Box Score Bloomington, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse soccer team fell 3-0 to Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (Calif.) Saturday afternoon at Illinois Wesleyan University's Neis Soccer Field in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship. UWL, making its first appearance in school history in the national championships, finish its season at 12-7-2. Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.), 12-8-1, advances to the second round to face Illinois Wesleyan Sunday, November 15.
The Sagehens took a 1-0 lead at 33:41 as Nadia Alaiyan scored her third goal of the season assisted by Katie Tao. Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) led 1-0 at halftime.
Abby Onderwyzer Gold gave the Sagehens a 2-0 advantage at 47:53 with her third goal of the year. Danika Bethune had the assist. Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) finished the scoring at 66:08 on Alyssa Kim's eighth goal of the season assisted by Molly Mosher.
UWL finished with 15 shots Saturday, including four on goal.
Margaret Harings had five shots with two on goal.
Maya Schmitt (one on goal) and
Rachel Rogahn each had two shots.
Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) also totaled 15 shots with eight on goal. Onderwyzer Gold each three shots, all coming on goal.
Kennedy Brault recorded four saves for UWL while
Abbi Burke finished with one. Annie Wedel had four saves for Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) in earning the shutout.
"I thought it was a pretty even game," said UWL second-year head coach
Jason Murphy. "They (Pomona-Pitzer) finished their chances and were catching us on the counter attacks in the second half. Give credit to them, they were good in the important phases of the game.
"We had two early chances and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had one of those went in for us."
Rogahn hit the crossbar at 15:07 and UWL outshot Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.), 11-5 in the first half.
UWL, one of 20 at-large selections to this year's NCAA III Championship,
earned a share of its second (1996) Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) regular-season title in school history this year with a 5-1-1 record. The Eagles fell 1-0 in double overtime to UW-Whitewater November 5 in the semifinals of the WIAC Championship. UWL won a school record eight consecutive matches (September 20-October 17) in 2015. The 12 overall victories in 2015 are tied for third in single-season school history. The Eagles won a school record 13 matches in 1994 and 1996 while also earning 12 victories in 1995 and 1999.
Murphy, the 2015 WIAC Coach of the Year, completed his second season as UWL's head coach.
