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Howard women's soccer team makes history with first ever NEC Conference championship; headed to NCAA tournament
The Howard University women's soccer team is making history after winning their first ever NEC conference championship; the Lady Bison will play the #1 ranked Duke Blue Devils in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
WASHINGTON - Howard University’s women’s soccer team is celebrating their historic Northeast Conference title win and preparing for their upcoming NCAA tournament appearance.
The team gathered at Ben’s Chili Bowl in D.C. Monday to celebrate the milestone and found out they’ll face top-ranked Duke in the first round on Friday at 6 p.m.
"Excited. Honestly, I feel like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’m glad we get to do it with this group of girls," said Melea Earley, the NEC Tournament's most valuable player.
Earley, originally from California, has a personal connection to Howard — her father is an alum.
"I knew this was where my destiny was," she said."I didn’t even know if I wanted to play soccer, but I just knew I wanted to be at this school. Making an impact on the soccer field as well makes me excited to graduate as a Howard alum."
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Coach Brent Leiba told FOX 5 that this year's team showed lots of growth, describing a challenging start to the season.
"I'm so proud of this team, especially from when we started the season," he said. "We dealt with a bit of adversity. We were playing well, but we weren't quite getting the results. To see us turn it around—not just our performance going to a different level, but also finally getting the results we deserved—is really rewarding."
"Honestly, we were really trying to work out some kinks in the beginning of the season," Earley shared. "After our first conference loss, we had a team meeting where everyone got everything off their chest. From that, we were able to turn it around."
This Friday, the Howard women’s soccer team will face Duke for the first time, a challenge Earley embraces.
"Honestly, just especially because Howard may not seem like one of the top contenders for schools all over the country, but, I mean, if we win, it would be amazing to put Howard on the map in such a big way like that," she said.
The Lady Bison hope to make Howard history again with an NCAA tournament victory and prove themselves against one of the nation’s top teams.