WIAC Soccer Tournament

There's no time better than the end of the season to play your best and several Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams are doing just that entering the 2000 conference women's soccer championships.

UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stout all had successful late-season runs to bring plenty of momentum into this year's tournament.

UW-Stevens Point won the regular season title with its ninth straight undefeated WIAC season and brings a nine-game winning streak into its quarterfinal match. The Pointers outscored their WIAC foes 50-2 this season and held three WIAC opponents without a single shot on goal. All four of UW-Stevens Point's losses have come to teams ranked in the top 13 of the NCAA Division III rankings.

Marie Muhvic, the all-time leading goal scorer in school history, leads the Pointers with 21 goals and 11 assists for 53 points this season. Senior Margaret Domka is the league's top-scoring defender with nine goals and senior Abby Rabinovitz has a 0.19 goals against average to rank third in Division III.

UW-Whitewater went 10-2-1 over its final 13 matches, though a loss to UW-Stout on Oct. 14 snapped a 10-game unbeaten streak. The Warhawks boast the one of the league's leading scorers in Wendy Scott with 18 goals and five assists in 16 matches. Staci Gustafson has 13 goals and eight assists, while Bonny Bodis has a 1.02 goals against average.

UW-Eau Claire won 10 of its last 12 matches with its only losses during the stretch coming to UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater. The Blugolds feature an outstanding tandem of forwards in Kari Blasczyk and Erika Thompson, who are both nearing the single-season school record of 17 goals. Blasczyk has 15 goals and Thompson has scored 14 times.

UW-Oshkosh is enjoying its best season ever, riding an eight match winning streak into tournament and having outscored opponents 43-2 over the span. Freshman Jolanda Aalbers is already the school's all-time leading scorer with 27 goals and eight assists for 62 points. Sarah Snyder has eight goals, including the game-winner with 31 seconds left in a 1-0 regular season finale against UW-La Crosse.

UW-Stout has also been hot, winning three of its last four with the only loss coming to 23^rd ranked St. Thomas 3-2. Becky Howard leads the team with eight goals and nine assists.

UW-River Falls has only scored six goals and been shutout 12 times this season, but has still managed three victories. UW-La Crosse is the defending league runner-up, but slipped to the seventh seed this year. The Eagles battled each of the top four seeds to losses of two goals or less. UW-Platteville also has six goals this season and has been shutout in nine straight matches entering the tournament since a 3-0 win over UW-Superior on Sept. 23.