La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse soccer team improved to 15-3-2 on the season with a 3-0 victory over UW-River Falls Thursday night in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament Semifinal (Presented by Culver's) at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Falcons finish their season at 9-9-2. 

UWL advances to its 10th appearance, including eighth straight, in the WIAC Tournament Championship game and will host the title game on Saturday, November 9 at 5:30 p.m. UWL will host the winner of UW-Eau Claire at UW-Platteville semifinal contest scheduled for Thursday night. 

UWL has won five (1996, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023) WIAC Tournament titles in school history. 

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead at 18:06 on Amaya Thesing's fifth goal of the season. Ellie Arndt recorded the assist. The game remained, 1-0, at halftime. UWL totaled 20 shots in the first half while holding UW-River Falls to four. The Eagles had five corner kicks and the Falcons one. 

UWL took a 2-0 lead at 49:09 as Alexis McMahon scored off an Arndt assist. It was McMahon's fourth goal of the year. McMahon was named the WIAC Kwik Trip Defensive Player of the Year for the third straight season on Thursday. Arndt was selected the WIAC Kwik Trip Offensive Player of the Week on Thursday, her second consecutive season earning the honor.  

Aubree Caya extended the Eagles' lead to 3-0 on Thursday at 71:41 on assists from Lucy Quidzinski and Megan McNeely. 

UWL, ranked third in Region IX in the United Soccer Coaches, is now 9-0-2 in its last 11 games. The Eagles recorded 38 shots on Thursday with 22 on goal. Fifteen players had a shot with McMahon leading UWL with eight. She had three shots on goal. Thesing, Arndt and Ellie Behnke each finished with four shots while McNeely and Caya had three. Thesing, McNeely and Caya each had three shots on goal.  

The Eagles finished with 12 corner kicks. Erelyn Apel earned the win in goal, recording six saves.

UW-River Falls had nine shots, including six on goal. Six different players recorded a shot on goal. The Falcons finished with two corner kicks. Grace Zellmer registered 18 saves. UW-River Falls also had one team save.

UWL now trails UW-River Falls, 4-2, in the all-time series between the teams in the WIAC Tournament. The Eagles earned their first win over the Falcons since a 3-1 victory in 1999.