NORMAL, Ill. – A pair of first-half goals turned out to be just enough as the Milwaukee women's soccer team claimed a 3-2 victory over Illinois State Sunday afternoon at Adelaide Street Field.
 
The Panthers (3-1-1) led the Redbirds (0-6) by a 2-0 score early, hanging on down the stretch after the home team made it a one-goal contest in the 82^nd minute.
 
The offense fired off 21 more shots today, its third-straight outing of 20-plus, converting into a season-high three goals to run its unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1).
 
"I am really happy with the types of chances we are getting," head coach Kevin Boyd said. "The majority of our shots are all coming from inside the 18. We are getting into the opponent's 18 consistently with lots of opportunities. That's exactly what we want to be doing and we are happy about that."
 
Lainey Higgins got MKE on the board at the 9:25 mark, calmly cleaning up a shot off the crossbar that came from Senya Meurer to make it 1-0.
 
Brooke Parnello then put on a show to make it 2-0, using a 360-move to lose her defenders and create enough space at the top of the 18 to send a left-footed rocket into the top corner of the goal at the 26:30 mark.
 
The Redbirds got a goal from distance in the closing minute before intermission but Milwaukee was able to regain the two-goal advantage when the Illinois State defense sent a corner kick from Elizabeth Reece into the net to make it 3-1 in the 47^th minute.
 
"The concerning thing for me is that we are leaking some goals that we need to take care," Boyd said. "What we have been doing is we have been consistently letting teams have chances out of very little play. That is what our team is focused on, trying to take those chances away. And today, unfortunately, it resulted in two goals for the other team. They had four shots and scored two goals … we had 214 shots and scored three goals. The dominance hasn't quite shown up that we are playing with. The scorecard is not quite reflecting that yet."
 
The Panthers spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a fourth goal, but could only come close on numerous occasions. The chances started early in the second, seeing Haley Johnson nearly score on a header just two minutes after the lead grew to 3-1.
 
Higgins almost had her second of the day in the 58^th minute as well. The team kept up the pressure, seeing Natalie Auble send a one-timer off a centering pass inches left of the post in the 63^rd.
 
Kayla Rollins came close next, nearly converting Molly O'Regan's header to the far post into her third goal of the season in the 69^th minute. It was O'Regan again, this time in the 79^th minute, trying to convert a defensive deflection into a goal, only to see the charging ISU keeper get just enough of the attempt to corral it.
 
The final stats were once again lopsided in MKE's favor, finishing with advantages of 21-4 in total shots, 9-2 in shots on goal, 8-1 in corner kicks, as well as 58 percent of possession. Parnello led the team with five shots. In goal, Parker Donahugh picked up another victory.
 
"Road games are hard." Boyd said. "You're away, there was lot of emotion by the opponent [it was ISU's "Senior Day"], there were a lot of cards handed out. I was quite proud of our team to keep their cool amongst a lot of chaos. I was impressed with our maturity to handle the game."
 
Just one game on the schedule next week, but it's a big one, heading to Madison to take on Wisconsin. The game against the Badgers, who were ranked No. 22 in the national poll this week, is set to start at 7 p.m.