The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Women’s Soccer team (5-2-0) hit their strides last night against Lakeland College defeating the Muskies 3-0 to seal a three game winning streak.
Opportunities came quick and often for the Pioneers, taking a shot on goal within the first minute, and they would not let up for the rest of the match. With a total of 15 shots on goal in the first half, and 17 in the second, the Pioneers dominated offensively and held the Muskies to only one shot on goal the whole game.
The Pioneers capitalized on the time of possession to give them a 2-0 lead in the first half. Freshman forward Betty Rodriguez scored on an assist from senior forward Katie Viney at 15th minute mark, and Bianca Mahoney scored off a pass from Yamilex Jaramillo in the 43rd minute mark to give the Pioneers some breathing room.
“We possessed pretty well, our touches were on and took more shots,” Mahoney said.
Senior defensive player, Lindsey Harms also credited their success to the time of possession and preparation before the game.
“We always like to have upbeat practices the day before games so last night we had a pretty hard hour and a half practice just to get ready,” Harms said.
The Pioneers also dominated in the corner kick opportunities leading the Muskies in that category 7-0.
“We connected in the middle and found the corners when we needed to. We were pretty patient, we took a lot of shots, but they were the right shots, we didn’t try to force it too much,” Harms said.
Then in the 60th minute, sophomore defensive player Emily Philips headed in a goal on a cross from freshman forward, Anna Sobal, to seal the deal for the Pioneers. Although the score does not reflect how tough of a battle the game was in the beginning, Harms is looking forward to improving in this week of practice.
“Up the intensity, keep everybody focused, and stay upbeat,” Harms said.
Head coach Allison Stringer takes away a lot of positives from this game heading into their next game.
“It will be our first conference game so we need to tighten up some things on defense,” Stringer said. “Overall, I was happy how we played, and we’ll take the win.”
The UW-Platteville Women’s soccer team will travel to take on UW-Stout this Saturday Sept. 20 at 2:00 p.m.