MILWAUKEE – Ashlyn Skinner-Barrett made sure the Milwaukee women's soccer team was going to claim victory in a game it dominated, sending her team to the Horizon League Tournament Championship with a goal in the 65
th minute that stood up for the 2-1 decision over Wright State.
The Panthers (14-4-2) posted season-high totals with 30 shots, 17 shots on goal, and 16 corner kicks against the Raiders (8-10-3) Wednesday afternoon at Engelmann Stadium, but it was Skinner-Barrett's sixth goal of the season that stood up as the difference to send MKE to the league title game for the 11
th consecutive season.
"That was a really good performance by Wright State, in the second half in particular," head coach
Kevin Boyd said. "I thought once we got settled down, we started playing well again in the second half and getting that second goal. But it took us a little bit to adjust to what they had done."
The Milwaukee offense came out firing early, ripping off eight shots in the first eight minutes of the contest. Skinner-Barrett had a close-range attempt blocked in the fifth minute and
Maya Wilson was denied by a great save from the WSU goalkeeper in the sixth.
Natalie Zodrow sent one off the post 90 seconds later and
Emily Petring nearly had a goal as well in the 23
rd, but a one-armed save kept the game at 0-0.
"At halftime I think we were 16 shots to 2 and 9-2 in corners," Boyd said. "Their goalkeeper was unbelievable. Like I told the team, she's Superwoman right now. She's standing on her head and saving everything. It's all these shots and all these corners, and it's a soccer game. It's 0-0. I told them, 'you're going to have to find a way to beat her'."
The pressure kept up. Leigha Lauer – who finished the day with a career-high 15 saves for the visitors – made a one-handed save to deny Petring again the 23
rd minute and, about 10 minutes later, managed to punch
Ashlyn Derosier's attempt over the crossbar at the last second in the 34
th minute.
Milwaukee finally broke through in the 49
th minute. On the 13
th corner kick of the evening, Petring saw her header get saved. A loose ball in front, Skinner-Barrett's attempt was blocked and went right to Zodrow, who sent a left-footed shot into the back of the net for her fifth of the campaign at the 48:02 mark.
The Raiders didn't crumble, however, responding with an equalizer under five minutes later to make it 1-1 at the 52:50 mark.
The Panthers kept up the pressure and scored again on a corner kick.
Denise Camarena sent flight into the box, where the ball banged off the defense. Skinner-Barrett settled it with her right foot and, in one motion, sent the ball into the back of the net for the 2-1 advantage at the 64:32 mark.
"I felt like we did a really good job of continuing to get after their goal and find chances in the second half," Boyd said. "And then we get them out of, you know, really second balls that came out for us off of corners. Now you have 16 corners. I play Rule 8: You get 8 corners; you ought to have a goal. Well, we got two goals out of 16, so it works that way."
The Panthers didn't sit on the lead, bringing the offensive pressure the rest of the evening. Petring wrapped up the contest with an impressive 11 shots of her own – but was unable to find a goal – just missing in the 74
th minute when her shot off a long feed from Skinner-Barrett went banging off the left post and back into play.
The defense did the rest, closing out the victory to send Milwaukee to the title game Saturday. There, they will take on fifth-seeded IU Indy, who came back from a late 2-0 deficit against No. 2 seed Green Bay to claim a 3-2 overtime victory today.
For the day, the impressive totals were in MKE's favor at 30-5 in total shots, 17-2 in shots on goal, 16-2 in corners, as well as 63 percent of total possession on the day. In addition to Petring's 11 attempts (6 on target), Skinner-Barrett finished with seven of her own (5 on goal), leading the team with three points on the goal and assist. In net,
Lauren Nidey finished with one save.
"Our objective's clear, and we knew if we want to play Saturday, we had to win tonight," Boyd said. "And so, it was all about tonight's game. Our full effort and focus was here, and now we transition out and we start trying to recover and getting ready, and our full focus will go to Saturday.
Game time Saturday is set for 1 p.m. as the Panthers will be in search of what would be a 20
th NCAA Tournament appearance all-time, as well as their ninth consecutive.
