Oct. 24, 2009

Box Score

The Upper Iowa Peacock Women's Soccer team opened its stretch of four straight Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road matches to close out the 2009 campaign Saturday afternoon by visiting Marshall, Minn. to battle the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State. UIU defeated the Mustangs, 3-0, to keep their hopes of a berth in the 2009 NSIC Women's Soccer Tournament alive.

Sophomore midfielder Emily Gielau started the UIU scoring as she netted her sixth goal of the season in the 22nd minute to give Upper Iowa a 1-0 lead heading into the halftime break. The Peacocks outshot Southwest Minnesota State 11-4 in the first half while earning both corner kicks.

Following the halftime break, Shaina Marnell tallied her seventh goal of 2009 in the 55th minute to give UIU a 2-0 lead. Marnell's goal was assisted by Valeria Ptasinski, who notched her fifth assist of the season.

Freshman Liz Kaluzinski hit the scoring column for the fifth time this season as she struck a shot from the left side in the 75th minute to extend Upper Iowa's lead to 3-0. Lauren Verhulst earned her fourth assist of the season on the play as well.

While the Peacocks were outshot in the second half, UIU took the advantage for the match, 18-13 and 9-5 in shots on goal. Goalkeeper Melissa Heitzman recorded her ninth clean sheet of the season as she blocked five Mustang attempts.

With the victory, Upper Iowa improves to 10-7-3 on the season and 4-4-2 in NSIC play. UIU currently sits in 9th place in the league standings with 14 points, just one point outside of the eighth place postition needed to make the NSIC tournament.

The Lady Peacocks will be back in action tomorrow afternoon as they travel to Mankato, Minn. to line up against the Mavericks of Minnesota State. UIU and MSU are scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.