Upper Iowa wins their first game of the season shutting out the Minnesota-Crookston Golden Eagles 3-0 in their neutral site matchup.
The Peacocks went with their usual starters, except for junior forward
Leah Buerck who started for the first time this season. Prior to today, Buerck had played a total of 51 minutes over the course of their first three games. The decision to start her absolutely turned out to be the right one as she scored the Peacocks first goal of the season three minutes into the game. Sophomore defender
Natalie Lima and freshman forward
Haylie Hutchinson assisted on the play.
UIU made an early sub as freshman forward
Meghan Zwicker checked in for sophomore forward
Emma Johnston at the 15-minute mark. Zwicker had also played pretty limited minutes to start the season, but once again head coach
Josh Davis made the perfect decision as Zwicker scored the first goal of her collegiate career off Hutchinson's second assist of the game in the 21
st minute.
The Peacocks nearly got their third goal only a minute and a half later, but sophomore midfielder
Darci Faichnie's shot on goal was saved. UIU would continue to dominate the rest of the first half as the Golden Eagles were unable to get a single shot on goal.
After Buerck started the first half with a goal three minutes in, she nearly did that again to start the second half. She took a shot on goal right down the middle four minutes into the half, which was saved by junior goalkeeper Emma Stempien. During UIU's first three games of the season, Faichnie had the most shots on goal, but multiple great saves denied her from scoring her first goal in a Peacocks uniform. That streak finally came to an end as she scored in the 68
th minute off an assist from sophomore forward
Rachyl Benavides and who else, but
Haylie Hutchinson who assisted on all three goals.
This would be the final goal of the game giving the Peacocks a 3-0 victory. Sophomore goalkeeper
Isabelle Wagner recorded the first shutout of her career following her 2-save performance.
Upper Iowa will look to make it two wins in a row next Sunday, Sep. 17 when they travel to Truman State University for their first conference game of the year.
