Sophomore Leslie Deebach picked up her first collegiate win in goal for the Friday against Green Bay
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No. 22 Panthers On The Road At Loyola, Wright State
Milwaukee starts four-game league road trip Friday at Loyola
This Week In Panther Soccer
Game #13: No. 22 Milwaukee (9-1-2, 1-0 Horizon) @ Loyola (5-7, 1-0 Horizon)
Friday, Oct. 3 • 7 p.m. • Chicago, Ill.
Gameday Media: Gametracker
Game #13: No. 22 Milwaukee (9-1-2, 1-0 Horizon) @ Wright State (5-6-1, 0-1-1 Horizon)
Sunday, Oct. 5 • Noon • Dayton, Ohio
Gameday Media: Gametracker
• Complete Release in PDF Format 
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Sept. 30, 2008) - With the highest ranking in team history, the No. 22 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team hits the road for four-straight road games, beginning this weekend with matches at Loyola and Wright State. The Panthers travel to Chicago to take on Loyola Friday before heading to Dayton, Ohio, for a match up with the Raiders.
The "Silver" Anniversary
The Panthers are playing their 25th season as a varsity sport. The team will be celebrating the occasion all season long, recognizing outstanding achievements and moments in UWM women's soccer history. The squad will also be wearing special patches commemorating the season.
Getting Noticed
Milwaukee returned to the NSCAA National poll this week for the second time this season, making its second appearance in the top-25 after having received votes for the last six weeks. The Panthers are No. 22 in the national poll, their highest ranking in the poll in team history. UWM also appears in the Soccer Times National Poll at No. 25 and the Soccer Buzz top-30 poll at 28. And, for the second week in a row, the Panthers are boasting their highest regional ranking ever at No. 2. UWM trails only Notre Dame, while Big Ten teams occupy No. 3-9 and Marquette sits 10th.
A Look At The Opposition - Loyola
The Ramblers sit at 5-7 on the season after opening the league slate with a 2-1 win over Wright State last weekend. Loyola's record is misleading after the team played a stiff non-league schedule that included a win over then-No. 18 Kansas and games against nationally-ranked LSU and Michigan State. The 2007 league player of the year Cynthia Morote-Ariza leads the team and is second in the league with 21 points. She is one of three Ramblers with five goals and a nation-leading 11 assists. In goal, Katie Groesch has logged over 1,000 minutes as a goalkeeper and has a 1.57 goals against average and one shutout.
A Look At The Opposition - Wright State
Wright State got off to a 4-1 start in 2008, but is just 1-5-1 since, including a 0-1-1 start to league play. The Raiders tied Cleveland State, 0-0, and fell to Loyola last weekend in their first league contests. Jess Rooma remains the straw that stirs WSU's drink, as the senior midfielder has a team-high five goals and is tied for third in the league with 13 points. Meghan Hackerson returns for her second season in the Raider goal and boasts a 1.27 GAA to go with four shutouts.
Series Histories
Loyola and Wright State are two established league foes the Panthers have played a combined 42 times. UWM is 14-1-3 all-time against Loyola, with its lone loss in the series coming in 1994. The series has been closer of late, as the last five meetings have been decided by one goal or less, including the 2007 league title game. The game ended in a 2-2 tie and the Ramblers advanced to the NCAA Tournament in a penalty kick shootout.
Milwaukee is 14-5-5 all-time against the Raiders, one of three teams the Panthers will be playing for the 25th time this season. UWM is 6-0-1 in the series since 2000 and has not lost a regular season match to WSU since 1996.
Last Week In Review
Wednesday - Milwaukee 2, Northwestern 1
Freshman Sarah Hagen scored her 11th goal of the season and tied a school record with her fifth game-winner to lead Milwaukee to a 2-1 win over Northwestern last Wednesday. The Panthers defeated their third Big Ten team this season and are now unbeaten in their last seven games against teams from the conference (5-0-2).
Friday - Milwaukee 2, Green Bay 0
UWM outshot Green Bay, 30-6, and benefited from two early second-half goals to open its 2008 Horizon League season with a 2-0 win over the Phoenix last Friday. Senior Beth Steuer and junior Louise Vraney each scored their second goals of the season to lead the Panthers.
First Place In The Big Ten
Milwaukee's win over Northwestern pushed the Panthers' record against Big Ten opponents to 3-0 this season and extended their unbeaten streak against the conference to seven (5-0-2). Milwaukee is the only team in the nation with three wins against the conference and is one of five squads to have played three games against Big Ten foes.
State Champs
UWM went undefeated against the other three Division I schools in Wisconsin for the second time in three season and pushed its unbeaten streak against state schools to nine games (8-0-1) with Friday's win over Green Bay. The Panthers have not lost to one of the three other Division I schools in the state since 2005. They went 3-0 in 2006 and 2-0-1 last season. They own three-straight wins over the Badgers and five-straight over Green Bay. And, finally, Milwaukee has defeated Marquette in 2006 and 2008, with the two teams tying in 2007.
Home, Sweet Home
The Panthers are 7-0 at home this season and currently own an 18-match home unbeaten streak (15-0-3). They also have a streak of 32-straight regular season home games without a loss (27-0-5). And, if you include post-season contests, the team is still an impressive 30-1-6 at home over its last 37 home matches. Milwaukee is also unbeaten in their last 29 league home matches (28-0-1), dating back to Oct. 11, 1998.
League Run
UWM entered 2008 with a 31-game league unbeaten streak in tact (29-0-2). The streak became a league record during the 2006 season. The previous record also belonged to Milwaukee, a 21-game (20-0-1) stretch that immediately preceded the current streak. Since 2000, the Panthers are 49-1-3 in league play.
Wasting No Time
Through just 12 games, Sarah Hagen has tallied 11 goals and 24 points. She has already scored the most goals and/or points in a season by a Panther since 1997. It is no surprise that Hagen is also tied for fourth in the nation with 11 goals and 24 points.
Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner
Of Hagen's team and league-high 11 goals, five have come as game-winners. That total ties the school record of five, achieved four other times. Sarah Teegarden had been the last Panther to notch five winners in a season, doing so in 2006.
Like All Good Things...
Hagen scored at least one goal in each of her first seven collegiate games. Ignoring the fact that she is did that as a freshman, or in her first games as a collegian, she established a school record for consecutive games with a goal. Sept. 5 she surpassed Betsy Ribares' school record of four-straight with her fifth. Her streak is also second in school history for consecutive games with a point.
M-V-P ... M-V-P ... M-V-P
Kate Megna was named the Offensive MVP at the Minnesota Gold Classic, the team's second tourney MVP this season. Sarah Hagen earned MVP honors at the Milwaukee Cup to start the season. Both players also earned all-tournament honors at each tournament, as has senior Sarah Teegarden. Freshman Keara Thompson rounded out the Milwaukee Cup representatives, while freshman Mary Wandolowski was also honored in Minnesota.
Gonna Need More Than One Shelf
The Panthers' awards have not been limited to all-tournament teams. Kate Megna was named last week's Horizon League Player of the Week, an award Sarah Hagen earned Aug. 25. Hagen has also been named to three national teams of the week, including the Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the Week Sept. 1 and Sept. 8. She pulled double-duty Sept. 8, also appearing on Soccer America's team.
Overtime Warriors
Milwaukee did not play a single overtime match over the first six games of the season only to play three in its next four contests. The Panthers tied New Mexico Sept. 12 to equal the NCAA record for consecutive overtime games without a loss. UWM had not lost an overtime match since Sept. 12, 2004, a span of 24 games (10-0-14). According to research by the Bradley University sports information office, the Panthers tied its men's team's streak from 2000-06. The streak then came to an end two days later against UNLV. Senior Erin Kane played a huge part in that record, not conceding a goal in overtime over the first 326:37 of overtime play in her career before Sept. 14. Of her 40 career shutouts, 15 have included some overtime.
Soccer Captain
With three wins the week of Sept. 3-7, head coach Michael Moynihan became the winningest soccer coach in UWM history. He surpassed Louis Bennett with his 137th career win that Friday and picked up No. 138 on Sunday. Bennett coached the men's team from 1996-05. He and Moynihan, who is now up to 141 career coaching wins, are two of the four coaches to eclipse 100 career soccer coaching wins in school history.
Helping Hands... Er... Feet
Kate Megna is second on the team with five assists this season, upping her career total to 13 and tying her for seventh in school history. Junior Erin Kreuser is right behind Megna with four assists this season and 12 in her career, 10th-most in school history. Kreuser has, however, already tied the school record for career game-winning assists with seven after picking up two this season. Megna is one back, having assisted on six game-winners.
We Are The Champions
Earlier this season, the Panthers claimed their second-straight Milwauee Cup title. They defeated Ohio State 4-3 on Aug. 27 and Samford 4-2 on Aug. 29 to claim the title. For the third-straight year, co-hosts UWM and Marquette each went 2-0, but this is the second in a row the Panthers claimed the title on the goals scored tiebreaker.
Prognosticators Pick Panthers
For the ninth consecutive year, Milwaukee has been picked to win the Horizon League in the annual preseason coaches' poll. The Panthers garnered seven first place votes and tallied 63 points. Loyola, which finished second to UWM last season, was picked second with two first-place nods and 58 total points. Milwaukee has won the last eight league regular season crowns.
Streaking
The Panthers enter the 2008 season having won the last eight Horizon League regular season titles. The streak is the second-longest in the nation, behind only Penn State's streak of 10 Big Ten titles.
2007 Revisited
While the 2007 season did not end in the NCAA Tournament like Milwaukee hoped it would, it still was another successful season for the Panthers. They went 13-4-4, won an eighth-straight Horizon League regular season championship and advanced to the league title game for a league-record ninth time.
A Few Extra Notes
• Senior Erin Kane picked up shutout No. 40 Sept. 19 against Boston University. She is the only player in school and league history to crack the 30-shutout mark and reached 40 in just 71 games.
• After Ohio State knotted the game at 3-3 on Aug. 27, Nicole Sperl converted the go-ahead goal just 18 seconds later on a penalty kick. It was the third-fastest response goal in school history.
• Sarah Hagen was the third Panther freshman to score two goals in her collegiate debut, following Louise Vraney in 2006 and Katie Waltenberger in 1997. This season also marked the third-straight season-opener in which a freshman scored, including Sarah Talbert's first career goal last season.
• Vraney has scored on the opening day of each of her three seasons, including Aug. 22 against Wisconsin. No other player in team history has scored on an opening day more than once.
• UWM defeated Toledo, 3-0, in their only intercollegiate exhibition match. Freshman Laurel Ragalie scored two goals in the match.<
• Sarah Hagen assisted on all three goals against Toledo, including twice while playing as the team's emergency goalkeeper in the second half.
Megna's Memoirs Part Deux
Junior Kate Megna is once again providing her take on the Panthers' season as it goes on, via an online blog at uwmpanthers.com. At the start of every week, Megna looks back on the weekend of action and shares the inside story of the Milwaukee women's soccer team. Visit uwmpanthers.com for the latest installment, which is posted on Monday afternoons. Fans can also follow along with all of UWM's sports at the Verizon Wireless Panther Blogzone. The Blogzone is the perfect place to get a little extra information on your favorite Panther teams.
Next Up
The Panthers' road trip continues next weekend, as they head to northeast Ohio to take on Cleveland State Oct. 10 and Youngstown State Oct. 12.
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