Titans Fall To Warhawks In WIAC Championship Semifinal
Three UW-Whitewater players scored goals as the Warhawks advanced to the WIAC Women's Soccer Championship final with a 3-1 semifinal victory over UW-Oshkosh on Thursday (Nov. 2) in Whitewater.
UW-Oshkosh, which defeated UW-Whitewater, 1-0, on Oct. 4 in Oshkosh, cut its deficit on Thursday to 2-1 before Anna Boyd secured the Warhawks' win on her unassisted goal with 93 seconds to play.
UW-Whitewater (14-3-3) took a 1-0 lead when Emily Mouille followed a pass from Marie Lesperance and scored off a deflected save attempt by UW-Oshkosh goalkeeper Jessica Galason during the 14th minute (13:21) of action.
The Warhawks extended their lead to 2-0 when Lesperance scored off a pass from Boyd in the 52nd minute (51:17).
UW-Oshkosh (8-8-4) sliced its deficit in half when Alexis Brewer scored her fourth goal of the season in the game's 54th minute (53:26). Brewer's goal was assisted by Addie Schmitz.
UW-Whitewater had advantages of 19-5 in shots, 11-3 in shots on goal and 4-3 in corner kicks. The Warhawks led in shots by a 13-3 count at intermission.
UW-Oshkosh's shot total featured two by Brewer and one apiece from Galason, Taylor Arnold and Hannah Zacher.
UW-Whitewater was led by the five shots from Lesperance and three from both Boyd and Karina Rosales. Rosales had a shot during the 37th minute that hit the goal post.
Galason saved eight shots while protecting the UW-Oshkosh goal, including six in the first half. UW-Whitewater goalkeeper Nina Yonan recorded both of her saves in the first period.
With the win, second-seeded UW-Whitewater advances to the WIAC Championship final for the eighth straight year. The two-time defending league tournament champion Warhawks will play at top-seeded UW-La Crosse (17-1-2) on Saturday (Nov. 4) for the right to collect the conference's automatic berth into the 64-team NCAA Division III Championship.
UW-La Crosse, the WIAC's regular-season champion, qualified for the league tournament final with its 3-0 victory over fourth-seeded UW-Stout on Thursday in La Crosse.
UW-Oshkosh concludes its 25th year of intercollegiate soccer with its 17th non-losing season in 18 years. The Titans went 3-1-3 in their WIAC matches to share third place in the league standings with UW-Stout. Third-seeded UW-Oshkosh advanced to the semifinal round of the WIAC Championship with its 3-2 overtime win over sixth-seeded UW-River Falls on Tuesday (Oct. 31).