Nov. 9, 2001

DETROIT-- The UWM women's soccer team (14-4) advances to the Horizon League Championship after defeating Detroit, 2-0, Friday morning at Titan Field. Evann Franklin and Erin Blaedow scored goals for the Panthers, who continued to not give up a single goal in the league.

"Our intensity from the start was incredible," UWM coach Michael Moynihan said. "Our backline looked solid--another shutout. Detroit had very little opportunities. And they couldn't handle our depth."

Sophomore forward Evann Franklin scored the gamewinner unassisted in the 20th minute. The play began when Blaedow played a ball through for forward Amy Oechsner to run on to, but Titans goalkeeper Alisson Dube came out to challenge and kicked the ball into her defender. The ball deflected off Detroit and squirted across the box, allowing Franklin to finish from six yards out to the open goal.

Blaedow, the 2001 Horizon League Player of the Year, scored the insurance goal in the second half off a free kick from junior defender Maggie Suminski. Her back to the goal, Blaedow ran on to the kick and flicked the ball over from 10 yards out. Dube caught Blaedow's shot, but it had already crossed the goal line to give UWM the 2-0 lead in the 49th minute.

The Panthers outshot the Titans, 7-4, while sophomore goalkeeper Kerri St. Aubin recorded her fifth shutout on the season after playing the full 90 minutes. As a team, UWM has 12 shutouts on the year.

"It's just a very unique feeling with the team right now," Moynihan, the 2001 Horizon League Coach of the Year, said. "The team is just very confident, and very supportive of each other. They're doing things on their own to keep everyone together, which is great."

UWM's chemistry has been a big key to its success overall this season, as well as its domination in the league. The Panthers finished as regular-season champions with an undefeated record in the league for the second straight year. Eleven players from UWM were recognized with Horizon League awards, with UWM winning Player and Coach of the Year honors.

"Erin deserved the Player of the Year award in every sense. Not only is she the best player on the field, but also the best person in the league," Moynihan said. "I've never seen someone deserve the award more than her--she's definitely earned it. After being undefeated in the league for two years, it's great that we received a lot of recognition this year. Having that many players recognized with league awards shows are domination in the league. It's a shame we couldn't have more players recognized by the league, because we have others who definitely deserve it as well."

The Panthers will face Butler in the championship game. The Bulldogs defeated Wright St. in the other semifinal. 1-0. The Horizon League Championship game will be played at 11 a.m.(cst) at Titan Field.