La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse soccer team earned a 9-0 victory over UW-Stevens Point Friday in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament Semifinals (presented by Culver's) at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.
The Eagles improve to 17-2-1 overall and advance to host the tournament championship game on Sunday, November 7 at 1 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. Top-seeded UWL faces the winner of Friday's semifinal between UW-River Falls and UW-Platteville.
Aubree Caya set a single-season school record with 53 points.
The winner of the championship earns the conference's automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships.
UW-Stevens Point falls to 9-5-8 with Friday's loss.
UWL is now 23-23-3 all-time in the WIAC Championships and will be seeking its seventh (1996, 2017-18, 2022-24) title in school history, including fourth straight. The Eagles are making their 11th trip to the tournament championship game.
It is UWL's 13th shutout this year, fourth-most in single-season school history. The record of 16 shutouts was set in 2023. The Eagles finished with 14 shutouts in 2017 and 2022. The 17 wins ranks fifth in UWL history, behind a school record 21 in 2022, 20 in 2017 and 2023 and 18 in 2018.
The Eagles took a 1-0 lead on Friday at 2:57 on
Ella Opie's goal off
Aubree Caya's assist.
Kaitlyn Kurtz made it 2-0 at 34:34 and
Riley Veenendaal's goal on
Morgan Fitt's assist at 39:55 extended the lead to 3-0. UWL took a 4-0 lead at halftime on Fitt's goal at 44:27.
Amaya Thesing recorded a goal and two assists.
UWL had 21 shots and seven corner kicks in the first half.
Caya tallied back-to-back goals at 46:45 and 55:27 to give the Eagles a 6-0 advantage.
Amaya Thesing recorded an assist on both of Caya's goals while Opie had one on the second goal.
Thesing got in the scoring column at 57:55 on a Jillian Sawadaski assist for a 7-0 lead. Sawadski's goal off an Opie assist at 58:24 made it 8-0 and
Grace Williams finished the scoring at 76:12.
The Eagles finished with 38 shots overall, including 24 on goal. Caya had two goals and one assist while Opie and Thesing each had one goal and two assists. Caya led UWL with seven shots with four coming on goal. Williams also had four shots on goal.
With her five points, Caya set a single-season school record with 53. She breaks
Jennifer Tischaefer's record of 50 points set in 1997.
Sawadski recorded her 11th assist of the season Friday, ranking fourth in single-season school history.
Kaitlyn Villars holds the UWL record with 13 assists in 2018 while Tischaefer finished with 12 assists in 1996 and 1997.
Jillian Sawadski had a goal and assist.
The nine goals for UWL are the most for the Eagles in a WIAC Tournament game. UWL scored six goals versus UW-Platteville in 1993 and against UW-Oshkosh in 1997. The nine goals are tied for fourth-most in WIAC Tournament history. UW-Stevens Point scored 12 goals in the tournament in 1996.
Summer Nicolai earned the win Friday, recording one save in 65:14.
Robin Blair played 24:46, finishing with three saves.
UWL had seven corner kicks.
UW-Stevens Point totaled 10 shots with four on goal. Cass Klitzke finished with three shots, including one on goal. Ainsley Katte suffered the loss, registering 10 saves while allowing eight goals in 58:24. Erika Panella allowed one goal in 31:36 with four saves.
The Pointers finished with three corner kicks.
UWL won its eighth (1996, 2015, 2017-18, 2022-25) regular season league title in school history this year, including fourth straight, with a 6-0-1 record under head coach
Jason Murphy.
The Eagles, 9-1-1 in their last 11 games, is ranked third in Region IX in the United Soccer Coaches.
