The Milwaukee women's soccer team wrapped up the 2012 spring season with a pair of rivalry matches in Madison over the weekend. The Panthers defeated crosstown rival Marquette for the second-straight weekend, this time by a 4-3 tally, then played to a scoreless draw with Wisconsin.

At the end of the day, we were pleased with how both matches went. The first opponent was a re-match with Marquette from just one week earlier. It was cold and rainy, but we came out playing the way we hoped to... attacking from the start! We earned a corner kick early in the first half, and Helen Steinhauser (Jr., Ann Arbor, Mich.) pounced on the missed clearance to give us the early 1-0 lead. The positive early start reinforced the work we had put in this spring. Jamie Forbes (Jr., St. Charles, Ill.) collected a through ball and looked to play it from the ground. She found the head of Kelly Lewers (Fr., Homewood Flossmoor, Ill.) who nodded it onto Krissy Dorre's (So., Joliet, Ill.) run. She made a nice cutback and slotted it to the backpost for the 2-0 lead. Not long after that, in the 11th minute, we scored on another corner kick as Sara Stern (So., McFarland, Wis.) served the ball in and it fell to Dorre, who knocked it in from close range for the 3-0 lead. In the 17th minute, we were on the break again with Steinhauser slipping Lewers into the box on a quality, incisive pass, which Kelly finished well, passed the goalkeeper.

Marquette increased their pressure in the second half and were able to make it interesting, but we held on for the 4-3 win with Forbes staying strong in the goal, making a few nice plays to see out the game. Overall it was great to earn hard-fought wins over Marquette on back-to-back weekends.

In our second match, we took on Wisconsin, which was organized and difficult to break down. We took our chances when we were able to, but needed to be a little sharper in front of goal. Amy Kauffung (Fr., Hartland, Wis.) has been a mainstay in midfield this spring did very well to get free and get a well-struck shot on target, but it was directed at the goalkeeper. Later in the match, we created a great chance through some very good buildup as our outside defender played a nice pass into Kauffung, who turned quick to find Demi Price (Jr., Calgary, Alberta). Price also found space to turn and pick out Lewers' run through. At the end of the move the angle of the opportunity proved to be too difficult to get on target and it missed at the near post. Overall, the game missed that spark to create a chance to score and Forbes, along with the defenders, kept a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw.

Our spring has been very good to us and we have learned a lot about where our team is and how far we can go. We are excited for the upcoming 2012 fall season and we cannot wait for it to get here.

Finally, thanks to all of those who came out to our spring matches. The support we received was tremendous and we look forward to seeing everyone next fall for more Panther women's soccer!

GO PANTHERS!

- Head Coach Greg Henschel