On Saturday, Nov. 1, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women’s soccer team worked hard against the University of Wisconsin Whitewater . After 90 minutes the Eagles won, 3-0. This game concluded UWL’s regular season, resulting in the Eagles having a record of 16-2-1 overall and 6-0-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC).
In the beginning of the first half, the first goal was shot by Sera Speltz and assisted by Monica Wawrzyn, putting UW-La Crosse in the lead 1-0. Following the first goal, Aubree Caya added two more goals to the score board, putting UW-La Crosse in a 3-0 lead. Caya scored the second goal at 26:23 on Ella Opie’s assist and tacked another goal on a penalty kick at 30:01.
Caya’s two goals gave her a single-season school record, adding up to twenty-one for the whole season. UW-Whitewater did not score any goals in the first half of the game.
As the second half rolled around, the Eagles fought hard to add more goals to no avail. However, they held UW-Whitewater at bay resulting in UW-Whitewater scoring no points in the second half either.
UWL completed the game with a total of eighteen shots, eight of which were on the goal. UW-Whitewater had five shots, five of which were on the goal. There were five saves from each team, yet three goals were scored on UW-Whitewater.
UW-Whitewater faced 18 shots; meanwhile, UWL only had five shots faced. Aubree Caya recorded five shots, three of which were on the goal. Jillian Sawadski had four shots, two coming on goal. The Eagles tallied up eight corner kicks.
A combined shutout was achieved by Summer Nicolai and Robin Blair. Nicolai earned the win and had four saves for the Eagles. Blair had one save. UW-Whitewater’s Hannah Wolf received the loss, allowing three goals in the first half of the game and four saves. Kara Smith, another UW-Whitewater goalie, played in the second half, allowing no goals and having one save.
The victory of this game resulted in the earnings of UWL’s fourth consecutive WIAC regular season title after yet another victory on Oct. 25 against UW-Oshkosh. The victory placed UWL in first place ranking for the WIAC Tournament and marks the Eagles’ eighth regular season conference championship ever in the school’s history.
