MILWAUKEE – Behind a brilliant second-half offensive performance, the Milwaukee women's soccer team earned the Horizon League regular-season title with a 5-0 victory over Cleveland State Saturday afternoon at Engelmann Stadium.
 
The Panthers (9-6-2, 8-0-1 Horizon League) put their foot on the gas in the second half, scoring four goals against the Vikings (2-14-1, 2-8-0 Horizon League) to earn at least a share of their fourth consecutive Horizon League regular-season title, as well as their ninth league crown in the past 10 seasons.
 
"It's especially nice to have that decided before we go into our final game on the road," head coach Kevin Boyd said. "I am really glad that is taken care of. It takes some pressure off the team – especially on 'Senior Day' for them to finish this way and for us to get a lot of players on the field, which is well-deserved. One of the things I told the team at the end here, was that we've had multiple days where we have been getting 20-plus shots … but it's a one or two-goal affair. It's nice to be on the other side of that finally and get five goals out of all those efforts."
 
The victory extended a perfect month of October, one in which the team is now 5-0 and has posted five straight shutouts and outscored the opposition by a count of 16-0.
 
With the decision, the team extends its unbeaten streak in regular-season Horizon League play to 28 (22-0-6) in a row and is now an unblemished 25-0-1 in the all-time series against Cleveland State.
 
The big day resulted in two-goal performances from Kayla Rollins and Molly O'Regan, as well as two-assist outings from both Ellie Rebmann and Zoey Pagels.
 
On a day in which the program honored nine players on "Senior Day", it was a member of that class that nearly started the scoring early. Rollins gave a hint of things to come just 2:48 in, nearly scoring early but seeing the crossbar prevent the strike from distance.
 
Despite a strong push from the offense, the game was still scoreless until deep into the first period. O'Regan got her first of the day, on the doorstep, heading in a combination of passes from Pagels and Rebmann for her fourth goal of the season at the 33:36 mark.
 
"First of all, they played quite well," Boyd said of CSU in the first half. "When we got to goal, we weren't putting anything on frame at all and when we were getting crosses, we were hitting them at the keeper and putting them over the endline. It was a tight game … they had five corners to our one by the half, and that's just not good enough for us. Second half, we did a better job of putting balls on frame and, lo and behold, you start scoring goals that way."
 
The second half was a different story, as the team scored four more times to set a new season-high for a match with five goals. Rollins got it going in the 49^th minute, heading in a corner kick from Elizabeth Reece to make it 2-0.
 
Jenni Andjelic then took it on herself to widen the advantage, picking up a turnover near midfield before charging into the box and blasting a rocket to the far post for the 3-0 advantage at the 51:03 mark.
 
Rollins got her brace in the 66^th minute, finishing a pass from Pagels, sneaking it just inside the post for her seventh career multi-goal performance.
 
O'Regan then closed it out at the 71:06 mark, heading the ball right from the CSU goalie's grasp off a well-placed shot from Rebmann to get her brace.
 
In net, Parker Donahugh was not busy until late but made three impressive saves to extend her shutout streak to 465:53 with her fifth consecutive clean sheet. The first came in the 70^th minute, rushing to the opposite side of the box to stonewall a header with pace off a Viking free kick. The second and third came back-to-back in the 77^th minute, pushing away a chance in front before coming up with the big save on the rebound opportunity.
 
For the day, the Panthers were over 20 total shots for the eighth time in their last nine outings, finishing with the 21-17 advantage which included 11-3 in shots on goal. The visitors did earn seven of the 11 corner kicks on the day. Rollins led the way with a 6-shot afternoon as well as five points (2G/1A) after adding a secondary assist on O'Regan's second goal. O'Regan was next with four shots.
 
The team celebrated the following players with "Senior Day" ceremonies pregame: #1 Parker Donahugh, #3 Stephanie Recinos, #6 Cate Cullison, #7 Elizabeth Reece, #13 Lainey Higgins, #14 Josie Kelderman, #17 Molly O'Regan, #18 Kayla Rollins, and #26 Senya Meurer.
 
Up next, the Milwaukee will close out the regular season with a trip to Green Bay Wednesday, with a victory securing the league title all to itself. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.