Minnesota, Morris 1
Northland 0
In Ashland, Wis. the Cougar women's soccer team overcame tough conditions to pull off a huge upset, defeating the Lumberjills of Northland College 1-0 this afternoon. Northland had won 12 games in a row.
The Cougars withstood an extremely physical game on a soggy pitch. The Lumberjills received three yellow cards and one red card ejection during the game.
Also complicating matters for UMM was the absence of their two senior captains: Maddy Gerber (taking the GRE) and Nina Jarnot (family wedding).
The wet field caused head coach Dan Magner to reassess his strategy against Northland. "We played fairly direct soccer today. We kept pushing the ball forward and I think that helped in these conditions. Rather than passing a lot at midfield, we kept putting the ball up to keep Northland from getting momentum," he said.
The strategy paid dividends midway through the first half when first year midfielder Katie Kestner played the ball ahead to junior midfielder Amber O'Connor, who was streaking up the right side. O'Connor crossed the ball to first year forward Taylor Meehan. Meehan knocked the ball down and put it away for her eighth goal of the season.
From that point, the Cougars held on, keeping Northland's star senior, Sarah Strobino, in check. Strobino, who was the UMAC player of the year last season, managed only a couple shots on the day.
Northland turned up the pressure in the second half, and nearly scored with three minutes to go when a shot caromed off the post and across the goal, only to be cleared moments later.
Magner was thrilled with the victory: "All the credit to our players. They absolutely gave a tremendous effort to win today."
The win moves the Cougars to 9-8 on the year and 7-4 in conference, and maintains their unusual habit of winning more on the road than at home. They are now 3-6 at home, but 6-2 on the road.
More importantly, the win virtually assures the Cougars of post-season play.
Tomorrow they face St. Scholastica in Duluth, before returning home for a regular season-ending matchup against Presentation next weekend.
Box Score
