MILWAUKEE – Lola Wojcik provided the difference-maker as the Milwaukee women's soccer team claimed a big 3-2 victory over Northern Kentucky Sunday afternoon at Engelmann Stadium.
 
The Panthers (7-4-1, 4-0-0 Horizon League) held off a furious Norse (6-2-4, 3-1-0) rally after taking a 2-0 halftime lead, knocking off NKU for the seventh consecutive time in the series while also extending their unbeaten streak in regular-season league play to an impressive 33 consecutive (27-0-6) matches.
 
Milwaukee looked to be in complete control at the break, taking a 2-0 lead into the locker room. That turned quickly when the visitors broke through in the 47^th minute before making it a new game in the 55^th at 2-2.
 
"Northern Kentucky is a good team, and they have some formidable weapons," head coach Kevin Boyd said. "In the second half, we didn't do a good job of keeping the ball in areas where it wouldn't affect us and we didn't deal with the ball very well. I was not particularly pleased with the second half. I don't think we managed it well, I didn't think we played very well, I felt like we just got frantic, and we should not be doing that at this point in the season. We had to scrap our way back in, and we did, and fortunately Lola got a terrific goal. We answered back and got the win."
 
The Panthers righted the ship, stayed calm, and found the winner, as Wojcik netted her third of the season at the 69:35 mark to propel her team to the important victory in a matchup between the No. 1 and No. 2 (NKU) teams from the preseason poll. The decision makes MKE the only unbeaten, untied team in the league standings, currently at the top alone with 12 points.
 
Milwaukee jumped in front early, building that 2-0 advantage before halftime. Zoey Pagels opened the scoring in the 13th minute, finishing off a passing sequence from Kristina Karlof and Wojcik for her third goal of the season at the 12:07 mark.
 
The MKE offense kept up the pressure, nearly doubling the lead in the 23^rd minute, only to see Mallory McGuire just miss netting a Wojcik pass just right of the post.
 
The Panthers doubled the lead in the 28th minute when Ashlyn Skinner-Barrett slotted home a through ball, assisted by a picture-perfect pass from McGuire after Anna Champine found her near midfield, to make it 2-0.
 
The chances kept coming – the lead looked to be 3-0 in the 33^rd minute on a Taylor Richards header off a Natalie Zodrow corner kick, but a back-post NKU defender cleared the danger after the keeper was beat.
 
Bella Hollenbach then made a big stop, diving to her left on the most dangerous opportunity for the Norse in the first half, coming in the 41^st minute to get it to 2-0 at the break.
 
Northern Kentucky came out strong after the break, pulling one back less than a minute into the second half when Erykah Cornett converted a header inside the box. The Norse then found the equalizer in the 54^th minute when they knocked in a shot that caromed off the post to bring the score to 2-2.
 
"The first goal came out of our player heading the ball backwards and it went to their player heading it in," Boyd said. "The second came from us completely missing the header – there wasn't even a challenger – we just missed it. We started creating additional problems for ourselves. It got to 2-2 and then it was a dicey game."
 
Wojcik nearly had another goal earlier, but her blast off a header from Pagels following a corner kick scrum was saved nicely at the post in the 52^nd minute.
 
Milwaukee tallied the final score in the 70^th, and it was Wojcik who delivered the decisive moment. She capped another crisp build-up, taking a feed from Skinner-Barrett and Emily Petring before calmly finishing for her fourth goal of the campaign from the top of the 18.
 
The Panthers wrapped up the day with a 22-14 advantage in total shots, while both teams placed seven attempts on frame. Hollenbach made five saves in goal for Milwaukee but did see her scoreless streak end at an impressive 478:28 after finally allowing a goal in the month of September.
 
Wojcik led the way with a career-best seven total shot attempts, while Skinner-Barrett joined her with a team-high three points (1G/1A). Her game-winner marked the seventh different player to record the stat in 2025, an impressive note to the balance of the offense.
 
"Part of our value system is who we are as a team," Boyd said. "One of those is we always want to be greater than the sum of our parts. So, we work a lot on the way that we play, what we are trying to do, our intention when we have a ball in certain areas, and trying to get everyone on the same page all the time. That is a daily training topic. It's great that we have that many players contributing."
 
Milwaukee will continue league play next weekend, traveling to take on Cleveland State Saturday. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. CT.