The Upper Iowa Peacocks wrapped up their 2016 season with a loss in Minot, N.D. in the first round of the 2016 NSIC Women's Soccer Tournament on Wednesday evening. The No. 11 ranked Minot State Beavers held a 1-0 lead at halftime, and scored twice in a four-minute span in the second half to put the match out of reach. MSU, the conference's top seed in the tournament, advances to the semifinals this weekend with an overall record of 16-1-1. Upper Iowa's season comes to a close with an 8-10 overall record, and a 7-9 mark in league play.
The first half featured back-and-forth action with solid defense and a total of seven shot attempts. Minot State led 6-1 in shots and 3-2 in corners earned, but neither team was able to gain traction. That changed in the 36th minute when Chloe Melton and Ninfa Ramirez worked a give-and-go down the field. The combination of those two players would hook up three times for the match. Melton got the ball back and sent it passed Peacock goalkeeper
Caila Petrie to give the home team the 1-0 lead. With the defense playing well, UIU struggled to get their offense going in the first half, trailing by one at the intermission.
It was much of the same in the second period. Minot State led 6-3 in shot attempts and received excellent play from their backline. The Beavers extended their lead in a span of four minutes. In the 51st minute, Melton and Ramirez were at it again. Brianna Ramsey sent a cross to the box, where Ramirez corralled it and handed it off to her teammate. Melton scored for the second time in the match, and she was not done. In the 55th minute, Ramirez sent the cross to Melton, who sent the ball to the back of the net for the hat trick. Minot State led 3-0 and the match was put away for good.
Upper Iowa would not go down without a fight. In the 69th minute,
Hannah Dotter sent a pass into a scrum, and
Christiana Atteberry was able to collect the ball and tap it in for the goal. The senior Atteberry, along with
Mackenzie Taldone,
Maggie Olson,
Brianne Fenton and
Lauren Sharp, played the final game of their careers on Wednesday night.
For the match, the home team led in shots (12-4) and shots placed on goal (4-1), while each team tallied three corner kicks. Petrie earned one save on the night, bringing her final season total to 97. Petrie finishes the season 8-10 in net for UIU.
The Peacocks wrap up their season with their sixth trip to the conference tournament in the last seven years. Upper Iowa will look to build off their success with first-year head coach
James Price. The team will graduate their five seniors, and return key players, including Petrie in goal. With added pieces next season, the Peacocks will look to improve on their record and begin another streak of post-season appearances.
