By: Steven Wilson – Graduate Assistant, Sports Information
Records
Upper Iowa (3-1) || No. 17 Winona State (0-1-2)
The new season has brought with it a new coaching staff, a new style of play offensively and a new attitude. The Upper Iowa Women's Soccer team didn't back down from No. 17 Winona State on Friday night – they embraced the challenge and pulled an old trick out of their bag.
The Peacocks defeated the Warriors, 1-0, in Northern Sun Conference play thanks to
Kali Loescher's first goal of the year and a UIU defense, which earned its first shutout of the new season – a feat reminiscent of last year's record-setting team, which recorded a league-high 14 shutouts and won a total of eight games by a score of 1-0.
The win bumped the Peacocks record up to 3-1 and marked just the second time in nine years, the Upper Iowa Women's Soccer team has defeated Winona State. The team was previously 1-13 including postseason play. The only other time UIU pulled out a win was in the 2011 NSIC/US Bank Women's Soccer Tournament opening round in Winona.
Head Coach
Brian Diaz called the win a long time coming, but also said that the match was as close as it possibly could be.
The teams were deadlocked at a 0-0 tie going into halftime. UIU had taken 9 shots in the first half compared to 8 for WSU.
The breather helped because after the break, the Peacocks turned to their offense for a spark. In the 53rd minute of action,
Madie Edwards split the Warrior defense and sent a beautiful cross to Loescher, who immediately drilled the ball to the back of the net.
For Loescher, it was like a weight was lifted off her shoulders and her early struggles to find the net in 2013 vanished. The junior forward had a team-high .700 shot-on-goal percentage coming into Friday's match, but did not score on any of her 10 total shots.
Loescher's goal gave the Peacocks momentum, but with 36 minutes remaining in the game, the Peacocks turned to their defense to carry the load - challenge accepted.
UIU Goalkeeper
Kaitlyn Emanuel made big save after big save, thwarting the best-looking Warrior chances as time drained away. Emanuel collected a total of nine saves in the game and earned her first shutout of the year and first career shutout in NSIC play.
As time wound down and the realization set in, the Peacock bench exploded onto the field, embracing and cheering as soon as the clock hit zero. The emotions were free flowing as the Peacocks took home the pivotal 1-0 NSIC victory over their rivals to the north.
The win was also the first conference victory for Diaz, who was all smiles after the game.
Stat of the Day
It took Kali Loescher six games to net her first conference goal last season, but on Friday she began 2013 NSIC play with a goal - her first of the season.
Standouts
Upper Iowa: Kali Loescher (1 goal); Madie Edwards (1 assist).
Sounding Off
Head Coach Brian Diaz after the match.
On the Win… "Obviously, it was a big win today. Winona State was the preseason favorite to win the conference and they have a quality team – that was a big hurdle for us to overcome today. This win may carry a bit more weight, but at the end of the day, it's a conference win and now we're 1-0 in the NSIC. We've got 14 more conference games to play, so we have to continue to play at this high level."
On Kali Loescher's first goal in 2013… "She deserves it. She has played well enough to earn a goal, but it just hasn't been there – that's the life of a forward sometimes, there are times you just don't find the back of the net. What a great time to score your first goal of the season though. Her play was exceptional today, as it has been for most of the year."
On Kaitlyn Emanuel's Play… "You bank on your goalkeeper to make a big save. You knew this was going to be a tight match and you bank on her making one big save and she made more than one today. That's why she's our starting goalkeeper. She has that ability. She has done a great job all year of cleaning up balls out of the air and that really helped our defense today. Winona is dangerous on set pieces and they're dangerous on corner kicks and Kaitlyn did a great job limiting their chances."
On the Defensive Performance… "The defense was fantastic and it helped us earn that first shutout of the season. While we gave up some room in the second half, we had a bend but don't break attitude. We didn't give up a bunch of dangerous opportunities, despite their ball control for most of the period."
Any Other Standouts? … "We asked
Lauren Rohrmeier to play a specific role in the game for ten minutes and she did a fabulous job. We asked
Trina Gallagher to play a position she's not accustomed to and she did a great job for us. Madie Edwards played up top today and did well. We brought in
Jess Dickhaus to fill in a gap for 30 minutes and settle things down and she did that. Our bench was very important today."
Next Up
The team will continue Northern Sun Conference play next week as they head to Minnesota to take on the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs and the Huskies of St. Cloud State in back-to-back games.