By Robert Durkee

October 18, 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of the first women’s intercollegiate soccer tournament. This inaugural event was hosted by Emma Willard School’s remarkable 1975 team on Mount Ida. On that wet and windy afternoon, the freshly minted women’s varsity teams representing Smith College, Brown University, and the University of Vermont traveled a total of 824 miles to participate in Emma Willard’s round-robin competition of three 40-minute games. Inclement weather did not dampen the energy and enthusiasm of the day. 

Women’s varsity soccer at many of these institutions was a brand-new athletic offering. In contrast, Emma Willard had nurtured a soccer program since 1930. Title IX (1972), which prohibits sex-based discrimination in public education systems, including access to sports, underscored the timeliness of this tournament. The NCAA did not host its own women’s soccer tournament until 1982. The time was right for Emma Willard School to host such a noteworthy event in the history of women’s soccer. Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and Soccer World magazine pledged to cover the event in Troy, NY.

 

It was an absolute surprise when the New York Cosmos—the North American Soccer League’s preeminent, professional team—dispatched its captain, Werner Roth, to kick off our celebration of “The Beautiful Game” or O Jogo Bonita. That phrase was bestowed upon futebol/soccer by Roth’s renowned teammate, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, also known as Pelé. Such beauty was inspired by the game’s “constantly flowing action, dancer-like artistry, seamless teamwork, and unbridled passion for improvised excellence.” Alumna Kath Howell ’59 reflected on the tournament and its significance to the Emma Willard community in the 1976 edition of the Gargoyle:

To be sure, not everyone can play soccer, and not everyone need watch it played. But for those who did on Saturday afternoon, community defined itself in skill, and endurance, and courage; in cheers for losing and cheers for winning—in the sense that WE (so conveniently reversed as EW) stand (and run, and fall and rise) for doing more than we thought we could, and less than we will do the next time. […] A community celebrates itself in sharing—joys and triumphs, and griefs and sorrows. What we have to share is neither more nor less than ourselves.” 

The fine, two-page Emma tournament story that appeared in the January 1976 issue of Soccer World magazine has also served as an essential recollection prompter for the first women’s soccer tournament. With memory fully refreshed, what follows is my recap of the day’s special goodness. 

The University of Vermont (UVM) ended the afternoon as the day’s undefeated champion. This was a remarkably talented squad, boasting members of the legendary Cochran Olympic skiing clan. It was a “veteran” soccer side, having been established three years earlier. While on the pitch of Mount Ida, UVM outscored its tournament opponents 14 to 1. Smith College, Brown University, and Emma Willard School all earned 1-2 win/loss records for the afternoon. 

On a personal note, my sister Susan, a ferocious 4’11” striker at UVM, was the high scorer that afternoon, having tallied 5 goals and 2 assists. Today, I am pleased to report that Susan, a traditional portrait artist, has had the great privilege of returning to campus to unveil her official paintings of former Emma Willard School Heads of School Jenny Rao, Susan Groesbeck, and Trudy Hall. 

Truth be told, each tournament contest was much closer than the final scores might have indicated. All of the teams recorded similar shots-on-goal and corner kicks awarded, but only Vermont was the efficient finisher. (An exception to this general observation was dramatically delivered by Mandy Stearns, Emma Willard Class of 1974 and Brown’s co-captain, whose blast from outside the penalty area earned her team a last-minute, 1-0 victory over Smith.)

The most exciting game of the afternoon pitted host Emma Willard against Brown. The visitors from Providence took the initial lead ten minutes in, with Emma immediately answering back to tie the score less than a minute later. During the next 20 minutes, the lead changed hands four times. Then, with less than four minutes left on the clock, Emma’s Mary Kuppe ’77, eluded two defenders and planted a shot in the lower right corner of the goal for the game winner. Rather than dropping back into a defensive shell, Emma’s players continued to push forward, outshooting Brown 6-2 in the final minutes. It was a magical soccer moment. 

Congratulations to Coach Linda Prudhomme and our Class of 1976 co-captains—Pricey Taylor and Cathy Cobb. Acres of heartfelt thanks to one and all for these memories. I had the most wonderful experience a few years back, after serendipitously discovering a book entitled Women of Sports: The Best of the Best in Women’s Soccer (Rachel Rutledge, 1998). Midway through the book’s opening chapter, I happened upon a full-page photo carrying the following caption: “The first US women’s intercollegiate soccer tournament held in 1975 was won by the University of Vermont. Here Vermont’s Becky Hitchcock and Cathy Cobb of Emma Willard School battle for the ball.” 

Let me conclude by returning to another of Kath’s remembrances of the shared joyfulness on October 18, 1975:

I am a pushover for parades, for processions, for underdogs winning against all odds—and I revel in public demonstrations of those things. Partly because they are public, and in themselves flamboyant, exciting and fun; and partly because the public expression preserves the private moments from which a community of individuals derives the strength and integrity which underlie our common purposes.

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Rob Durkee served as Emma Willard’s Director of Development and soccer coach from 1972 to 1976. After attending Stanford Business School (1976–1978), he worked in various marketing positions for Sports Illustrated, Time Inc., ESPN, and New York City-based nonprofits. His love of soccer has continued uninterrupted as a player and/or coach since 1958. He and his wife, Phyllis, live in Pawling, NY. 

This article was originally written for the Fall 2025/Winter 2026 edition of Signature magazine.