third Team.

The team also had 22 players named to the conference's academic honor roll and five named to the College Sports Communicator's Academic All-District Team. Colvin was named to the Skyline's all-sportsmanship team for the third straight year as well. 

Season By the Numbers

SLC's 12 wins marked their third consecutive double-digit win campaign, with their eight conference victories granting them the fourth seed in the conference tournament. The team ranked top-50 nationally in eight categories, including goals, points and assists both per-game and overall.

Four SLC performers ranked nationally as individuals, with Barker's 14 goals ranking her within the top 50 scorers across the country. The sophomore added four more top-100 statistics, including game-winning goals, shot accuracy, goals-per-game and total points. Beaver joined her fellow sophomore with two appearances on the leaderboards, ranking top-100 in both total assists and total points. Hannah Chaffin and Bella Vaca also found themselves on the leaderboards, with the former doing so with a 0.628 shot percentage and the latter doing so with six shutouts.

Rewriting the Record Book

As a team, the Gryphons set new records in a range of categories, with the most single-season goals, assists, points and shots on goal as the offense continued to improve on last year's strong campaign. The aforementioned names also placed themselves on the team's single-game and single-season leaderboards. Barker's team-high 14 goals were the third-most in a single season while her four game-winners were tied for the second-most in a single campaign. Vaca's 81.7% save percentage tied atop the single-season leaderboard after playing nearly 1,500 minutes in goal as a first year. Barker would make her mark on the single-game records as well, with a hat trick against Purchase on October 8th. Despite Barker leading the team offensively on the season, it would be Beaver to move into second all-time with five goals in a single game. Her five-goal outburst gave her SLC's second-ever double-digit point performance, with 10 points in the team's dominant win over Yeshiva. A pair of Gryphons earned a hat trick of assists this season, as Ava Warren completed the feat against St. Joseph's Brooklyn before Colvin did so against Old Westbury. Colvin also set the team's single-game shots mark against the Panthers, putting up 14 attempts in the team's win. Warren did more than just find teammates against the Bears as well, as her seven shots on goal topped the single-game leaderboard.

Familiar faces also moved up the career leaderboard for the Gryphons, with Colvin moving into the top spots for career goals, shots and shots on goal. The 2025 graduate wrapped up her SLC career with 20 assists, good for third all-time, in addition to 74 points, which placed her second. Balbin and Chaffin joined the senior on the program's all-time goal scorers list, with 20 scores apiece to tie for fourth place. Balbin moved into first with her 7th game-winning goal this season, one ahead of teammate Katey Beaver, who has racked up six in her two seasons with the Gryphons. Balbin and Chaffin also found themselves in the top five for shots and shots on goal, with Balbin sitting in third place for both categories and Chaffin two spots behind. Vaca's strong first-year campaign with SLC propelled her into fifth place in the program's career saves list while tying for first with an 81.7% save percentage and a dominant 1.23 goals against average that tops the leaderboard.


2024 Postseason Recap

The Gryphons earned the fourth seed in the Skyline tournament after a strong regular season, giving them a home matchup against the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's Long Island in the first round. The team had taken down SJLI 3-1 in Yonkers just two weeks earlier, but this time there was a trip to the conference semifinals on the line. The Gryphons leaned into their defense, allowing just three shots by the visitors all day. It would be Beaver that would provide the scoring boost for SLC, finding the back of the net in the 33rd minute after a pass from senior Lily Matalus to give the Gryphons their eventual 1-0 victory. After taking down the Golden Eagles, the Gryphons found themselves matched up against the top-seeded Dolphins of Mount Saint Vincent. The Gryphons had taken down the Dolphins by a 1-0 scoreline in Yonkers earlier in the year, but were now charged with doing so in Riverdale. The two teams played a scoreless 90 minutes of soccer, despite a few scoring opportunities for each team. The Dolphins had a chance in the final minute of regulation, but a shot off the crossbar kept the game alive, sending it to overtime. The hosts dominated possession in the first OT, holding the Gryphons without a shot while totaling five of their own. A pair of outstanding saves by Vaca kept the team in the game and sent the contest to a second overtime period. Neither team got much going offensively in the second OT period, with a shot on goal by Balbin seven minutes in being saved by UMSV's Sanchez to complete 110 minutes of scoreless soccer. In penalty kicks, the Dolphins converted on their three opportunities to get ahead before advancing to the championships after a 4-2 penalty kick victory.

2025 Season Preview

The Gryphons will certainly miss the departures of key contributors such as Carter, Colvin, Matalus, Leah Burrer, Alexis Valdes and Emma Floyd, but with Barker, Beaver, Chaffin, Perez, Haille Duckrey and more returning, the team is primed for a return to the Skyline tournament.