The UW-Milwaukee women’s soccer team defeated the University of Illinois-Chicago 4-1 in their Horizon League opener Wednesday night at Engelmann Stadium.
The Panthers were on the attack most of the night with their first goal of the game coming during the 14th minute as senior forward Krissy Dorre netted her third goal of the season in the bottom left corner. Dorre was assisted by fellow senior forward Kelly Lewers.
Both teams missed shots over the next 25 minutes until Milwaukee freshman forward Sydney Senn scored her third goal of the season. Senn won the ball on the left side of the box and shot the ball directly at UIC’s keeper Kelly Fritz. Fritz bobbled the shot and the ball found its way into the goal putting the Panthers up 2-0 heading into the half.
Milwaukee started the second half off quickly as Dorre scored her second goal of the game in the 46th minute off another assist from Lewers. Milwaukee head coach Greg Henschel was pleased with the way the second half went after he felt his team didn’t play as well as they should have in the first.
“I’m glad about some of the adjustments the players made in the second half, I thought our first half was not very sharp but I’m pleased to see some of the adjustments we made in the second,” coach Henschel said. “They led to a couple of better scoring chances, ultimately one of the goals was due to our adjustments.”
The final goal of the night for the Panthers came from Cassidy Blanchard off a corner kick sent in by Maria Stephans during the 58th minute. Blanchard leaped over the smaller defender and headed the ball off the far post resulting in the freshman’s first goal of her collegiate career.
UIC got on the board with their only goal of the game in the 81st minute when Haley Kittle broke away form the defenders and chipped the ball over Milwaukee goalkeeper Paige Lincicum. Forward Jasmin Carrera assisted Kittle’s first goal of the season.
Coach Henschel was obviously very pleased with their 1-0 conference record heading into their first conference game on the road. “It’s a good start, you can’t get to step two without getting to step one,” Henschel said. “Step two is on Saturday and we got to get focused to take the next step.”
UWM’s next game took place this Saturday where they lost to Youngstown State 3-2.