Spring Break
Three to one shootout eliminates Blugolds
Women's soccer ends season with 18-2-4 record, look toward next year
Frank Pellegrino
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Sports
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The first NCAA Regional game came against Carthage on Friday afternoon and resulted in a 3-0 victory for the Blugolds.
Eau Claire struck first in the 26th minute as freshman Rachel Nerison scored her 14th goal of the season. Nerison was fed the ball by senior Liz Kooistra who picked up her 11th assist on the year.
A main goal for the Blugolds was to get off to a fast start."We really wanted to start off scoring early," senior Allie Rivard said. "It was great getting that first goal."
Neither team was able to get an offensive rhythm going for the rest of the half, and the score remained 1-0 going into the break.
In a hard fought second half both teams continued to struggle putting the ball in the net.
With less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, senior Amy Smith scored her 22nd goal of the year, adding most goals and points scored in a single season to her Eau Claire record. The goal was assisted by Nerison.
"Rachel (Nerison) made a run up the side and I told her to hold onto the ball," Smith said. "Then I overlapped her, she gave me a beautiful ball, and I was able to get to go in."
As the final seconds of the game wound down, freshman Alyssa Walker got the ball on a pass from Smith and put it into the back of the net. The goal was the second of the season for Walker.
The referee blew the whistle just a few minutes later and the Blugolds advanced to the next round.
Before the game Eau Claire changed formations from a 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2 with the hopes of having a more offensive style of play.
At the same time this meant the team would obviously be less defensive, but Rivard, the goalkeeper, thought the team adjusted well.
"Defensively it was really important that we worked harder for each other," Rivard said. "We worked really well together with the new system."
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