By Josh Sinclair

Nov. 11, 2015

The UW-Whitewater women’s soccer team is going to host the NCAA tournament. The team defeated UW-Oshkosh 1-0 in the WIAC championship game to secure the automatic qualifying bid for the NCAA tournament.

The Warhawks made history on its run to the championship. No three seed had ever won the WIAC championship, nor had any team ever won three games in one week before the ’Hawks’ run.

“It was a tough week both mentally and physically for our players making the end reward of being WIAC tournament champions all that more rewarding,” head coach Ryan Quamme said.

The 17-4 squad will face Carroll University, 15-4-1, on Nov. 13 at 5 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Warhawks had to win a couple games to get to the championship, and those weren’t easy by any means.

The first game of the week was the only home game for the Warhawks when they took on UW-Stout.

The Warhawks defeated the Blue Devils 4-0. Scoring began in the 18th minute of play when Adria Schueler sent a cross into the box and Morgan Beaty timed her leap and struck the ball with her head to give the Warhawks a 1-0 lead.

Not wasting any time, Marie Lesperance scored a goal eleven seconds later for a 2-0 Warhawk cushion.

Reid broke into the scoring column in the 58th minute, knocking in her 18th goal of the season on a pass from Lesperance. Just a minute later, the Warhawks scored its fourth and final goal when freshman Karina Rosales sent one into the back of the net.

“Our defense lead us to three shutouts this week which was a huge focus of ours,” freshman forward Mackenzie Serbousek said. “Everyone stepped up and was on the same page, which really helped us.”

The Warhawks then traveled to La Crosse, Wisconsin to take on the UW-La Crosse Eagles in the WIAC semifinal. After losing to the Eagles just a couple of weeks ago, the Warhawks were looking to even the score.

“Revenge was also a bit of motivation this week,” Serbousek said. “We knew that we could have beat both teams earlier in the season and being able to prove that this past week was a great feeling.”

The Warhawks did end up on the positive side of the match against La Crosse. In an identical scenario to the first matchup, the game went into overtime tied 0-0. This semi-final match, however, went to a second overtime.

Thirty-five seconds into the second overtime, freshman forward Alex Cording almost scored the golden goal for UW-L, but Doody made a stop and the game pushed on.

Finally, in the 104th minute of play, sophomore forward Morgan Beaty found sophomore midfielder Marie Lesperance for her sixth goal of the season and a Warhawk win.

The final WIAC matchup of the season came against UW-Oshkosh in another rematch, but with more on the line.

The Warhawks were able to capture victory with a final score of 1-0. Senior midfielder Jenna Woodson tallied the match’s lone goal from 12 yards out on a cross from junior forward Brianna Reid in the 51st minute. The play was Woodson’s second goal of the season on Reid’s fourth assist of the year.

“It is extremely rewarding as a coach to watch the players achieve their goals of winning the WIAC tournament and earning a berth in the NCAA tournament after witnessing their dedication and commitment over the past three months,” Quamme said.