WATERVILLE — Charlotte Johnson can’t really contextualize it. After all, there’s been no context for it at any point in her life.

Johnson and the Colby women’s soccer team will compete in the NCAA Division III women’s soccer tournament for the first time since 1999 when they face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Johnson, a senior captain. “Honestly, it really hasn’t hit me yet. I think this weekend, being there (will make it feel real). We’ve been talking about getting that little patch on our jerseys with the NCAA logo, and I think that’s really when it’s going to set in.”

Colby’s at-large bid to the NCAA tournament has been years in the making. Thanks to a group of veteran leaders and a standout collection of sophomores, the New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament runner-up enjoyed its first winning season since 2012.

Colby (11-4-3) set a program record for wins in a season under first-year head coach Seth Benjamin. The Mules (2.6 goals per game, 0.9 allowed per game) are peaking at the right time. They knocked off Williams and Wesleyan, who were both nationally ranked at the time, in the NESCAC tournament before losing to Amherst in penalty kicks in the final.

The win over Wesleyan, ranked No. 4 in the country, likely secured Colby’s NCAA bid. Benjamin knew on Sept. 7, after the Mules claimed a 1-0 win at rival Bowdoin, that the Mules had the “it” factor.

“You look at maybe the lack of success (the program has had) against Bowdoin, and to get that first conference win and those three points was hugely important,” Benjamin said. “It was just a huge step to realize, for them to realize that they can beat anyone in our conference. You beat Bowdoin after you hadn’t, and the team kind of started to believe right then.”

That belief is necessary playing in NESCAC. The NCAA tournament will include four NESCAC teams – Colby, Amherst, Tufts and Wesleyan. Facing that level of competition on a regular basis, sophomore Annie Liebich said, has the Mules ready for this weekend.

“We’re arguably in the best conference that there is in D3, and every team is going to be a challenge,” Liebich said. “Even if you look at Bates and Trinity, they were bottom, but they gave us tough games in the regular season. I think that helped us prepare because it taught us no team is going to be easy.”

Liebich is part of a sophomore class that’s been big in helping Colby survive that gauntlet. Of the five players who have earned the most minutes for the Mules in 2024, four of them (Liebich, defender Samantha DeWitt, midfielder Madison Genser and forward Abigail Jarvi) are sophomores.

It’s a group that’s become well-known throughout the conference. Jarvi (10 goals, tied for most in NESCAC) and Liebich were named first-team all-conference selections, while DeWitt, who scored the lone goal in the win over Bowdoin, was a second-team pick.

“We always kind of joke with them that we forget how young they are because they play like veterans,” Benjamin said. “They play with that sense that they have that experience, when really they’re just sophomores. That group has done really well for us.”

Colby’s sophomore and junior classes came in under Tracey Leone, who coached the Mules in 2022 and 2023. Benjamin credited the recruiting Leone’s staff did over those two years as significant to Colby’s ascension.

This year’s team didn’t come together overnight. After Colby nearly broke through a few times over the past 25 years – beating three ranked teams last year and going 9-3-3 in 2006, for instance – this year’s Mules are crediting their success to the teams that came before them.

“I think every team for the past 25 years has done their job, and now, we’re finally there, and we’re doing it,” Genser said. “We have to thank everyone (on all of those teams) because now, we’re finally exceeding what we’ve been trying to do.”

A win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (13-3-3) would send the Mules to the second round, where they’d battle the winner of a matchup between host MIT and SUNY Geneseo for a trip to the quarterfinals.

After a big crowd came to cheer on Colby in the NESCAC final against Amherst in Middletown, Connecticut, the Mules are expecting another big one Saturday for a game closer to home.

“Having so much support from the school, from our alumni and from everyone is just so special,” DeWitt said. “It really helps all of us see the amazing things we’re doing, how we’ve come so far and how everybody has pushed us to the team that we are.”