The Senior Day celebration for the Panther women’s soccer team ended in a 2-2 draw against the fourth-place Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI) Jaguars. UWM remains undefeated in their conference, leading the Horizon League with 20 points and a 6-0-2 record.
The day began with a celebration of the five seniors, Clara Broecker, Kendall Edwards, Emma Famulak, Katie Swenson and Kat Van Booven. The senior class has been central to the program’s recent success, resulting in three NCAA tournament appearances and two conference championships during their tenure.
Head coach Kevin Boyd offered praise for the senior class, both on and off the field.
“The group of them have been competitive driving forces for our program’s success,” said Boyd. “They are everything you would want from a class; successful, very good in the classroom and good teammates.”
Van Booven and Broecker rank among the team leaders in points, while Edwards’ five shutouts are tied for the third best mark in the Horizon League.
Boyd also noted Broecker’s stabilizing leadership on the team.
“Clara Broecker is our captain and one of the two main leaders on our team. Clara is considerate, selfless, caring, thoughtful, hard-working, incredibly talented, and is a really good person as a whole.”
Broecker’s game-tying 81st-minute goal may have been the most important play in Sunday’s match, allowing Milwaukee to leave with a draw against a highly motivated IUPUI squad.
A 14th-minute corner kick goal gave the Jaguars an early 1-0 lead, a score that held until UWM’s Jenni Andjelic contributed with a goal of her own.
The Jaguars countered less than five minutes later when Emma Antoine gave IUPUI a 2-1 lead. IUPUI saved three shots before Broecker tied the game.
The Panthers held off an 89th-minute corner kick from IUPUI to earn a draw.
UWM remains positioned to host the conference tournament, as they currently lead the Horizon League with 20 points and a 6-0-2 record in conference.
The fifth-place IUPUI Jaguars missed an opportunity to gain ground on the first-place Panthers. They currently sit in fifth place, just one point ahead of Detroit Mercy for a postseason berth.
Only two regular season matches remain for the Panthers. The team travels to Michigan this Saturday to square off against Oakland University, before returning home on Wednesday to face the last-place UW-Green Bay Phoenix at 7.