The UW-La Crosse’s Women’s Soccer team had their fantastic season cut short in heart breaking fashion Thursday against the Warhawks of UW-Whitewater.  UW-L was hosting the semi-finals of the WIAC conference tournament sponsored by Culver’s at the Veteran’s Memorial Sports Complex Field.

UW-L entered the game claiming a share of the regular season WIAC title, ranked 6th in the polls and posted the third most wins in school history and were looking to make an impact in the WIAC tournament. Their opponent UW-W has been equally impressive with a very strong regular season finishing third in the WIAC and coming in ranked 7th in the North Region Coaches Poll.

UW-L had the benefit of hosting the game due to their higher finish in the WIAC and the Eagle faithful came out to support their team.  UW-W was definitely on the offensive from the start as they controlled the flow of the game and taking shots as soon as they could get them.

Despite the mismatched offensive stats, UW-W was unable to capitalize as

UW-L managed to use smart defensive clearance and goaltending from Kennedy Brault who has been excellent this season.  UW-L’s shots were outnumbered 13-5 in regulation and they could not earn set pieces as UW-W had more opportunities coming on corners.

The game would fall into the overtime periods, UW-L’s 4th consecutive overtime game in a row, and each team would have their opportunities as the shortened time benefited both teams but in the end it was a UW-W 104th minute goal that ended the game for UW-L and advanced UW-W to the WIAC finals.

UW-L can definitely hang their head on what was a very successful season that should lead only to more success down the road for head coach Jason Murphy, and a very young core.

Alex Cording, Margaret Harings and Natalie Herzog were UW-L’s top offensive options on the year as they led in most statistical categories, and they are all three freshman.  Couple this with the aforementioned net minding by Kennedy Brault and UW-L has nowhere to go but up, which has to be exciting considering the success of the 2015 team.