The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's soccer team defeated UW-River Falls 2-0 Thursday night at Fiskum Field in Whitewater to move to 18-2 this season and advance to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship match. Thursday's semifinal win set a school record for wins in a season, and was the 15th in a row for UW-Whitewater, another school record. The Falcons end their season with an overall record of 12-6-3.

As they have done all season, UW-Whitewater started fast. Jenna Woodson (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) connected with Brianna Reid (Oak Creek, Wis./Oak Creek) for her 14th goal of the season to give the Warhawks a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute of play. Reid continued to pressure the Falcons as the half wore on, putting two more shots on net and another that sailed wide right.

Jordan Myers (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) kept the Falcons off of the scoreboard making two first half saves, one in the 10th minute and another in the 15th minute.

UW-Whitewater continued to pepper the UW-River Falls goal with shots, including two by Marie Lesperance (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha South), one by Sarah Sedlar (Racine, Wis./Racine Case) and another by Reid. Kelsey Beld (Madison, Wis./Madison Memorial) subbed into the game in the 38th minute and two minutes later the senior defender scored her first career goal to give the Warhawks a 2-0 advantage heading into halftime. Morgan Beaty (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) assisted on the goal. UW-Whitewater coach Ryan Quamme said of Beld's goal, "The senior capitalized on her minutes. I'm very happy for Kelsey. She deserved a meaningful goal; she's put a lot into our program."

River Falls, perhaps playing with a sense that their season could end, turned up the intensity in the second half. After being outshot 9-2 in the first half, the Falcons turned the tables in the second, outshooting the Warhawks 12-4. Their best chance came in the 70th minute when a shot by junior defender Missy Barnett went off the crossbar and to the feet of Kenzie Weisman. Weisman got a foot on it but Myers made the save to preserve the shutout.

Myers made seven saves in the match, the most since she made eight in a 2-0 loss to the Milwaukee School of Engineering on September 10 ... the last time the Warhawks lost. The shutout is Myers' tenth solo shutout of the season and twelfth for the team.

The Warhawks, the top seed in the tournament, will face the number two seed, UW-Oshkosh, in the WIAC tournament title match on Saturday at 5 pm at Fiskum Field. The two teams met earlier this season on October 15th in Whitewater and the Warhawks won 1-0 on a first half goal by Carina Krausert (Waukesha, Wis./Catholic Memorial). Quamme said of the match-up, "Their goalkeeper is very good and they are dangerous in the attack so I expect a good game."

The winner of the game receives the WIAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III tournament. The Warhawks have won the WIAC tournament the last two seasons, 2012 and 2013, and the Titans won in 2011.

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