If the first half had been a pinball game it would have flashed "TILT".  UW-Whitewater defeated Wittenberg University 4-0 Friday in the first round of the NCAA Division III women's soccer championship tournament in Wheaton, Illinois.  UW-W, 16-4-1, will face host Wheaton College, 18-3-2 and a 4-0 winner over Webster University in another first round game Friday, at 5:00 Saturday in Wheaton.

Whitewater jumped out front with its first shot of the game.  Sarah Sedlar (Racine/Case) took a corner kick at 5:28, and Jessica Allemang(Wauwatosa/West) took control and fed Alyssa Chamberlain (DePere/DePere) for the goal at 5:36. 

Showing an efficient attack, the Warhawks made it 2-0 with their second shot of the contest at 13:13, as Kelsey Finn (Glendale/Nicolet) scored her fourth of the season, unassisted, from the top of the box.

Sedlar had a shot blocked at 19:45, but came back to notch her seventh goal of the season at 22:27, netting the ball from close in front, with assists from Chamberlain and Jenna Woodson (Menomonee Falls/Menomonee Falls) to make it 3-0 Whitewater.

From that point on through the remaining 23 minutes of the first half, Whitewater had the only shots on goal (four).

UW-W outshot Wittenberg 9-4 in the first half, and had five shots on goal to one for the Tigers.

Wittenberg came out firing in the second half, getting off seven shots in the first twelve minutes of the half, but there seemed to be a Warhawk defender in front to block the attempt before it got to goalkeeper Jordan Myers (Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley). 

UW-W, or more specifically, Natalie Lechner (Waukesha/Catholic Memorial), countered that offensive push with a scoring rush.  With the Tigers concentrated heavily in the offensive zone, Lechner took possession of the ball at midfield, ran past one defender, dribbled past another, and bore in on goaltender Cassie Lythjohan.  Lechner put the ball in the lower left corner of the net for her third goal of the season, at 52:11 to conclude the scoring for the day.

The Warhawks tested Lythjohan three more times in the remaining minutes, the same number of saves UW-W's Myers made in that span to keep the Tigers off the board.

It marked the fourth time this season that UW-W has scored at least four goals.  The highest output for goals this season was in a 5-1 victory on October 6 versus UW-Superior.

Chamberlain led Whitewater with four shots, three on goal.  Senior forward Kathy Striebel took four shots for Wittenberg, and sophomore midfielder Tobie Weston led the Tigers with two shots on goal.  Lythjohan and Myers both came up with four saves.  There were no yellow or red cards, no offsides, a total of just five corner kicks and thirteen fouls in the crisply played game.

Wittenberg ends the 2012 season with an 11-5-3 record.

UW-Whitewater made its first NCAA III tournament appearance last season.  The Warhawks defeated Wartburg College 2-0 in the first round and topped Aurora University in a shootout in the second.  UW-W was eliminated in the sweet sixteen by Wheaton College, 4-1, November 18, 2011 in Wheaton.

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