Falcons reel in Muskies
PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The CUW women's soccer team remained perfect on the 2019 season with a 7-0 victory on the road at Lakeland to improve to 5-0-0. The match was also the NACC opener for both teams. The Blue and White have now won 14-straight matches against the Muskies and improve to 16-6-2 all-time against the Blue and Gold.
"Another great team preformance," said head coach Ryan Middendorf. "It's always great to get the confernce season off on the right foot."
The Falcons' offense applied pressure early as sophomore Isabel Downs (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) rang a shot off the crossbar in the fifth minute.
Two minutes later, Downs tapped the ball in an empty net after the Lakeland keeper got lost in the tic-tac-toe passes from freshman Karoline Haugland (Bergen, Norway) and freshman Selena Esten (Cedarburg, Wis.).
Downs plucked the ball from the Muskies' defender and threw the ball past the right side of the keeper in the 18th minute.
In the 24th minute, Karoline Haugland added the third goal with a low shot from 18 yards out off a pass from Selena Esten.
Haugland struck again in the 27th minute off a long cross in from Allison McElwee.
Haugland recorded her hat trick beating the keeper to the ball and smashing it in the back off the net off a pass from Selena Esten, who was getting tackled by a pair of defenders.
Junior Allison McElwee (Laramie, Wyo.) got in on the scoring when she faked going right, fooling the defender and went left to put the ball past the keeper.
The Falcons headed into halftime with a 6-0 lead.
Downs had a shot that the Lakeland keeper was able to get a hand on but unable to keep it out. Haugland was credited with the assist in the 59th minute.
The CUW defense silenced the Muskies on Saturday and held Lakeland to two total shots.
Junior Kaeley Sterkel (Dana Point, Calif.) finished with two saves in the victory for her second clean sheet of the season.
Karoline Haugland led the Falcons with a career-high eight points on three goals and two assists. This is the second time this season that that Haugland has recorded three goals.
Selena Esten finished with a career-high three assists and leads CUW with five on the year, along with Allison McElwee.
Saturday was the second career hat trick for Isabel Downs, the first coming in 2018 against Wisconsin Lutheran.
The Falcons bombarded the Lakeland net with 40 shots on Saturday, including 21 shots on goal. The 40 shots are the most since 2015, when CUW landed 42 against Lakeland.
The Blue and White held a 40-2 shots advantage and an 8-0 advantage in corners on Saturday.
CUW will play in three matches next week, starting at Alverno on Wednesday. The Falcons will then travel to Concordia Chicago on Saturday and host Wis.-Whitewater on Sunday.
