On Saturday, Oct. 28 the UW-Whitewater Women’s Soccer team faced UW-River Falls during the last game of the regular season. On the coldest day of the season thus far, the team had some obstacles that they had to face. 

“Our strategy was to try to get on the front foot from the beginning,” said head coach Dan Montanye.

As the scoreless game pushed into the second half, things began to pick up. The River Falls Falcons scored 2 goals on the Warhawks, creating the pressure to even out the score. 

“Going down in the second half was definitely not in the plan, but we made some tactical adjustments to create more attacking opportunities,” said Montanye.

The Warhawk’s plan worked as they soon also scored 2 goals against the Falcons. Juliana Madonia with the first, and Anna Gunderson with the second.

“Once we scored two goals, it locked things down, we got defensive, and made sure not to give anything away,” said midfielder Morgan Hoffman. 

Something also worth celebrating for the Warhawks were their senior athletes who were recognized during the halftime break for the Senior Day game. Emma Hager, Juliana Madonia, Allie Prigge, Emily Thill, Liz Prigge, Nicole Dawson, Megan Howard, and Margot Yelle were these recognized athletes. 

With the cheering spectators, the Warhawk pushed onward. The game continued in a 2-2 tie for the remainder of the game, thus placing a tie in the books. This was the fourth tie for the Whitewater Warhawks this season. 

Heading into the postseason creates some pressure for the Warhawks as the WIAC Tournament begins. They will face UW-Eau Claire for the first round match-up.

“We are really excited! Obviously, there is still some hard work to be done, but I think that it will be a good matchup for us where we can really prove ourselves,” said Hoffman. 

Coaching a mindset for a regular season game might differ from the mindset of a post regular season game, and for Montanye, there is a plan put in place for his team. 

“Now we have to prepare in training sessions to focus on some of the minor details that we have to work out from regular season games like today. Overall, I think we have to just keep going on the right path and then fine tune some details,” said Montanye. 

The matchup will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, away at Eau Claire.