Oct. 17, 2008

Box Score |  Notes

MILWAUKEE - Freshman Sarah Hagen set a school record with her 17th goal of the season and senior Sarah Teegarden had a goal and three assists to lead the No. 22 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team to a convincing 5-0 victory over Butler University Friday night at Engelmann Field. The Panthers (13-2-2, 5-1-0 Horizon), who entered the night tied for first place in the league standings with the Bulldogs (9-7-0, 4-2-0 Horizon), opened up what was a close game with four second-half goals to cruise to their fourth-consecutive shutout victory.

Hagen struck for her 17th goal of the season at the 75:27 mark, taking a feed from Teegarden at the top of the 18-yard box after a turnover. She settled the ball before firing the record-breaker past the BU keeper, breaking the former mark of 16 held by Lisa Krzykowski (set in 1995 and 1997).

"Right from the beginning of the season, she started off with big goals against Wisconsin and Ohio State - goals against tougher teams on the schedule that gave the team a lot of confidence," UWM head coach Michael Moynihan said. "It certainly gave her confidence to keep finishing. It's special when you get 17 goals. That is tough - and to do it as a freshman - I didn't think it would ever happen."

Teegarden played a major role all night, scoring the only goal of the first half in the 13th minute. Sophomore Nicole Sperl started the play with a corner kick. It came right back out to Sperl and she served it back into the goal box. Teegarden went up high and headed it up and over the Bulldog keeper who had come off her line to make a play on the ball for her third goal of the year.

The Panthers came close to finding the back of the net on a couple other occasions before halftime, but Butler's Laura Baker made diving stops of shots by freshman Keara Thompson in the 36th minute and junior Louise Vraney in the 38th, getting just enough of a hand on each to send them wide of the post. A team save in the 15th minute also kept sophomore Sarah Talbert from a would-be goal.

Teegarden opened up the second half by assisting Vraney on back-to-back goals in the 48th and 54th minutes before setting up Hagen for the record-breaker.

"From the very beginning (Teegarden) brought a lot of energy and covered a ton of ground tonight," Moynihan said. "She does a lot for us. It's hard for us sometimes because we have different players that do different things and need to be appreciated for them. And, Sarah is someone who has not been in the `spotlight' yet this season, but she is the heart and soul of the team. Her work rate and her commitment every game is phenomenal."

Freshman Laurel Ragalie tallied the fourth goal at the 61:21 mark, sending home a close-range header right in front of the goal box on a long-range serve from the right end line by Vraney.

Senior Erin Kane recorded her seventh shutout of the season and 50th victory of her career. The UWM back line played well all night, forcing Kane to make just two saves - with both being easy stops on shots from distance.

"We shut them down very well and they have some dangerous attacking players so I was very happy with that," Moynihan said. "There were a few things that we figured out early in the game that really helped. Really, the most dangerous chances came from mistakes when we had the ball and we don't like to see that. But, we cleaned it up and didn't really give them anything in the second half so that was nice."

For the match, Milwaukee outshot Butler 21-to-6, including a 12-to-2 edge in shots on goal. It also forced five corner kicks to none for the Bulldogs and were called for 13 of the contest's 19 fouls.

The Panthers remain at home and return to action next Friday, hosting Detroit at Engelmann Field in a game set to start at 7 p.m.