The UW-Whitewater women’s soccer team suffered a tough loss against the Lawrence Vikings at home, losing 2-0.
This game marked the first time both teams met on the same field since 2001 and their seventh meeting overall. The series currently sits at three wins a piece, with one tie.
The match also doubled as Senior Day for the Warhawks, adding an extra layer of emotion. Though the Warhawks had hoped to celebrate the day with a victory, Lawrence controlled the first half, scoring both of their goals before halftime.
Lawrence opened the match aggressively, dominating the time of possession and creating several scoring opportunities. Their aggressiveness paid off in the 14th minute when a well-placed corner kick into the box was met with a header, giving the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Just minutes later, in the 29th minute, Lawrence doubled their lead with another header off a corner kick, taking complete control of the match heading into halftime.
Despite the early setback, the Warhawks came out in the second half determined to turn the game around. They controlled the pace, with a noticeable improvement in possession time and a series of attacks that led to multiple shots on goal. Despite outshooting the Vikings in the second half, the Warhawks were unable to put any in the goal, resulting in a 2-0 loss to the Lawrence Vikings.
“The positive to take away is the second half; we didn’t put our heads down, and we kept fighting and kept ourselves in the game until the very end,” head coach Dan Montanye said. “We just can’t waste those first 45 minutes and put ourselves in that situation in the first place.”
Senior midfielder Emily Thill, one of the standout players of the match, echoed her coach’s thoughts.
“I think that we’ve realized what we have to work on, and we’ve gotten better at that game by game,” Thill said. “We have yet to play a full game to our best potential, but it’s still early in the season; we gotta work through it.”
Thill also discussed that the team’s strategy going into the match didn’t come into effect until the second half.
“Like coach said, I think the second half we really picked up on it,” Thill said. “We wanted to exploit that outside and try to those through balls there, and I think towards the end, we were getting towards that. But as I said before, we need to be able to do that for a full 90 minutes.”
Despite the disappointing result, both Montanye and Thill are focused on the long season ahead.
“It’s a long season, and we’ve got more games ahead of us,” Montanye said. “We don’t wan
t to waste any more opportunities.”
As for Thill and her teammates, the plan is simple: regroup and come back stronger.
“Just come ready to work for practice and start winning some games,” Thill said.
Non-conference play continues for the Warhawks, who will look to bounce back with two home games against Wheaton College Sept. 25 at 5 p.m. and then against Coe College Sept. 28 at 1 p.m.
