From the time he arrived at Guilford in August of 2021 as the new women’s soccer coach, Justin Maullin never once talked about the heights he hoped the team would reach competitively.

The numbers had been bleak enough for the Quakers in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season before he arrived: just one win and two goals scored in seven games. That was preceded by eight straight losing seasons.

"We never set out for a win total or to accomplish something based on what’s happened before," Justin says. "We just wanted to restore some pride to a program that has had success in the past.”

Three years later, Guilford is celebrating a lot of goals – both aspirational and the ones that find their way into the net.

Guilford finished the season 13-2-4 following a loss to Bridgewater College in the quarterfinals of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament, the best overall record in the history of the program.

Not bad for a team that had only 15 players in 2021 after the disastrous 2020 season.

The loss to Bridgewater won’t detract from everything the team accomplished this year, says Gracie Mayer (above), a senior midfielder. “It sounds like a cliché but we really did believe in ourselves as the years went by,” says Gracie. “In soccer that’s half the battle is believing you can compete with some of these teams in the ODAC.”

Gracie was a sophomore on that Guilford team that finished 1-6. Five players returned from that season, paving the way for the success the team has enjoyed the past three years.

“That first year of students really paved the way for where we are now,” says Justin. “With COVID and the struggles coming off a 1-6 season in 2020, a lot of them were about to just pack it in, but they didn’t. This is their reward for not giving up.”

Justin brought the same strategies to Guilford that he employed as men’s soccer coach at UNCG for nine seasons. “It starts on defense,” he says. “Since I first stepped foot on campus I’ve preached we have to defend. Defense wins championships.”

Guilford didn’t just preach defense, the Quakers practiced it. Guilford led the conference in shutouts and was second in the ODAC in goals against.

A large part of that has to do with goalie Ady Franken ‘24, midfielder Andrea Cazares-Vasquez ’25 and forward Baylee Greenwood ’24, says Justin. “They’ve been phenomenal, but at the end of the day defending is a group asset,” says Justin. “Everyone has contributed so much to this team.”

“Did I think we would get better this quick?” he asks. “Maybe, because these players just continue to answer the call. We’re making some noise on campus and in the community and that’s very exciting.”