Oct. 24, 2003

Box Score

IOWA CITY, IA - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team used a balanced offensive attack and stingy second half defense to defeat the University of Iowa 3-1 in windy, rainy conditions here Friday (Oct. 24) night. UWM scored two unanswered goals in the first half en route to evening its overall record to 7-7-1 on the year. With the loss, the Hawkeyes fell to 3-12-2 overall.

"This was really a nice win for us," UWM head coach Michael Moynihan said. "Anytime you can go on the road and beat a Big Ten Conference school is nice. Iowa has had some big wins and a higher RPI than us so its good to get one. We were able to play everyone and they all contributed. We were really balanced tonight."

The two teams played even soccer in the early part of the match as both teams battled the difficult weather conditions. Milwaukee eventually started to take control of things in the latter parts of the second half which led to two goals in the final five minutes of the frame. Taking advantage of a corner kick opportunity in the 41st minute, sophomore Nicole Motl launched a corner kick to the far post where it found Brenda Neigbauer who headed it home for her first collegiate goal. Motl struck again, this time three minutes later when another one of her corner kicks found the foot of Brenda Andrews, who drove home her first goal of the year for a 2-0 halftime cushion.

Iowa took five shots to UWM's four in the first half while Milwaukee capitalized on two of its four corner kick opportunities. Junior netminder Kerri St. Aubin needed to stop just one shot in posting a shutout in the first 45 minutes.

Playing from behind, the homestanding Hawkeyes played with four forwards and really challenged on offense. The aggressive attack paid off in the 56th minute when leading scorer Katelyn Quinn was able to cut the Panther lead in half. Quinn took a Lindsay Phillips shot and drove a low blast past UWM keeper Molly Schneider and into the back left corner of the net for a 2-1 game.

However, Milwaukee was able to put the game out of reach in the 65th minute when junior Sara Lewis added on an insurance goal to make the score 3-1. Lewis corraled a failed clear by the UI defense and blasted a 25-yard shot past Hawkeye backup goalkeeper, Brooke Peterson. Iowa continued its aggressive offensive attack in the games final minutes but the tough UWM defense thwarted any real scoring chances.

"We really had some nice performances tonight from everyone," noted Moynihan. "Melissa Ricter did a great job in the midfield controlling the tempo and winning some balls. Nicole Motl came off the bench to give us some great serves and the defense played very well in the second half. Now we have to take care of business on Sunday."

The Panthers will return home for the aforementioned Sunday match with a chance to clinch the regular season Horizon League title. UWM will host Youngstown State at 12 p.m. on Sunday at Engelmann Field and, with a win, can post its fourth straight league title.