Nov. 3, 2007
Contact: Brian McCann
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The 2007 season came to an end for the Viking women's soccer team on Saturday night as the CSU defense turned in one of its best performances in its short history. Unfortunately, the offense could not put a goal on the board as eighth-seeded CSU fell to top seed Milwaukee, 1-0, at Engelmann Field.
The Vikings, who set a school record for wins this season, end the year with a 5-14-1 record. Milwaukee improves to 12-4-3.
"I couldn't have asked for anything more out of our team," head coach Derrek Falor said. "I am extremely proud of how we handled the overwhelming obstacles that have been in our path. This was our fourth match in the last eight days and we don't have the depth to play so many important matches in just a short period of time. Still, our kids stepped up and gave it everything they had.
"We played this team just two weeks ago and lost 6-0. Tonight, we came as close to beating them as anybody in the Horizon League has done this year. It shows how far we have come this year."
The lone goal of the contest came at the 14:31 mark when Beth Steuer broke into the box and slid a shat just inside the far post from 10 yards out.
It was the only blemish on the evening for freshman goalkeeper Kelly Zinkiewich, who recorded 10 saves in the match.
Milwaukee took 28 shots in the contest while holding CSU without a shot. Thirteen of Milwaukee's shots came in the first half with Zinkiewich making nine first half saves. The difference came after the intermission when the Panthers were forced to take longer shots with just one of UWM's 15 second half shot attempts being on goal.
"Our game plan this evening was to play defense outside of the box," Falor said. "We didn't want to allow Milwaukee to spend the entire match in our zone so we decided to adjust our defensive line up the field and keep them out of the box.
"We did a nice job of accomplishing our goal, especially in the second half. You could see that our refusal to let them penetrate into the box frustrated them."
The loss is a bittersweet end to a frantic final two weeks of the season which has seen CSU go 1-2-1, including the program's first-ever postseason victory.
"The last two weeks of the season has seen this program grow immensely," Falor said. "We met challenges and accomplished things that will help us to achieve even more down the road. The tie last week against Detroit and tonight's 1-0 loss has showed us that we can compete against any team in the league.
"I see good things down the road for this program, but unfortunately, we will be going forward without our seniors (Shayna Back, Heather Clapacs & Amber Rasmussen) who have meant so much to the development of this program. We will miss them," Falor added.
