Milwaukee and Oakland To Meet in Women's Soccer Championship

Women’s Soccer Tournament Results (Nov. 8)
(3) Oakland 0, (2) Wright State (Oak def., WSU, 4-3 in PKs)
(1) Milwaukee 3, (4) Detroit 0

The championship match of the 2013 Horizon League Women's Soccer Championship is now set after Oakland and Milwaukee were both victorious on Friday night at Laura Moynihan Field in Englemann Stadium.

The Golden Grizzlies opened the evening by playing 110 scoreless minutes with second-seeded Wright State and the outcome would have to be decided in penalty kicks. Oakland jumped out to a 1-0 lead in penalty kicks after one shooter for each team after the Raiders first shot was high. But two shooters later, Wright State got back to even when Horizon League Goalkeeper of the Year Brooke McCurdy stopped an Oakland shot. In the fifth and final round, the Golden Grizzlies converted their opporunity, but Wright State's shot was just high, bouncing off the crossbar, to send Oakland into the championship match.

In the second semifinal, Milwaukee used a goal in the 18th minute by All-Horizon League First-Team member Krissy Dorre to jump into the lead and never look back in its 3-0 win over Detroit. The Panthers added another first half goal when Vienna Behnke scored to give UWM a 2-0 lead prior to the intermission. Milwaukee added another insurance goal midway through the second half.

While Sunday will mark Oakland's first time in the Horizon League championship, Milwaukee is no stranger to the title game as the Panthers will make their seventh consecutive appearance in the title game.

Oakland 0, Wright State 0 (Oakland Wins in Penalty Kicks)
The Oakland women's soccer team advanced to the title game of the 2013 Horizon League Women's Soccer Championship Friday evening after outlasting Wright State 4-3 in a penalty kick shootout at Milwaukee's Engelmann Field. The Golden Grizzlies will challenge regular-season champion Milwaukee in the title game slated for Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. ET.

Both teams were scoreless through 110 minutes of play, and the contest is officially scored as a tie. Oakland moves to 10-8-2 on the year, while Wright State finishes their season with an 8-5-5 record.

In order, Joan Sieja, Rachel DeLuca, Abigail Haelewyn and Meghan Reynolds all converted their penalty kick attempts, while Kyla Kellermann's third round effort was on frame but was saved by Wright State goalkeeper Brooke McCurdy. Wright State made their second, third and fourth attempts, but their first shot was wide and their final attempt was denied by the crossbar to advance Oakland to the championship game in their first year in the Horizon League.

Oakland's Payj O'Shea had a stellar performance between the pipes, coming up with eight saves, including five in the first half. The shutout was Oakland's eighth of the season and sixth for O'Shea. In the penalty kick round, goalkeeper Stephanie Bukovec helped keep Wright State in check.
"We struggled in the first half with the wind that was there, and we couldn't get a consistent tempo," Oakland interim head coach Dave Morgan. "But after the half, we settled into our game. We had them on their heels and really controlled the tempo as the game went on."

In a game that featured a pair of stingy defensive squads - Oakland had four shutouts during Horizon League play while Wright State tallied five - it was no surprise that both teams were held scoreless during the game. Wright State out-shot Oakland 24-14, but had just an 8-7 advantage in shots on goal.

Oakland looked to get on the board in the 79th minute when defender Aly Rawson put a solid header on the end of a corner kick by Deluca and shook the nets; but the goal was waived off after the Golden Grizzlies were whistled for a foul on the play.

Both teams continued to try and break through, and Oakland put some of its best efforts on Wright State late in the second overtime period. First, in the 106th minute, Jamie Horne forced Wright State's McCurdy to make a diving save to the far post. Then, just a few seconds later, Serena San Cartier put a long-range shot on frame that again called on McCurdy to come up with a stop as she tipped it off the crossbar.

" That was a great shot by Serena," Morgan said. "I thought that ball was dipping in behind their goalkeeper, and she went up and got it.

"She's a quality keeper; there's no doubt about it," Morgan continued, speaking of McCurdy. "We got to a point where were dominating the run of play, and she kept them in it."

Milwaukee 3, Detroit 0
Krissy Dorre and Vienna Behnke both scored in the first half and Kelsey Holbert added an insurance goal midway through the second half as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 3-0 blanking of Detroit Friday in the second Horizon League Tournament semifinal match at Engelmann Stadium.

Milwaukee (9-8-1) now advances to Sunday's league championship match against Oakland (11-8-1), after the Grizzlies knocked off Wright State in penalty kicks, 4-3. Detroit finishes the season at 11-8-1.

"It was a really clinical match by our team," Milwaukee head coach Greg Henschel said. "I thought we were very good with our finishing tonight and it was good to see; we spent a lot of time on our finishing and I think that showed tonight."

Milwaukee first got on the board in the 18th minute. Holbert ripped a shot inside the box that looked to have the keeper beat but the ball dinged off the crossbar. Dorre was right there for the rebound though, heading the ball into the upper 90 to give UWM the early lead.

Behnke scored just a few minutes later. After a nice build up by the Panthers, Dorre found Kelly Lewers inside the box. The Horizon League Player of the Year took one touch before playing it back to Behnke, who one-timed her shot beautifully through the defense and into the side netting.

From there, Milwaukee's defense took over, limiting the Titan attack to just three shots in the first half Panther keeper Paige Lincicum being asked to make just one save.

UWM didn't let off the gas pedal though, continuing the attack in the second half. The Panthers got on the scoreboard again when Holbert made it 3-0 in the 71st minute off a rocket from 30 yards out that beat the keeper far post.

"Kelsey's goal was fantastic and she set up the first goal well," Henschel said. "It was a good effort by our whole team. The timing and movement were quite good tonight. There are little things that we'll continue to clean up here. It's November 8th and we hope to have a good game on Sunday. Tomorrow we'll get up and clean things up. There were some little moments tonight that we can keep improving on."

Milwaukee held the edge in shots, 12-9, on the evening. Lincicum made five saves on the night and recorded her fourth shutout of the year and her second in a row.