MILWAUKEE – Kayla Rollins recorded a brace and Molly O'Regan added a goal and an assist as the Milwaukee women's soccer team extended its unbeaten run in regular-season Horizon League play with an impressive 3-0 victory over Robert Morris Thursday evening at Engelmann Stadium.
 
"From a soccer standpoint, I thought Robert Morris was quite good … I just thought we were really good on the night," head coach Kevin Boyd said. "I thought we played exceptionally well. We are just attacking relentlessly right now and we are doing it with some quality. Good for Molly to get that goal; Kayla had two special goals – the second one was spectacular."
 
The Panthers (7-6-2, 6-0-1) got a goal from Rollins in the 14^th minute and never looked back against the Colonials (4-5-5, 3-2-2 Horizon League), jumping back into first place in the Horizon League standings with the victory.
 
"It was a really important game and gave us the opportunity to take over first place, officially, and are now caught up and two points ahead," Boyd said. "It's a tight race and this year it looks like it's going to go down to the wire."
 
The decision also improved MKE to 7-0 all-time against RMU while extending the team's unbeaten streak in regular-season Horizon League play to 26 (20-0-6) in a row.
 
"We are significantly better than we were in the beginning of the season," Boyd said. "We are a far better team now than we were in August. Disjointed is a good word, too many mistakes in the back, and we have cleaned all of those up and taking pride in our defending as a whole."
 
Rollins came through with a pair of impressive scores, recording her sixth multi-goal performance of her career while also running up her recent hot streak to six goals in her past six games to now lead the conference in both points (19/tied) and with her nine goals.
 
Rollins scored at the 13:42 mark off a lead pass from Ellie Rebmann, chipping the goalkeeper on a tough shot moving through contact to make it 1-0.
 
Her second goal came in transition, finishing a well-placed pass from Lainey Higgins on a blast from distance to make it 2-0 at the 30:19 mark. O'Regan picked up a secondary assist on the play.
 
The score stayed that way until late despite constant offensive pressure from the Panthers, who finished the contest with 26 total shots to mark the sixth time in the past seven games the team has been at 20-plus in attempts.
 
O'Regan was there to close out the scoring in the 80^th minute, slotting in a header flick from Elizabeth Reece to make it 3-0. O'Regan continues to excel against the Colonials and has now totaled 14 points (6G/2A) in just four career contests against tonight's opponent.
 
Parker Donahugh continues to be unstoppable in goal for the MKE defense, recording six saves on the night to run her scoreless streak to 285:53. She claimed her sixth clean sheet in the past seven conference games, lowering her goals-against average to a miniscule 0.14 in league play. None were bigger than in the 82^nd minute, diving low to knock away RMU's best chance of the evening and keep the shutout intact.
 
"That was a big-time save at the end to preserve the shutout, which is a huge pride point for our team, but especially for the goalkeeper and the back four," Boyd said. "For her to get that save late like that was really well done."
 
For the game, Milwaukee posted huge advantages of 26-7 in shots and 14-6 in shots on goal, while finishing with 60 percent of possession on the evening. Robert Morris did conclude the night with four of the six corner kicks in the match, seeing Brenna Murray tie her career high with a 10-save outing. For the offense, Rollins led the way with five shots (3 on goal), with Higgins credited with four.
 
Up next, the team will head to Indiana to play IU Indianapolis Sunday, set for a kickoff of 12 p.m. CT.