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Blugolds
Oust Titans in Shootout for Second Straight Year
For the second consecutive year,
UW-Eau Claire ousted UW-Oshkosh from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference women's soccer tournament semifinals with a shootout following a
2-2 tie Friday in Stevens Point.
The Blugolds held a 4-2 advantage
in penalty kicks to advance to the WIAC tournament finals for the eighth
time in the 11-year history of the tournament. Like every previous
appearance, UW-Eau Claire will face UW-Stevens Point, which has won all
seven prior championship encounters.
UW-Eau Claire jumped out to an
early two-goal lead in the first 20 minutes, only to see the Titans use a furious rally in the final
14 minutes to tie the match. The Blugolds scored goals within 2:08 of
another as Sara Bahlmann headed in a free kick by Becky Smith and then Kris
Unterweger took a pass from Megan Oswall, dribbled into space at the top of
the penalty box and ripped a shot that deflected off a Titans' defender into
the goal.
The Blugolds held a 9-8 advantage
in shots at halftime and had the first six shot attempts of the second half
before UW-Oshkosh began its comeback. The Titans scored with 13:30 remaining
when Anna Weickhardt blasted a free kick just outside the penalty box that
Blugolds' goalie Megan Brady saved, but Titans' midfielder Nicole Kunick
knocked home the rebound to cut the lead to 2-1.
UW-Oshkosh scored the tying goal
with 4:07 left when Stacy Stroud broke free from the defense and Blugolds'
keeper Katie Eannelli, who replaced Brady after the first goal, approached
Stroud out of the penalty box. Eannelli deflected Stoud's shot high into the
air, but it rolled all the way into the open net eluding two chasing UW-Eau
Claire defenders. The goal was Stroud's first of her career.
The teams played two scoreless
10-minute overtimes with UW-Oshkosh having the best scoring opportunities
both in the second overtime as Libby Maslowski and Tara Mortimer both had
breakaways that Brady came far out of the net to save.
In the shootout, UW-Eau Claire had
four perfect shots from Emily Peterson, Marcia Foltz, Katie Jensen and
Jullia Powell. UW-Oshkosh's Karin Reinke converted in the first round, but
Anna Weickhardt's second round shot went high over the crossbar. After Sarah
Schnoebelen scored in the third round for the Titans', Eannelli made a
diving save on a shot by Carrie Gilbert for the 4-2 victory.
UW-Eau Claire held a 28-21
advantage in shots as Kristin Grandberry made six saves in the second half
for the Titans and Sara Tomjanovich stopped five shots in the first half.
Brady made seven saves for UW-Eau Claire.
Saturday's title match between the
Blugolds and Pointers is set for 1 p.m. at the Pointer Soccer Bowl.
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