La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, ranked 12th on D3football.com, ended its regular-season with a 44-20 victory over UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles improve to 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds drop to 3-7 overall and 1-6 in the conference. 

It is UWL's first eight-win season since finishing 8-2 in 2017. The Eagles' six conference wins are the most since going 6-1 in 2006.  

UWL will await word if it has an earned one of five at-large bids to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships.  The 32-team field will be announced Sunday, November 14 at 4:30 p.m. on ncaa.com.  The Eagles will be looking to make their 12th appearance in the NCAA Division III Playoffs and first since 2006.  UWL won the 1992 and 1995 national titles. 

UWL extended its home winning streak to 12 with Saturday's victory, its longest streak since winning 13 consecutive between 2002-04. The Eagles are 4-0 at home this year.

UW-Eau Claire took a 7-0 lead on the first play from scrimmage Saturday with Harry Roubidoux hitting Joe Swanson with a 67-yard touchdown pass. Brady Frantal's extra-point made it 7-0 with 14:40 left in the opening quarter. UWL's Cade Garcia was intercepted by Sam Burzynski in UW-Eau Claire's end zone on the Eagles' first possession. After forcing a UW-Eau Claire punt, UWL went 65 yards in three plays and 1:09 to force a 7-7 tie. Joey Stutzman had all 65 yards on the drive for the Eagles coming on three carries, including a 20-yard touchdown run with 9:54 remaining in the first quarter. Ryan Beirne converted the extra-point. 

Beirne's 41-yard field goal with 3:47 left in the first quarter gave UWL a 10-7 lead. The Eagles went 27 yards in 10 plays and 5:11 after getting set-up by Jake Simuncak's 14-yard punt return to UWL's 49-yard line UW-Eau Claire retook the lead with 13:14 remaining in the second quarter as Roubidoux scored on an eight-yard touchdown run after Trevor Nelson recovered a Garcia fumble at UWL's eight-yard line caused by Vic Martinelli's sack. 

UWL quickly responded with a 68-yard, nine play drive in 4:49 to take a 17-14 lead as Garcia connected with Jack Studer on a three-yard touchdown pass with 8:27 left in the first half. The Eagles added to their lead later in the quarter with Beirne converting a 20-yard field goal with :13 left in the half. UWL went 49 yards in nine plays and 3:01. The drive was set-up after Josh Dorschner's recovered Roubidoux's fumble on a sack from Ryan Daines. UWL led, 20-14, at halftime.  

Garcia and Studer connected for their second touchdown of the game on UWL's opening drive of the second half, this one from 10-yards out. The Eagles went 73 yards in nine plays and 5:11 to take a 27-14 lead. UWL forced a UW-Eau Claire punt on the Blugolds' first drive of the third quarter and took over at UW-Eau Claire's 24-yard line after Simuncak's 14-yard punt return. Two plays later, Garcia hit Cameron Sorenson with a 16-yard touchdown pass with 7:59 left to make it 34-14. 

Beirne hit his third field goal of the game with 10:43 remaining in the fourth quarter on a 30-yard conversion to give UWL a 37-14 lead. The Eagles used seven plays to go 19 yards and 3:32. The Blugolds turned the ball over on downs on their next possession and Garcia threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game with 6:40 remaining hitting Beirne from 24-yards out for a 44-14 lead. UW-Eau Claire finished the scoring with 1:59 remaining as Roubidoux hit Swanson for a 20-yard touchdown pass. The extra-point was missed after the Blugolds went 75 yards in 13 plays and 4:42. 

UWL finished with 449 yards of offense, including 188 rushing and 261 passing. The Eagles totaled 20 first downs in the game while going eight-of-13 on third-down.  UWL won the time of possession, 32:52 to 27:08, and went six-of-six in the red-zone. The Eagles did not punt in the game. 

Garcia, making his first career start, finished 20-of-29 for 261 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Studer had six catches for 41 yards and two touchdowns while Simuncak finished with seven receptions for 65 yards. Stutzman totaled 135 yards rushing on 21 carries (6.4 average) and one touchdown. 
 

UW-Eau Claire totaled 358 yards, including 88 rushing and 270 passing. The Blugolds finished with 17 first downs while going five-of-16 on third-down and three-of-six on fourth-down. UW-Eau Claire was two-of-two in red-zone chances.

Roubidoux went 19-of-44 passing for 270 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while being sacked three times. Darius Jones had five catches for 71 yards while Austin Belot finished with 20 carries and 75 yards rushing. 

Ryan Daines led UWL with nine tackles, including six unassisted, and 2.5 tackles for loss. He had a force fumble, 1.5 quarterback sacks and one pass break-up. Trevar Helland finished with eight tackles while Elijah Alt and AJ Spychala each had six. Alt recorded his team-leading sixth interception of the season Saturday.

Noah Nephew and Alex Mashak led UW-Eau Claire with nine tackles each. Nephew totaled five unassisted tackles. Vic Martinelli recorded 2.0 tackles for loss, including 1.0 quarterback sack.

The NCAA Division III Championship field will be announced Sunday, November 14 at 4:30 p.m. on ncaa.com.