Women's Soccer Release #11
Nov. 6, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Seeds Hold in First Week of Horizon League Championship, Action Moves to Milwaukee
The higher-seeded teams have won each of the first five matches in this year's Horizon League Women's Soccer Championship, as the top four teams converge on Milwaukee, Wis., and Engelmann Field this weekend to determine the 2007 Horizon League Champion.
Top seed Milwaukee won its eighth consecutive regular-season title and outshot eighth seed Cleveland State 28-0 but had to settle for a 1-0 victory in Saturday's quarterfinals. Second seed Loyola and third seed Wright State were dominant in early action as the Ramblers routed Green Bay 5-0 and WSU eliminated Detroit 6-0. Fourth seed Butler shut out Valparaiso 2-0 in quarterfinal play to earn the final ticket to Milwaukee.
Cleveland State won a League Championship match for the first time in program history Tuesday as the Vikings outlasted ninth seed Youngstown State 2-1 in overtime. CSU scored with 49 seconds remaining in regulation to force the extra session.
The winner of Sunday's championship match earns the League's automatic entry into the NCAA Championship. Horizon League teams have advanced to the second round of the national tournament in each of the last three years, as Milwaukee won a penalty-kick shootout over Michigan in the opening round last fall.
The Panthers also eliminated Purdue in penalty kicks in 2005 and Detroit defeated Michigan to open the 2004 tournament.
Top Performances in the Opening Rounds
Heather Clapacs, Cleveland State
Sr. * M * Willoughby Hills, Ohio
Clapacs scored the match-winning goal in the eighth minute of overtime, giving Cleveland State a 2-1 victory over Youngstown State on Tuesday. It is CSU's first-ever tournament triumph as the Vikings rallied from a 1-0 deficit.
Lindsey Fox, Butler
So. * F * Columbus, Ind.
Fox scored both goals in the Bulldogs' 2-0 victory over Valparaiso in the quarterfinals. Fox put BU on the board with an unassisted blast from 25 yards out in the 36th minute and added an insurance tally midway through the second half.
Cynthia Morote-Ariza, Loyola
So. * F * Chicago, Ill.
Morote-Ariza registered two goals to lead Loyola past Green Bay. She opened the scoring 18 minutes into the match and added another tally early in the second half. The League's Player of the Year leads the circuit with 17 goals this fall.
Katie Heidenreich, Loyola
Sr. * F * St. Louis, Mo.
Heidenreich set up the match-winner in Loyola's victory over Green Bay and provided insurance with an unassisted goal 54 seconds later to put the Ramblers firmly in control against the Phoenix.
Beth Steuer, Milwaukee
Jr. * M * Madison, Wis.
Steuer notched the match-winner in UWM's 1-0 victory over Cleveland State on Saturday. She dribbled through the defense to score an unassisted tally in the 15th minute to give the top-seeded Panthers the victory.
Kelly Zinkiewich, Cleveland State
Fr. * GK * Oakville, Ontario
Zinkiewich stopped ten shots to keep the Vikings in contention against Milwaukee on Saturday. UWM outshot the Vikings 28-0 but could not score more than the one goal as Zinkiewich hit double figures for the third time this season.
Amber Kasmer, Wright State
Fr. * F * Euclid, Ohio
Kasmer assisted on two Raider goals in the first 23 minute of Wright State's 6-0 victory over Detroit on Saturday. She has five helpers this season, ranking second in the League with 29 points.
Jess Rooma, Wright State
Jr. * M * Westfield Center, Ohio
Rooma scored the eventual match-winner in WSU's victory over Detroit. She also added an insurance tally 2:03 after intermission as Wright State took control and advanced to this weekend's semifinals.
News From Around the League
Panthers try to add League championship
Milwaukee improved to 12-4-3 overall with a 1-0 victory over Cleveland State in the quarterfinals. The Panthers outshot CSU 28-0, marking the fourth time in school history Milwaukee has pitched a perfect match defensively, the last coming against the Vikings in 2005.
Milwaukee is now 17-7-5 all-time in League Championship play, including 8-0-1 in the quarterfinals. UWM is in the semifinals for the 13th time in 14 years as a League member.
Junior goalkeeper Erin Kane posted her 36th career shutout, extending her own League record. Ten of those have come this season as she leads the League in that department and also with a 0.66 goals-against average.
Junior midfielder Beth Steuer scored the lone goal of the match, hitting the net from ten yards out for her second marker of the season.
Freshman midfielder Nicole Sperl leads the team in scoring with 14 points (five goals and four assists), one ahead of sophomore midfielder Erin Kreuser (three goals and seven helpers for 13 points) and two ahead of sophomore defender Kate Megna (12 points on four goals and four assists). Nine different Panthers have scored at least two goals this season.
Milwaukee has won four League Championships, more than any other school. Wright State is next with three titles, while Loyola has two and Butler one.
Ramblers begin title defense with offense
Loyola won the 2006 Horizon League Championship as the second seed. The Ramblers' road to defending that title started Saturday with a 5-0 victory over Green Bay, lifting Loyola to 13-8-0 on the season.
Sophomore forward Cynthia Morote-Ariza led the way with two more goals, giving her a League-high 17 for the eason. Morote-Ariza started the scoring in the 19th minute and put the match out of reach with her insurance tally six minutes after intermission. She has hit the net in five of her last six outings---scoring eight goals during that span. Saturday was Morote-Ariza's fifth multi-goal effort of the year. The sophomore became Loyola's all-time career leading scorer with 68 points.
Senior forward Katie Heidenreich set up the first goal and scored herself 54 seconds later. Heidenreich owns five goals and three assists for 13 points this season, making her one of 12 different players to hit the net in 2007.
Freshman goalkeeper Colleen Dougherty made one save in 75 minutes before Lauren Sommer finished the shutout in net for the Ramblers. Dougherty has six shutouts (plus four combined clean sheets) and a 1.04 goals-against average for the season.
Loyola and Wright State meet again Friday in a rematch of their Oct. 28 battle in Dayton, when Morote-Ariza converted two penalty kicks in a 2-0 victory.
Raiders set record in opening-round victory
Wright State climbed to 13-5-1 overall with a 6-0 victory over Detroit to open the League Championship. The third-seeded Raiders set a school single-season record with those 13 wins, eclipsing the previous mark tied last year.
WSU had advanced past the opening round only once since 2000 but took command of Saturday's match with three goals in the first 27 minutes. Junior midfielder Jess Rooma opened the scoring 16:31 into the match before junior forward Amy Miller and freshman midfielder Jen Agueci stretched the halftime margin to 3-0.
Rooma also netted an insurance marker early in the second half, while freshman forward Amber Kasmer and senior defender Megan Mattioda each posted a pair of assists. For Rooma, it was her second multi-goal perfornance of the season. She has a career-high six goals this year.
Kasmer leads the team with 12 goals and 29 points (second in the League) while Miller raised her season totals to nine goals and 22 points. Miller ranks ninth on the Raider career charts with 47 points to her credit. As a team, WSU leads the League with 38 goals scored in 2007.
Freshman goalkeeper Meghan Hackerson ranks third in WSU's single-season annals with seven shutouts this year. Hackerson is second only to Milwaukee's Erin Kane (ten) among League netminders in that department and also with her 0.84 goals-against average.
Bulldogs push streak to five
Butler reached double figures in victories Saturday, moving to 10-8-1 with a 2-0 triumph over Valparaiso. The Bulldogs enter the semifinals with a five-match winning streak, outscoring their opponents 10-2 since Oct. 14. Butler is 7-0-1 with a 14-4 scoring edge during its last eight contests.
Sophomore forward Lindsey Fox scored both goals for the Bulldogs, giving her five on the season. She opened the scoring with an unassisted marker in the 36th minute and added an insurance tally midway through the second half off a pass from sophomore forward Carrie Twyman to complete her first multi-goal match of the season.
Junior midfielder Angie Muir continues to lead Butler and ranks third on the League scoring list in goals (ten), assists (six) and points (26). Fox is second on the Bulldog charts with 14 points, while Twyman has six goals and added her first helper of 2007 for a 13-point total.
Senior goalkeeper Ananlise Larkin lowered her season goals-against average to 0.98 with four saves against the Crusaders. Larkin has allowed only two goals in her last five outings and notched her fifth shutout of the year Saturday.
Butler has yielded only one second-half goal in its last ten contests. With one goal on each side of intermission Saturday, the Bulldogs have hit the net in nine consecutive halves.
Crusaders finish record-setting campaign
Valparaiso closed its first season in the Horizon League with a 2-0 loss at Butler on Saturday. The Crusaders finished 10-9-0 overall, with the ten victories tying for the third-most in school history.
Senior goalkeeper Erin Murray graduates as the school's all-time leader--male or female---in shutouts with 20 in her four-year career. Murray tied her own single-season standard with six shutouts this year, while Valpo had eight as a team. Murray also holds Valpo netminder records with 71 appearances and 6224 minutes, while her 1.13 goals-against average is the second-best mark in schoool history.
Fellow senior Courtney Rahrig ended her career with 79 career caps (second-best in Crusader annals) including 78 starts. She and Murray are part of a senior class that won 44 matches in their careers, becoming the winningest class in Valpo history.
Junior defender Jackie Thomas earned ESPN the Magazine First-Team Academic All-District honors after posting a team-high four goals---all match-winners---and nine points. Thomas was the Crusaders' first All-Horizon League honoree, winning Second-Team notice along with sophomore midfielder Ani Michl.
Junior forward Kendall Brown and sophomore midfielder Jessie White added three goals and two helpers apiece.
Titans end tournament run early
For the first time since 2002, Detroit will not play in the Horizon League championship match. The Titans, who reached the final in each of the last four years, were eliminated in the quarterfinals with a 6-0 loss at Wright State to complete a 4-11-4 campaign.
UDM scored a total of 17 goals in 19 contests, with nearly half of that total coming in two matches--4-0 victories over IPFW (Sept. 18) and Youngstown State (Oct. 28). Saturday's shutout was the tenth suffered by the Titans this season.
Sophomore midfielder Trina Kochanski led the Titans with six goals and 13 points with sophomore forward Emily Kiely netting five goals and two assists for a 12-point total.
Junior goalkeeper Katie Fortenberry logged 95 saves this season, moving into third place on the Titans' all-time charts with 283 in her career. She needs six more to move into second place on that chart.
Fortenberry also is one shutout away from the school record in that department and would tie Alisson Dube (2001-04) with her 23rd clean sheet.
Junior midfielder Nicole Gipson played the final 15 minutes in goal for Detroit at Wright State, making her first career appearance in goal for the Titans. Fortenberry had played all 1708 minutes during the regular season.
Phoenix closes frustrating season
Green Bay ended the year at 2-16-0 overall, dropping its seventh consecutive match with a 5-0 setback at Loyola on Saturday. The Phoenix was shut out for the ninth time and scored a League-low 14 goals this season.
Sophomore defender Amanda Stinson was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District squad for her efforts on the field and in the classroom. One of only two sophomores on the First Team in District 5, she boasts a perfect 4.00 grade-point average as a human biology major and gives Green Bay a First-Team honoree for the third consecutive year.
Senior midfielder Lotte Rasmussen led the team with four goals and eight points this season. Stinson added three goals for six points to rank second on the Green Bay charts.
Rasmussen was one of three Phoenix honored by the League's coaches, joining freshman midfielder Laura Hayward on the Second-Team All-League squad. Hayward and freshman Chelsea Lyons were both tabbed to the circuit's All-Newcomer Team. Lyons finished third on the team in scoring with two goals and six points.
Senior goalkeeper Brooke Wikgren concluded her career with 311 saves, ranking second in school history behind Laura Sandt (352 from 1994-97) in that department. She also stands among the program's elite in career shutouts and goals-against average.
Vikings prepare for continued improvement
Cleveland State wrapped up the best season in the program's four-year history with a 1-0 loss at Milwaukee on Saturday. The Vikings closed the year at 5-14-1, with two more victories than the team's combined total from its first three seasons.
The victory total also included CSU's first Horizon League Championship victory, a 2-1 overtime triumph over Youngstown State on Tuesday. Senior midfielder Heather Clapacs scored the match-winner after junior forward Abbie Kakias hit the net with 49 seconds remaining in regulation to force the extra session.
Milwaukee outshot the Vikings 28-0 but freshman goalkeper Kelly Zinkiewich helped keep CSU in contention with ten saves. It was the third double-digit save effort of the season for Zinkiewich, who stopped 124 shots while starting all 20 matches for the Vikings.
Junior forward Jennifer Wieand set program single-season standards with eight goals and 19 points (tying her for fifth place on the League charts in both categories) while senior forward Shayna Back departs as the school's all-time leading scorer with 12 goals and 30 points---one goal and two points more than Wieand, who has one more season of eligiility. Back posted six goals and four assists (16 points) this year).
Back, Clapacs and Amber Rasmussen comprise CSU's first four-year, senior class.
Penguins come up short in final minute
Youngstown State came within 49 seconds of posting its first-ever Horizon League Championship victory, but fell 2-1 in overtime at Cleveland State in the opening round last Tuesday. The Penguins finished the season 1-18-1 overall.
Freshman forward Lauren Brennan tied a pair of school single-match records with four goals and nine points in the lone victory, a 5-1 triumph over Howard on Sept. 16. She ended the season with eight goals, tying for the third-most in school history. Brennan's 19 points also rank third on that YSU one-year chart and tie for fifth-best in the League this season. She played a role in 11 of the team's 15 goals this year.
Junior defender Carrie Wack finished second on the team charts with a goal and three assists for Youngstown State with sophomore forward Jordan Gapczynski adding one goal and two helpers. Gapczynski led the team with 52 shots, the third-highest total in school history
Sophomore goalkeeper Caitlin Bodzioney posted a League-high 175 saves, the second-highest total in Penguin annals and one short of Caitlin Bestard's 176 stops in 2002. Bodzioney ranks third in the nation with an average of 9.24 saves per match, posting ten or more six times this fall including 13 rejections in the opening-round loss to CSU. She compiled a 2.06 goals-against average in 2007.
Seeds not always important
Milwaukee holds the top seed for the eighth consecutive year but the Panthers have won the League Championship only once (2005) in the last four years.
Loyola was the second seed last fall, defeating fourth-seeded Detroit 2-1 in the final to capture the League title and an automatic entry into the NCAA Championship. The Ramblers also won the crown in 2003 despite entering that year's summit as the seventh seed.
In 2006, sixth-seeded Butler eliminated third seed Wright State in the quarterfinals, outlasting the Raiders 4-3 in penalty kicks. Detroit's 1-0 victory over Milwaukee in the semfinals was the other upset (by seed) last year.
The 2005 tournament featured two upsets in the quarterfinals as fifth seed Butler knocked off fourth seed Wright State 1-0 and sixth-seeded Loyola won by the same score over third seed Green Bay.
