UW-Milwaukee women’s soccer defeated Robert Morris 7-0 on Thursday at Engelmann Stadium to advance to the Horizon League championship game, Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
The championship game will be streamed live on ESPN Plus. A win would mark their seventh consecutive Horizon League championship and clinch a berth to the NCAA Tournament.
The Panthers entered the Robert Morris match with a 10-6-2 record, while the Colonials sported a 6-6-2 record. The Panthers won 3-0 in their regular season meeting on Oct. 17.
Forward Kayla Rollins had a hat trick while four other Panthers made it on the score sheet. Rollins is the back-to-back winner of the Horizon League Offensive Player of the Year award.
The wide margin allowed head coach Kevin Boyd to use much of his bench.
Midfielder Lola Wojcik felt like the energy from the starting lineup carried over to the players who came off the bench. Substitute forward Emily Petring scored a chipped goal in the 85th minute, her third of the season. Fellow substitute and forward Molly O’Regan contributed with an assist of her own.
No Time Wasted
It only took the Panthers 5 minutes and 21 seconds to start the barrage of goals. Rollins scored her first of the outing after finishing over Robert Morris goalkeeper Brenna Murray. Forward Kristina Karlof assisted the goal.
Only 95 seconds later, Horizon League Player of the Year Lainey Higgins doubled the score after good combination play from Karlof and midfielder Jenni Andjelic.
Karlof netted her fifth goal of the season after Wojcik played her through off a counterattack. Karlof continued her goal-scoring form after she found the back of the net twice in last week’s match at Green Bay. Her performance in that game won her the Horizon League Player of the Week honor.
“Now she’s feeling it,” said Boyd on Karlof’s form. “Before that, her confidence in front of goal is what had had been hurting, and now that’s taken care of.”
The last goal of the first half was from Rollins after a gorgeous feed from O’Regan.
The Panthers led 4-0 at halftime.
Milwaukee held the shots advantage 13-6 at the break. Horizon League Goalkeeper of the Year Parker Donahugh was only forced to make one save in the first half for the Panthers.
Despite the comfortable 4-0 advantage, The Panthers kept their foot on the gas pedal.
Andjelic scored her second goal of the year in the 57th minute after she fired a loose ball from outside of the box into the far-left corner of the net.
Rollins completed her hat trick in the 70th minute to score her 16th goal of the campaign. The midfielder Higgins earned the assist after her cross from the right side of the box found Rollins, who made a darting run at the far post.
Donahugh made a big save to keep the clean sheet when she tipped a shot off the crossbar in the 82nd minute.
After the Petring goal in the 85th minute, the Panthers cruised to a 7-0 victory.
The 7-0 win was their biggest margin of victory on the season. All four corner kicks in the game came from the Panthers, who also held a 25-9 shot advantage.
Northern Kentucky Is Lone Challenger Left
The Northern Kentucky Norse stand in the Panthers’ way after defeating Detroit Mercy 1-0 in the other semifinal matchup. Milwaukee holds 16 of the 31 all-time Horizon League tournament titles.
The Panthers defeated Northern Kentucky 2-0 in the first game of conference play this regular season.
“We just need to bring in the exact same energy we had,” said Wojcik. “We’ve been in this position… just being a team playing together, we’ll get the win.”
The Panthers are no strangers to playoff competition and have a tradition of success.
“There is a tradition and a culture that was established by our alumni,” said Boyd. “It’s… the current players who are responsible to maintain that tradition and that culture.”