For the third straight year, the Peacocks women's soccer team finished the year in the top three in the Northern Sun Conference, joining Minnesota State and Winona State as the only teams who can make that claim. With a 4-1 win over Concordia on Sunday, UIU finished the season 10-4-1 in conference play, tied for third with Winona and earned the fourth seed in the conference tournament. With the loss, Concordia fell to 4-9-2 in conference, finishing the season in 13th in the NSIC. The win was also the 49th in the career for the 2014 season class, breaking the record of 48 that was previously held by the 2013 senior class.
"I was really pleased with the grittiness of this team today," said Head Coach
Brian Diaz. "We really grinded it out to get a win against a good Concordia team."
The Peacocks got great play from their top two scorers,
Aimee Wronski and
Madie Edwards, who combined for three goals and four assists today.
Edwards assisted on the lone goal of the first half, when she sent a swinging ball forward and found freshman forward
Morgan Springborn in the box. Springborn used a quick touch to gain control and beat the charging goalkeeper to put the Peacocks up 1-0 going into the halftime break.
UIU came out quickly in the second half when Wronski took a pass from Edwards and ripped a shot from 28 yards out that sailed over the goalkeeper into the goal. Concordia came back 20 minutes later and scored to bring the Golden Bears within one. Junior midfielder McKenzie Buck took the ball from the halfline and dribbled through the Peacock defense. Buck took a low shot from the top of the box the skipped just out of the reach of UIU goalkeeper
Kaitlyn Emanuel and into the net.
But Wronski and Edwards proved to be too much for the Golden Bears, combining for two goals in the last nine minutes to put the game out of reach. For the first of the pair, Wronski got the ball in the box and tapped it over to Edwards, who placed it perfectly in the upper right hand corner of the goal to make it 3-1. For UIU's fourth and final goal, Wronski sent a cross into the box from the right side that Edwards redirected out of the air and past the Golden Bear goalkeeper.
"Madie was exceptional today," said Diaz. "She controlled the tempo in the midfield, did the work on the defensive end to get the ball forward. It was certainly a special day for her."
Now with the regular season wrapped up and the seedings set for the NSIC/US Bank Tournament, UIU has shifted their focus to their quarterfinal match against Minot State on Wednesday, Nov. 5 in Fayette. The kick off time is to be determined. The Peacocks beat the Beavers 2-1 earlier this season at home.
"The postseason is a new season for us," said Diaz. "It's great to finish in the top three in the conference, but this is like a new season. The approach we have had all year is to take one game at a time and focus on the next 90 minutes. That's what has gotten us in this position and what will help us accomplish our goals. I'm really pleased with this team and proud of the way they have dealt with adversity all year."
