Horizon League Semifinals
Loyola @ Milwaukee
Game #19 • Nov. 6 • 7:30 pm
Engelmann Field
Media: Gametracker, HLN Webcast
Championship
TBD
Game #20 • Nov. 8 • 1 pm
Engelmann Field
Media: Gametracker, HLN Webcast
• Coach Moynihan Weekly Podcast
• Complete Release in PDF Format 
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Nov. 3, 2009) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team begins play in the 2009 Horizon League Championship Friday, hosting Loyola in the day's second semifinal contest. The Panthers and Ramblers kick off at approximately 7:30 p.m., following the Wright State/Valparaiso game at 5 p.m. The championship game is Sunday at 1 p.m.
Tournament History
Milwaukee has a strong history in Horizon League Championship play. In fact, in the 15 tournaments in which the Panthers have participated, they have advanced to the title game a league-record 10 times and are 21-7-6 all-time in tourney play. In those 10 championship game appearances, UWM has won five titles.
Award Season
Panthers figured quite prominently in the Horizon League's post-season awards when the winners were announced last week. Sophomore Sarah Hagen was named the league player of the year, while freshman Helen Steinhauser gave the program its second-straight newcomer of the year. Head coach Michael Moynihan was named Co-Coach of the Year, marking his seventh COY award. Hagen was joined on the all-league first team by senior Kate Megna and junior Sarah Talbert. Senior Erin Kreuser and junior Nicole Sperl were selected to the all-league second team and Steinhauser was joined on the all-newcomer team by freshman Jamie Forbes.
League Champions
With a 1-0 win over Wright State Oct. 18, Milwaukee claimed a 10th-straight Horizon League regular season championship. That streak is the second-longest active streak in the nation, behind only Penn State of the Big Ten with 11.
Ms. Consistency
Sarah Hagen scored goals in a school-record nine-straight games in a streak that came to an end Oct. 26 at Green Bay. She played just 32 minutes in that game, but still tallied an assist to extend her point-scoring streak to 10 games. She had held the previous goal-scoring record of seven games, achieved two times last season. Her latest streak is tied for the 12th-longest goal-scoring streak in NCAA Division I history. She also saw her streak of 13-game league goal-scoring streak come to an end.
Hat Trick x2
Sarah Hagen tied a school record with four goals against Valparaiso Oct. 4. She then followed it up with three more goals Oct. 9 against Cleveland State. She became the first player in school history to post back-to-back hat tricks. She also did so in a timely fashion. Against Valpo, Hagen had three goals by the 25th minute. Then, vs. the Vikings, she scored all three goals in a span of 7:37.
Yeah, People Have Noticed
A large quantity of weekly awards have been bestowed upon Sarah Hagen over the second half of the season. Oct. 19, she was named the Horizon League Player of the Week for the fifth-straight week. She was also named to the Soccer America National Team of the Week for the third-straight week and the TopDrawerSoccer.com NTOW for the second. The awards were topped off by a National Player of the Week honor from Soccer America, also Oct. 19. She has earned league POW honors a league-record eight times in her career and eight NTOW awards from various publications.
Helping Out Her Friends
Kate Megna has been posting some gaudy numbers of her own, doing so in the assist category. She entered the year with 20 assists, needing seven to break the school's career assist record. Well, she has sprinted by that mark with a school-record 15 so far this season. The old mark was 12, which she had tied last season. The Middleton, Wis., native now has a school-record 35 career assists, as well as assists in each of her last seven games. The point-scoring streak is tied for the fourth-longest in school history.
Rising To The Top
Both Sarah Hagen and Kate Megna figure prominently in the NCAA statistical leaders released Monday. Megna leads the nation with 15 assists, two better than any other player, and is averaging a national-best 0.88 assists per game. Meanwhile, Hagen is comfortably near the top of both the point and goal lists. She has 19 goals and 43 points so far this season, which puts her fourth in the nation in goals and fifth in points. Her per-game goal-scoring average of 1.056 is fourth, as are her 2.39 points per game.
Coming Up Next
The winner of the Horizon League Championship receives the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
Last Weekend
At gametime Friday, Milwaukee will have played just one game in the last 19 days. That game was last Monday, Oct. 26, at Green Bay. Kate Megna had a goal and assist to lead the Panthers to a 4-1 victory. The win capped a perfect league slate for UWM.
A Look At The Opposition - Loyola
The Ramblers advanced to the league semifinals in exciting fashion against Butler on Sunday. Loyola faced a 2-0 deficit with less than 15 minutes to play, but came back to tie the game at 2-2 and force a tie. In the ensuing penalty kick shootout, the Ramblers prevailed, 4-3. Nikki Staton leads the team in scoring with four goals and eight points, while eight other players have accounted for the team's other 10 goals.
Series History
Milwaukee and Loyola are meeting in the league tournament for the third-straight season. In each of the last two instances, the teams were playing in the tourney championship. In 2007, Loyola escaped with the title after a penalty kick shootout. Last season, however, the Panthers won the title with a decisive 6-2 win. Overall, UWM leads the all-time series, 16-2-3, after a 5-1 win in the regular season meeting Sept. 25 at Engelmann Field.
A Look At The Other Side
Wright State and Valparaiso are playing in Friday's first semifinal matchup, with the winner advancing to take on the Milwaukee/Loyola winner Sunday. Wright State is opening its tourney run after earning a bye into the semis as the No. 2 seed. No. 3 Valpo upended No. 6 Green Bay, 2-0, to advance out of the quarterfinals Sunday.
More History
UWM has taken on Wright State 27 times, as many as any other opponent in school history. Milwaukee now leads the all-time series 17-5-5 after its 1-0 win during the regylar season. The Panthers are also a perfect 10-0 against Valparaiso, topping the Crusaders 5-1 in the regular season behind four Sarah Hagen goals.
Senior Honors
According to CollegeSoccer360.com, the 2009 Panther seniors are 13th in the nation with a .744 winning percentage over their careers (57-16-11). As freshman, they played on 16-4-2 squad in 2006, before going 13-4-4 in 2007. Last season, UWM went 18-3-2 and the team is 10-5-3 so far in 2009. The group has led the program to four league regilar season titles, a league tournament crown and played in two NCAA Tournaments.
Getting It Done...
Milwaukee finished league play with an 8-0 record, its fifth perfect league season since 2000. It was also the league's first perfect season since adding an eighth league game. In addition to that, UWM has four unbeaten seasons (one tie) in team history. In league history, there have only been four other perfect seasons (three by Notre Dame) and one other unbeaten season (UND).
... And How!
A tough non-league schedule seemed to have helped, as the Panthers were on fire in league play. In running the table in league play, UWM outscored its opponents 43-4 and conceded just 13 shots on goal. Milwaukee has also forced league keepers into 76 saves as a part of 108 shots on goal. Individually, Sarah Hagen had 15 goals, which is more than any team in league play. Kate Megna also had 11 league assists and Keara Thompson 11 league points (3g, 5a).
State Of Play
The Panthers went 1-1-1 against three in-state foes this season following their 4-1 win at Green Bay last Monday. It was their 2-0 loss to Marquette Sept. 3, that ended their 11-game unbeaten streak against state schools. UWM had gone undefeated against the other three Division I schools in Wisconsin for the second time in three seasons in 2008 and had not lost to a state team since 2005.
Home Field Advantage
UWM has not lost a regular season league home game in over 10 years, a span of 36 games (35-0-1). All-time, the Panthers are 45-4-1 at home in league play. The only league team to defeat Milwaukee on its home field since 1998 was Detroit in the 2006 league semifinals, 1-0.
Return Of The M.A.C.
Sarah Hagen was one of 45 players named to the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy watch list, the NSCAA announced Aug. 11. The award is given to the national player of the year each year. Hagen had a breakout freshman campaign in 2008, scoring a school and league-record 24 goals and shattering the school record for points with 54. She was a consensus Freshman First-Team All-American and was named a Fourth-Team All-American by Soccer Buzz.
Packing Them In
One bright spot to come from UWM's 2-0 loss to Marquette Sept. 3 was the school-record crowd of 1,307. That figure trumped the previous mark of 867 set at the 2007 Milwaukee/Marquette meeting. In the first three home games this season, the Panthers drew the No. 1 and No. 7-largest crowds in school history (577 v. Michigan Aug. 28). The team is averaging a school-record 601 fans per game.
Milwaukee's Cup
UWM claimed a third-straight Milwaukee Cup title this season, scoring a 6-0 win over Michigan and a 1-0 victory over Rice. Senior Kate Megna led the offensive attack on Friday, tallying two goals and two assists, while Sarah Hagen chipped in a goal and two assists. On Sunday, Megna tallied another assist on sophomore Laurel Ragalie's game-winner.
M-V-P
Kate Megna was named the Milwaukee Cup tournament MVP. She was joined on the all-tournament team by Sarah Hagen, junior Nicole Sperl, sophomore Makenzie Gillaspie and freshman Helen Steinhauser. Megna was last named MVP of the Minnesota Gold Classic last season.
New Face In Goal
Jamie Forbes posted shutouts in each of the Panthers' first four games, becoming the first keeper in school history with four shutouts to start her career. In doing so, she handily broke the school record for shutout streak to start a career. Her 411:06 stretch topped the old mark of 224:45, set by Linda Moynihan in 1990.
