MILWAUKEE – Three goals in each half, including a two-goal/one-assist effort from
Natalie Auble, helped the Milwaukee women's soccer team roll to a 6-0 victory over Northern Illinois Thursday evening in the season opener at Engelmann Stadium.
The Panthers (1-0) found their first score in the 11
th minute and poured it on from there against the Huskies (0-1), recording the most goals in a season opener in program history, edging out the five the team scored in the 2020 contest.
"I think it comes down to the experience of this team," head coach
Troy Fabiano said. "We return quite a few players and it's probably one of our deepest teams, if not our deepest. But that is what we stressed in the preseason – can we come out, have a good showing, get people in, and get them a lot of minutes."
It was
Jelena Sever to open the scoring, blasting home a ball off the foot of
Taylor Hattori that hit the crossbar and bounded back in play at the 10:38 mark.
"It's always nice to have a season opener at home," Fabiano said. "We may have rushed our decisions early on. But we stayed composed and things kept going in a positive direction."
Auble and
Rafferty Kugler then teamed up for the next two goals, with Auble cleaning up a partially-saved shot in the 21
st minute before burying a blast from distance inside the right post in the 29
th on a set-up from the wing by Kugler.
Milwaukee dominated the entire evening, finishing the contest with advantages of 26-to-7 in shots, 12-to-5 in shots on goal, 6-to-0 in corner kicks, as well as maintaining a 60/40 advantage in overall possession.
The second half followed a similar script, with
Mackenzie Schill tapping in a pass at the far post from Auble in the 65
th minute to make it 4-0, with
Haley Johnson also picking up an assist on the strike.
Plenty of action came from MKE reserves off the bench, with a total of 24 different players seeing the field on the night.
Kat Van Booven got in on the action next, burying a blocked shot from teammate
Kayla Rollins to make it 5-0 at the 77:07 mark.
"First game … score goals … win at home … and get in the amount of players that we got in," Fabiano exclaimed. "We are pretty deep. When you score goals, you feel confident and that is a positive thing."
Brooke Parnello then closed out the scoring in the 84
th minute, rocketing a blast off the bottom of the crossbar and in from the right wing after taking a pass from
Lainey Higgins.
In net,
Elaina LaMacchia got the start and went the first 64:15 to pick up the victory, making four saves.
Allie Strottman came on in relief, recording one save over the final 25:45 to preserve the clean sheet.
Sever and Auble paced the offense with four shots each. The five points scored by Auble marks the most in an opener since Sarah Hagen recorded the same 2G/1A statline back in 2011 in a 3-2 win over Michigan State.
The team remains at home and plays again Sunday, hosting Western Illinois in a game set to start at 1 p.m.
