Milwaukee @ Butler
Game #9 • Sept. 28 • 3:30 p.m.
Indianapolis, Ind. (Varsity Field)
Gameday Media: None
Milwaukee @ Detroit
Game #10 • Sept. 30 • 11 a.m.
Clinton Township, Mich. (Bishop Gallagher Field)
Gameday Media: None
• Complete Release in PDF Format
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Sept. 25, 2007) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team officially begin its Horizon League title defense this weekend, opening the league slate with road games at Butler and Detroit. The Panthers will face Butler in Indianapolis Friday before heading to Detroit Sunday to take on the Titans.
Scouting Butler
Butler enters the weekend with a 2-5-1 record on the year following a pair of hard-fought defeats to Indiana and Toledo last week. The Bulldogs have been one of the top offensive teams in the Horizon League this year, ranking second in the conference in goals per game (1.50) and assists per game (1.25). Angie Muir paces the team with 10 points on three goals and a team-high four assists, while Carrie Twyman has added three goals of her own, all coming at Indiana State on Sept. 11. Annalise Larkin has been the Bulldogs keeper in all but one half during the year and touts a 1.42 goals allowed average.
Scouting Detroit
Detroit struggled to an 0-5 start, but has since gone 2-1, including a 1-1 mark last weekend at the Nike Cup in Montana. The Titans fell to host Montana Friday, 2-1, before scoring a 1-0 overtime win over Oregon State. Trina Kochanski paces the UDM attack with three goals and an assist for seven points. Two other players have tallied two goals apiece to account for all of the team's scoring. Katie Fortenberry returns for her junior season in goal. She has posted a pair of shutouts despite a 2.10 goals against average.
Series Histories
UWM has unique series histories with both Butler and Detroit. The Panthers and Bulldogs have faced 22 times with Milwaukee holding the 15-5-2 advantage. UWM has won the last 12 meetings, nine of which have been 1-0 including the last five.
Against the Titans, Milwaukee is 11-7-1. While UWM has won the last eight regular season match ups, Detroit has handed the Panthers losses in the league tournament in three of the last four years. Milwaukee and UDM have met in each of the last four tourneys, with the two teams tying in the title game in 2005 (UWM advanced on PKs).
Last Weekend
Milwaukee 1, Wisconsin 0 - The Panthers used a torrential downpour to their advantage, scoring a 1-0 win over in-state rival Wisconsin last Friday in Madison. Sophomores Erin Kreuser, Kate Megna and Kayla DeJardin combined on the game's lone tally, with Kreuser finishing in spectacular fashion.
Milwaukee 0, #24 Marquette 0 (2ot) - Junior Erin Kane made seven saves to lead UWM to a 0-0 draw against cross-town rival No. 24 Marquette Sunday at Engelmann Field.
Notes From The Weekend
Head coach Michael Moynihan was issued a yellow card Sunday vs. Marquette, his first caution in 135 games dating back to Oct. 20, 2000. Moynihan now has three career cards in 215 games as a head coach ... Erin Kreuser's goal Friday at Wisconsin was the 800th in school history ... the win over the Badgers was the second-straight and third in school history ... UWM and UW have now met 24 times, more than any other opponent the Panthers have played ... with 10 saves and no goals allowed over the weekend, Erin Kane pushed her career save percentage to a school-record .838 ... she also became the first Milwaukee or league goalkeeper to reach the 30-shutout mark for her career.
A Whole Lotta People
Sunday's match with Marquette drew 867 people, the most to see a women's soccer match in Engelmann Field history. The total trumped the previous mark of 625 set Sept. 2, 2001, vs. Oakland. The Panthers lead the Horizon League in home attendance, averaging 474 fans through three home dates.
Player Of The Week
Erin Kane was named the Horizon League Player of the Week Monday, marking the sixth time in her career she has won the award. She earned the award after making 11 saves and shutting out both Wisconsin and No. 24 Marquette last weekend. The six awards, which includes three as a freshman and two as a sophomore, are twice as many as any other player in school history. Cammy Polson and Elizabeth Chudy are second, having earned weekly league honors three times in their careers.
Bring On Extra Time
Milwaukee's double-overtime win Sunday vs. Marquette extended an impressive streak of 19-straight overtime games without a loss. UWM is 9-0-10 in that time and has not yielded an overtime goal since Sept. 12, 2004, to DePaul. Of those 19 games, 14 have gone to two overtimes.
Overtime Trooper
If playing extra time bothers junior goalkeeper Erin Kane, she surely isn't showing it. She has been in goal for 15 games that have gone into overtime and is yet to give up a golden goal. Her 14 overtime shutouts represent almost half of her school and league-record 30 career shutouts. Currently, she has played 224:56 of overtime over 15 games without allowing a goal.
Let's Get It Started
The Horizon League season gets underway for the Panthers Friday at Butler. This marks the 13th season for UWM in the Horizon League. The team has an all-time record of 61-12-4 (.818) in league play, including an 11-1-1 mark in league openers. The Panthers have won their last nine league openers.
Panthers Pace Preseason Poll
For the eighth-straight year, Milwaukee topped the Horizon League preseason coaches' poll. The Panthers received all seven possible first-place votes and finished with 56 points. They have won the last seven league regular season championships, each time the team topped the preseason poll.
Leading The League
Since 2000, UWM has been untouchable in league play, posting a 41-1-2 league mark in that time and winning the last seven league titles. The streak is currently the second-longest in the country, trailing only Penn State's streak of nine-straight Big Ten crowns.
National Notoriety
UWM has a great opportunity to make a name for itself nationally this season, as three teams it plays this season enter the week ranked in the NSCAA poll. Texas A&M (Oct. 26) tops the list, moving up one spot this week to fourth in the nation. Boston College remains in the top 10, sitting ninth for the second-straight week. Crosstown rival Marquette jumped five spots to No. 19 after tying the Panthers and defeating South Florida last weekend. Milwaukee faced three nationally-ranked foes last season, defeating No. 16 Missouri and playing a pair of No. 1 squads (Portland and Notre Dame) tough. The win over Mizzou was the second over a ranked foe in team history.
A Little National Notoriety For UWM
The Panthers finished last season very prominently seated in the national statistical rankings. This season, UWM got off to a slow start, but is now making its way back into the national spotlight. Milwaukee is now 21st in the country in GAA (0.477) and 33rd in save percentage (.875). Individually, Erin Kane is 28th in GAA and 40th in save percentage.
Big Time Results
Erin Kane has been relatively unfazed by the difficult schedule head coach Michael Moynihan has put together. Just eight games into her junior season, she has already faced seven nationally-ranked opponents in her career. And, while her win-loss record may not be impressive (1-4-2), the rest of her stat line is. In those seven games, she has posted a 0.82 goals against average and three shutouts. In fact, she has conceded more than one goal just once. And, against teams from the six "BCS" conferences she is 6-7-6 with a 0.64 GAA and 11 shutouts.
State Champs
Milwaukee defeated all three Division I state schools last season and are two-thirds of the way to a second-straight unbeaten state run in 2007. With a win at Wisconsin and tie vs. Marquette, the Panthers need to defeat or tie Green Bay Oct. 3 to finish unbeaten against their state rivals for the second-straight season. In years where all four schools have played each other, UWM's sweep last season was just the fifth. Both Wisconsin (2003 and 2004) and Marquette (2000 and 2001) have done it twice.
Home, Sweet Home
Engelmann Field is a tough place to play if you're not the Panthers. Milwaukee is 106-51-14 (.661) all-time at Engelmann Field. Over the last two-plus years, the team is 15-1-4, including a 7-1 mark last season. UWM had a 17-game home unbeaten streak (14-0-3) snapped in the league semifinals last season and is 25-1-1 against league foes at home since 1998, including league tournament play.
Cup Champs
For the second-straight season, UWM posted a perfect 2-0 record at the Milwaukee Cup to tie with its co-host Marquette. After taking second last season on a goal differential tiebreaker, the Panthers benefited from a goals scored tiebreaker for their first cup title in the eight years of the tournament. Milwaukee, which has won four-straight in the tourney and are unbeaten in its last five, won an in-season tournament for the first time since the Central Michigan Invitational in 2000. Last season, UWM took second place at all three in-season tournaments.
All-Tournament
As champs, the Panthers placed four players on the Milwaukee Cup All-Tournament. Sophomore Erin Kreuser headed the list of honorees as the Offensive MVP. She was joined by senior Amanda Winn, junior Sarah Teegarden and freshman Heather Roadhouse.
Freshman Firepower
In 2006, Louise Vraney made a splash for the Panthers, scoring two goals in the season-opener and adding another two days later. She was the first freshman in the team's Division I history to score a goal in the team's first game of the season. Just one year later, freshman Sarah Talbert joined the elite company, tallying a score in Milwaukee's win over Indiana State. Vraney tallied the first goal in that match, and now has three goals in season-openers, more than any other player in the team's history.
A Look At Exhibition Play
Milwaukee split its exhibition slate, defeating Illinois State, 3-0, before losing to No. 20 Illinois. Against ISU, sophomore Erin Kresuer tallied the game-winner and sophomore Kate Megna and freshman Nicole Sperl added goals.
2006 Revisited
The Panthers are coming off the most successful season in school history. They posted a 16-4-2 record, won a seventh-straight league title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season. UWM set school records for wins, winning percentage (.773), goals against average (0.44) and shutouts (16). It's shutout percentage of .727 was third in the nation, GAA was fourth and winning percentage 12th.
Back In Black (And Gold)
Head coach Michael Moynihan returns eight starters from last year's squad, including six that were honored by the Horizon League following the season. Erin Kane and Sarah Teegarden head the list after their second-straight all-league first team awards. Senior Amanda Winn was an all-league second team honoree for the second-straight year and was joined by Louise Vraney. Vraney, meanwhile, was an all-newcomer selection alongside sophomores Kate Megna and Erin Kreuser.
Welcome To Milwaukee
Joining 13 letterwinners will be 10 incoming freshman and one redshirt. The 10-player class was tabbed as the top in the league by Soccer Buzz Magazine. Six of the players--Nicole Hirsch, Kelly McGrath, Heather Roadhouse, Nicole Sperl, Sarah Talbert and Helena Zbilut--hail from the area and played together for FC Milwaukee. Brianne Borgman, Erin DeYoung and Ellen Phillips all hail from Michigan and played club soccer together. Claire Watkins, out of Hisdale, Ill., was the last player to sign with UWM and goalkeeper Leslie Deebach will see the field this season after a redshirt year in 2006.
Another New Face
Ten freshmen are not the only new faces around the Milwaukee soccer program. Chris Maravalli joined the coaching staff over the summer after coaching at Castleton State College in Vermont. Among his duties will be working with the Panther keepers.
Megna's Memoirs
Sophomore Kate Megna is providing her take on the 2007 season as it goes on, via an online blog at uwmpanthers.com. At the start of every week, Megna looks back on the weekend of action and shares the inside story of the Milwaukee women's soccer team. Visit uwmpanthers.com for the latest installment, which is posted on Monday afternoons.
Next Up
Milwaukee plays its first of two three-game weeks of the season next week. The Panthers kick off the action at Green Bay on Wednesday (Oct. 3) before hosting Iowa Friday and Youngstown State Sunday. That is followed by a one-game week before the team's second week of three matches (Oct. 15-21).
