Chicago, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse soccer team fell 3-1 at seventh-ranked the University of Chicago (Ill.) Sunday afternoon in the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships at Stagg Grass Field.
The Eagles finish their season at 19-3-1 while the Maroons, ranked seventh in the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division III Top 25 Poll, improve to 14-2-3. Chicago (Ill.) advances to next week's NCAA Division III Third Round.
UWL took a 1-0 lead Sunday with
Sera Speltz scoring at 14:32 off
Monica Wawrzyn's assist. The game remained, 1-0, until Chicago (Ill.) tied the contest at 33:02 on Indira Naylor's unassisted goal. The game was tied, 1-1, at halftime.
The Eagles had two shots in the first half while the Maroons recorded five.
Chicago (Ill.), ranked second in the United Soccer Coaches Region VIII, took a 2-1 lead at 47:22 on Naylor's second goal of the game with Jamie Nguyen recording the assist. Annabel Edwards extended the lead to 3-1 at 82:51. Naylor had the assist.
UWL was held to four shots in the game with one on goal. Speltz had two shots with one on goal while
Anya Carrillo and
Amaya Thesing each had one shot. The Eagles had five corner kicks. Wawrzyn recorded her 13th assist of the year on Sunday, tying Kaitlyn Villars' single-season school record set in 2018.
Summer Nicolai registered three saves.
Chicago (Ill.) finished with 15 shots, including six on goal. Lucy Harrison-Caldwell had six shots with one on goal while Naylor finished with two shots, both coming on goal. The team recorded three corner kicks.
Sophia Sasaki earned the shutout in goal for the Maroons.
UWL, ranked third in the United Soccer Coaches Region IX, advanced to the second round of the national championships with a 4-0 opening round victory over St. Catherine University (Minn.) Saturday at Stagg Grass Field. It was UWL's 15th shutout of the season, the second-most in school history. The school record of 16 shutouts was set in 2023.
The Eagles' 19 wins this year are fourth in single-season school history. UWL won a school record 21 games in 2022. The Eagles had 20 victories in 2017 and 2023.
UWL was making its eighth appearance (2015, 2017-18, 2021-25) in school history in the national championships, all coming under head coach
Jason Murphy. The Eagles are now 12-6-4 in NCAA Division III Championship history, earning its fifth straight appearance this year.
UWL made its first trip to the national championships in 2015 and earned its first tournament win in school history with a 2-0 first round victory over The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) in 2017. UWL has advanced to the NCAA Division III Quarterfinals three times in school history (2017, 2021, 2023). The team has advanced to the third round twice (2018, 2022). UWL dropped its first round game last season, 2-1 in double overtime to Simpson College (Iowa).
