After a one hour and 40-minute delay to start off the match, the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse Women’s Soccer team  overcame the weather and the University of Wisconsin- River Falls Falcons, winning 2-0 on October 7, 2017.  

With the victory the Eagles extended their winning streak to four with an overall record of 9-1-2 and still undefeated in the WIAC. The Falcons of River Falls dropped to 3-8-1 and 0-2-1 in the WIAC.  

When the game finally kicked off the rain was very heavy. Many players had a hard time finding their footing. 

“Delays are always hard but I think our team handled it well and really made sure we stayed focused. We are always excited to come out and play, tonight we just had to wait a little bit longer,” said UWL Senior Maddie Granos. 

The first half totaled up 11 shots combined between the teams, with nine going to UWL and two to UWRF. Most of the first half was spent in the middle third of the field as both teams were battling for possession and battling the weather.  

“I think the rain is always tough to deal with, nobody wants to be wet and cold. But again, our team knows what we want to do and we are going to come out and play our way every game no matter what the conditions are,” said Granos, “Rain may make your passes skip or your touch be slick but you have to know that going in, and you must refocus yourself to play with the conditions and I think our team did a great job of that tonight.” 

The Eagles came out of the break in attack mode. Scoring in the 47th minute of the foot of UWL Junior Alex Cording with the assist going to UWL Junior Margaret Harings.  

The Eagles added to their lead a few minutes later in the 51st minute with a goal from Harings. Both scorers for the Eagles recorded their fourth goals of the season, according to uwlathletics.com 

“I was really impressed with our team tonight. The conditions were pretty tough and we were able to power through and get the result. That was big,” stated Granos 

The conditions of the field would have been much worse if it was not for the new turf field at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.  

“I think the new field held up pretty well, the turf held up better than any grass would’ve. It was a lot of rain so there were definitely some puddle spots but nothing compared to what playing on grass would’ve been like. We were very pleased with how our field held up!” said Granos. 

The match ended with 19 shots by UWL with ten on goal to UWRF’s four shots and three on goal.  

See the Eagles on Sunday, October 8, 2017 take on Concordia University at 3 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex, the forecast is calling for zero percent chance of rain.