ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 1 Washington University in St. Louis women's soccer team defeated North Central 5-1 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon at Francis Olympic Field. The Bears will take on MIT in the Sweet 16 next weekend at a site to be determined.

This marks the 20th time in the program's history that the Bears reached the Sweet 16 round and the 10th year in a row (no tournament was held in 2020 due to COVID-19).

Senior Grace Ehlert broke the scoreless deadlock in the 39th minute to make it a 1-0 game for the Bears. Sophomore Olivia Clemons played a short pass to Ehlert, who fired it in for her 14th goal of the year.

In the 55th minute, WashU struck again, this time from senior Ella Koleno. She took a short pass from Clemons in the middle of the box, dribbled, and crossed it into the low right corner for a 2-0 lead. This marks Koleno's eighth goal of the season.

Sophomore Cami Colpitts scored her seventh goal of the year in the 61st minute. She took a pass from Ehlert, made a move around an NCC defender, and fired it in for the 3-0 Bears' advantage.

Clemons scored her team-leading 17th goal of the year in the 66th minute, taking a throw-in from junior Allie Goulding and getting off a quick shot into the low left corner of the goal for a 4-0 game.

Less than one minute later, first-year Heidi Fesler scored her sixth goal of the season, playing a long ball and firing a goal from the top of the box, putting WashU up 5-0.

The Cardinals scored their lone goal of the game in the 88th minute when Jordan Lange dribbled up and fired it into the low left corner of the goal to make it 5-1.

WashU out-shot North Central 29-4 with a 14-4 edge in shots on goal. The Bears also had a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks.

Colpitts registered four shots with three on goal, and Ehlert had four shots with two on goal. Clemons had five total shots, and first-year Annika Park registered six total shots.

Sophomore starting goalkeeper Kassidy Lanthier made two saves with no goals allowed in nearly 78 minutes of play. Sophomore goalkeeper Suzie Green made one save.

The Bears will play MIT, who beat Emmanuel in the first round and Colby in the second round. On the other side of the bracket, Messiah and Calvin will play, all at a site to be determined.