MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee women's soccer team clinched at least a share of its fifth consecutive Horizon League regular-season title with a commanding 3-0 victory over IUPUI Wednesday evening at Engelmann Stadium.
 
The Panthers (14-1, 7-0 Horizon League) used a strong second-half effort to put a halftime lead away against the Jaguars (10-6-1, 4-3 Horizon League) and wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the standings with the victory.
 
"That's what you aim for and that's our goal," head coach Troy Fabiano said of clinching the league title. "You want to be at home come league tournament time. You think of it … it's five years. And I think a lot of people take it for granted and you know you are going to get everyone's best game, so a ton of credit to the ladies. They show up and play."
 
Taylor Hattori provided the spark in the first half, picking off a loose ball in the back and slotting home the eventual game-winner in the 28^th minute.
 
"Just keep plugging away," Fabiano said. "You have to be cautious in games like this, because against a good team, one mistake can hurt them and that took the momentum away from them and we took it in the second half."
 
Following a first half in which it was outshot, 9-to-5, MKE used an impressive second half performance that featured goals by Gaby Schwartz and Mackenzie Schill to improve its unbeaten streak in Horizon League regular-season contests to 31 in a row (29-0-2).
 
"That's been a focus for us and something we wanted to grow as a team," Fabiano said. "You get one and sometimes in the past, we've just hung on and hung on and just defended way too much. That puts things at ease and it's important to close games out."
 
The team also equaled a program record with its 11^th straight victory, which is now tied for the longest current streak of its kind across the NCAA with South Dakota State.
 
Elaina LaMacchia finished with eight saves to record her fifth shutout in a row and seventh of the season. The 90 minutes extended her personal scoreless streak to nine straight appearances and 809:48 of game time.
 
She made seven of them in the first half, featuring a diving stop at the post in the 23^rd minute and another tough one from distance in the 32^nd minute. She only needed one second-half save to complete her work on the night, going high to make a pretty save in the 82^nd minute to preserve the clean sheet and lower her goals-against average to a miniscule 0.29 on the campaign.
 
Milwaukee came out slow in the first half on offense, but Hattori's goal gave them an important 1-0 advantage at the break. The team turned up the pressure in the second half, outshooting the Jaguars 10-to-1 after intermission.
 
That resulted in two close calls to start, with McKaela Schmelzer nearly adding a goal on a corner-kick header in the 63^rd and Haley Johnson rifling one just over the crossbar on a breakaway attempt after getting sprung on a nice pass from Rafferty Kugler in the 65^th.
 
They kept up the pressure and put the game away, with Schwartz doing all of the work to make it 2-0. She stood over a free kick from about 35 yards away on the wing, sending the set piece opportunity up-and-over the IUPUI keeper into the upper corner for her sixth goal of the fall at the 68:38 mark.
 
They were not done there. Chandler McDaniel and Kugler combined to set up Schill on the top of the 18, turning away from the defense and firing a left-footed attempt inside the far post for her sixth goal of the season at the 82:38 mark.
 
For the game, Milwaukee ended up with a 15-to-10 shot advantage, which included an even-up 8-to-8 count in shots on goal. The Panthers also had six of the eight corner kicks in the match. Schill paced the offense with four shots; three on goal.
 
Up next, the Panthers will play their final road contest of the regular season Sunday, traveling to Michigan to take on Oakland. Game time is set for 12 p.m. CST.

---

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Men's NCAA Tournament First Round Recap

TeamRank Presented By TeamSnap - Boys

Midwest High School Roundup - Nov.