CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Abby O'Brien opened the scoring in the 28
th minute and
Ashlyn Derosier tallied an Olimpico goal late to lead the Milwaukee women's soccer team to a 4-0 victory over Northern Iowa Sunday afternoon from UNI Soccer Field.
O'Brien, playing in a return to the school she played for last season, scored two minutes after subbing into the game to help set the tone as the MKE Panthers (1-1-0) picked up their first victory of the young season. The decision also improves the Panthers to 3-0 all-time against the UNI Panthers (0-2-0).
"It was good to get on the winning track today," head coach
Kevin Boyd said. "Obviously, it was a tough couple games back-to-back on the road. We were at Iowa, then we came back home, and then back at Northern Iowa. So, to play the way we did, with the effort and the energy we had – which was great today – we earned a nice win."
The Milwaukee offense came out firing, with
Maya Wilson nearly scoring just 46 seconds into the match. The team created numerous corner kick chances before breaking open the scoring.
"We had much more opportunity on the ball today and attacked better," Boyd said. "Abby, who transferred to us from Northern Iowa, started out the scoring, so she was extremely happy. We went into the second half and grinded for a bit … just made it a battle, and then Emily (Petring) got one at the top and was special – beat two players across the 18 and put one away."
On the opening tally,
Natalie Zodrow was escorted to the corner by the defense but turned and found
Kennedy Floyd. Floyd played to the middle where the ball was touched and sent away from goal. O'Brien fought through the contact and unleashed a blast from top of the 18 to open the scoring at the 27:32 mark.
The team then doubled its lead in the 35
th minute, all courtesy of
Taylor Richards. She was taken down in the box for a foul that created a penalty-kick chance. She then stepped to the line and converted to make it 2-0 at the 34:41 mark.
The team just missed a third goal before halftime. Ashlynn Skinner-Barrett was turned away on a brilliant save by the UNI keeper, using a sprawling dive to just push wide a breakaway chance in the 37
th minute. Just minutes later,
Braelyn Hundt used a nifty one-touch of a cross from
Leah Brock to find the back of the net, but the offsides flag was up to overturn the goal.
Richards nearly had a second in the 60
th, heading a Floyd corner kick to the far post. It had the goalie beat, but a UNI backline defender cleared it off the line.
The third goal was a thing of beauty, with
Emily Petring netting her first of the season after taking a ball from
Maya Allen. Petring beat her first defender before charging to the middle and unleashing from the top of the 18 to make it 3-0 at the 64:03 mark.
In the 85
th, Wilson picked up a loose ball and fired on net, banging it off the crossbar and back into play. The team did add a fourth late, as Derosier sent the corner kick right to the near post, sneaking past as the goalkeeper and Allen converged just 91 seconds before the end of regulation.
"The last goal was Rowe (
Ashlyn Derosier) delivering a ball right onto the goal line," Boyd said. "We had one of our tallest players in front of the keeper, caused the keeper problems. We needed a set piece goal on a corner specifically, and Rowe delivers such good balls. And then we just held on and kept them off our half of the field and tried to keep pressing where we could. It was a much better game and a really good response from Wednesday."
For the match, Milwaukee dominated the stat sheet. The MKE Panthers finished with advantage of 21-3 in total shots, 10-1 in shots on goal, 11-3 in corner kicks, as well as enjoying 57 percent of possession on the afternoon. Skinner-Barrett led the way with six shot attempts.
In goal,
Lauren Nidey picked up the first victory of her collegiate career, making one crucial save down the stretch to preserve her first clean sheet.
"Shots finished 21-to-3, so our defense is a big part that we're focusing on right now," Boyd said. "For them to get a shutout and limit the opponents to only three shots is going in the direction of what we want."
Up next, the Panthers will remain on the road to open the regular season, next traveling to Tennessee Aug. 20. Game time against the Volunteers is set for 6 p.m. CT.
