Box Score |  Notes

GREEN BAY, Wis. (Oct. 26, 2009) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team scored three first-half goals and rolled to a 4-1 win over Green Bay Monday evening at Aldo Santaga Stadium.

In a game that was postponed Friday, the Panthers (10-5-3, 8-0 Horizon) outshot the homestanding Phoenix (4-10-3, 2-4-2 Horizon), 18-1, in the first half en route to their eighth league win in as many games. Having already clinched the No. 1 seed in the Horizon League Championship, UWM enters the tourney coming off its fifth perfect league season since 2000.

"One of our goals this season was to finish conference play undefeated," Milwaukee head coach Michael Moynihan said. "To score the amount of goals we did this season (averaging four per game in league play) was impressive. A lot of our league went out of conference and played some very good teams in close matches, which shows the progress we are making as a program."

Senior Kate Megna got the scoring started in just the ninth minute off an assist from sophomore Sarah Hagen. A common scoring combination for Milwaukee, their roles were reversed Monday as Hagen played a long ball into the box that Megna was able to finish.

Megna added her nation-leading 15th assist of the season later in the game and scored a point in her seventh-straight match. Meanwhile, Hagen saw her school-record nine-game goal-scoring streak come to an end. But, with the assist, she extended her school-record point-scoring streak to 10 games despite playing just 32 first-half minutes in the game.

The Panther offense was far from over, as junior Sarah Talbert tallied the eventual game-winner off a 35-yard blast in the 26th minute. Senior Kayla DeJardin played a ball across to Talbert, who blasted the right-footed shot past GB keeper Maddie Drusch. Sophomore Keara Thompson then made it 3-0 just under seven minutes later, finishing a loose ball in the box.

"I liked the way we came out in the first half," Moynihan said. "We moved the ball well and I was a bit surprised to be up 3-nil at halftime. Green Bay has been a stingy defensive team all year, but we came out and created some terrific scoring opportunities."

As mentioned, Milwaukee outshot Green Bay, 18-1, and forced Drusch into eight first-half saves.

In the second half, the Panthers were able to rest some of their starters and get the bench some valuable minutes leading into the league tournament in two weeks. The scoring did not end, however, as sophomore Sammy Vovos made it a 4-0 game just four minutes into the second half.

The Phoenix ducked the shutout, as Lauren Sommers converted a penalty kick at 80:42. GB was awarded the PK after an unintentional hand ball in the penalty area.

For the game, UWM held a commanding 27-6 advantage in shots and took all four of the game's corner kicks. The two teams played a clean game in rainy conditions, with just four fouls whistled on each team.

Junior Leslie Deebach picked up her third win of the season with two saves for the Panthers. Aliena Debelak played the second half for the Phoenix and added three saves to Drusch's eight.

Milwaukee now has nearly two weeks off before opening up the 2009 Horizon League Championship in the semifinals Friday, Nov. 6. The Panthers are the No. 1 seed and will host the semifinal and championship rounds. Their semifinal round opponent will be the lowest-seeded team to advance out of the quarterfinals. Those games will be played Sunday, Nov. 1, and pit No. 3 Valparaiso vs. No. 6 Green Bay and No. 4 Loyola vs. No. 5 Butler.