Soccer team splits weekend tournament

By Ryan Huber

Published Sept. 19, 2006

Coming off a sluggish win against Loyola-Chicago on Sept. 10, the No. 12 MU soccer team looked to rebound heading into the weekend — instead it broke its record with the first loss of the season.

The team still had a perfect 6-0 record heading into the matches but could only manage to secure one victory. The Tigers beat Wisconsin 2-1 on Friday but lost to UW-Milwaukee 1-0 on Sunday.

Sophomore forward Ashley Hamblin said on Thursday before the weekend tournament that the team had "picked up the effort level a lot in practice."

But an early start at 10:30 a.m. game against UW-Milwaukee found the Tigers a bit flat in the opening minutes against the Panthers. Just 13 minutes into the game, Jodi Klagos netted a goal off of an assist from Milwaukee goalkeeper Erin Kane.

The Tigers were able to take control of the game but never found a goal against the packed Milwaukee defense. With only six shots — three on goal — the frustrated Tigers received four yellow cards in the last 30 minutes of play. Despite several late attacks by Hamblin, the game ended 1-0.

"We expected it to be a great game," coach Bryan Blitz said. "That's why we play these teams before we get into the conference play."

Before the loss to UW-Milwaukee, the Tigers played in the Wisconsin Invitational on Friday.

The Wisconsin Badgers came out strong in front of their home crowd, with a pestering defense throughout the first half. But with 20 seconds left in the opening 45 minutes, senior forward Elyse Nikonchuk launched a 30-yard free kick into the top shelf of the net to give MU a 1-0 lead.

The team's momentum carried through to the opening minutes of the second half as freshman midfielder Kristin Andrighetto scored her third goal of the season from just inside the 18-yard box.

The Badgers found the back of the net in the 62nd minute to close the gap to 2-1. Invigorated by the goal, Wisconsin had several more chances on goal, but the Tiger defense remained strong. MU tried to notch an insurance goal but saw two shots bounce off the crossbar with six minutes left to play. Nevertheless, the game ended in a 2-1 Tiger victory.

Blitz said though he wasn't happy about the weekend, but the team is still off to the best start in school history.

"I think the difference with the group this year is our team depth," he said. "That's the thing that separates us from other teams in the past. We make some substitutions, and sometimes the people coming off the bench are playing more than the starters. We can leave it all out there."

The Tigers look to get back on track this Friday as they return home to face Big 12 rival Nebraska and play Illinois State on Sunday.