Women's Soccer Opens Spring Season With Solid ShowingApril 5, 2004 SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team was ready to get their spring season started. Left with a sour taste in their mouth after falling to Detroit in the semi-finals of the Horizon League Tournament, the Panthers opened up the spring season with that thought in mind. Competing in two games in South Bend, Ind., the Panthers squared off against Michigan State and Notre Dame and came away with a record of 1-1. UWM opened up the day with a 3-0 victory over the Big Ten Conference's Michigan State. The Spartans ended last season seventh in the Big Ten. Sophomore Andrea Kramer scored the game's first goal during the first half when she netted a right-footed shot twenty yards away from the goal. Katie Campion, also a sophomore, added the Panthers' second goal before the end of the first half by turning a crossing pass from Melissa Ricter into her first goal of the spring. Liz Chudy added the finishing touches during the second half when she sent a long range shot into the upper corner of the goal to finish off the win. "I thought we matched up very well against Michigan State," head coach Michael Moynihan said. "We were very pleased with our possession and ability to work the ball forward. It was good to see the scoring output, the solid defending and the composure we had with the ball." The Panthers' second game against Notre Dame provided another test. The Fighting Irish ended the 2003 season with at 20-3-1 overall record and were ranked ninth in the NSCAA's national poll. UWM was not only facing a very talented team, but also challenging weather as a cool, sunny day turned into rain, sleet and gusting winds. The tough conditions against a tough team yielded a 3-0 loss for UWM, but still had encouraging points. The back four, consisting of Janice McGann, Ginny Graczyk, Val Cooper and Brenda Andrews, played solidly against a very tough Notre Dame team which only scored one first-half goal despite playing most of the time on UWM's half of the field. The best first-half chance for UWM came when Liz Chudy cracked a header, served up by Amanda Winn, that forced the Irish goalkeeper to make a reaction save and barely keeping the ball from crossing the line. "Today was Amanda Winn's first action in a UWM uniform," Moynihan said. "She had some great serves for us today and played very steady." Playing with the wind in the second half, Winn created another scoring chance off of her corner kick that was barely cleared out by the Notre Dame defense. Feeling the game's momentum even out, UWM couldn't take the advantage as Notre Dame returned to score two more unanswered goals. "I was extremely pleased with how we played during the day overall," Moynihan said. "I think we fatigued a little bit against Notre Dame, which doesn't surprise me when we play two games back-to-back. We may have been a bit outmatched by Notre Dame, but we still were able to create two fantastic scoring chances and just missed out on setting up some other ones." By splitting two games over the weekend, UWM learned a little bit more about the athletes they have for next year. Junior Kerri St. Aubin had a solid showing by opening up the day with a shutout, Horizon League Newcomer of the Year Ginny Graczyk played steady at the outside back, in addition to Winn's solid debut. "Today was a learning experience for some," Moynihan said. "We showed a lot of composure against Michigan State, but also saw how that was tested by the speed of Notre Dame. We can learn a lot from the type of speed, composure and the strength in which they show with the ball.
Milwaukee will continue its spring season on Sunday, April 18 when they head to Madison for the Wisconsin Round Robin. Game times have yet to be announced.
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