Nov. 8, 2002

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Lisa Bengtsson scored the go-ahead goal in the 52nd minute to lead UWM to a 3-1 win over Wright State in the second semifinal of the Horizon League Women's Soccer Championships Friday night at Uihlein Field.

With the win, the Panthers advance to face Butler in Sunday's (Nov. 10) championship match. The Bulldogs beat Detroit, 2-1, in two overtimes in the first semifinal. Sunday's game will be a rematch of the 2001 championship game, a contest UWM won 1-0 in triple overtime.

"Any time you are trying to beat a good team twice in one season you have your work cut out for you," UWM head coach Michael Moynihan said. "But, we got it done. WSU is a solid team. But, we have been playing our best soccer of late, at least offensively. The players are starting to get in sync with one another and they are feeding off each others energy and that has really helped our team."

Wright State jumped on UWM with an early goal but a Brenda Andrews strike off of a corner kick knotted the game in the first half. After Bengtsson scored the game-winner, Elizabeth Chudy added an insurance tally in the 79th minute to send the regular season league champions to their fourth-straight title match.

Wright State's goal came in the 20th minute, after some miscommunication in the Panther backfield. Andrews played a ball back to Mary Duffy who illegally handled the ball. On the set piece, Kim Chianese buried her 12th goal of the year on a line drive into the top corner of the net.

The Wright State lead lasted 15 minutes before Andrews' redeemed herself to tie the game. The Second-Team All-League player headed home a Maggie Suminski corner kick for the equalizer. The goal and subseqent two points were the first of the sophomore's career. The assist for Suminski was her team-leading eighth of the year.

Milwaukee continued to press the WSU defense and some combination passing led to Bengsston's game-winning tally. The Panthers controlled the ball in the midfield as reserve forward Andrea Kramer broke free from the defense. She centered a pass to the newly-dangerous Maria Iaizzo who slipped a shot by WSU keeper Emily Flohre. Bengsston then corraled the Iaizzo shot and tapped it into the empty net right at the Raider goalline. The goal was the first of the year for the Swede while Iaizzo scored her seventh point of the campaign.

The red-hot Chudy kept her scoring streak alive as her tally in the 79th minute provided the two-goal cushion. Chudy, who has now scored a goal in four straight games, ran to the far post where she headed home a perfectly placed pass from the corner by Suminski. Chudy now has a team-high eight goals on the year while Suminski pushed her season assist and point totals to nine and 15, respectively.

"Our attack is getting better and better and Liz is really holding the ball well up top," added Moynihan. "Maria Iaizzo is really creating problems for other teams as well. Our offense is starting to click and the players feel that. Liz has been a bigtime threat of late and you can just see how dangerous she is. It is something in her personality and I think the other players recognize that."

Sunday's final kicks off at noon at Engelmann Field on the UWM campus. The winner will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Tourmament.