ST. PAUL, Minn. – The setup for Wednesday's UMAC Women's Soccer Tournament Semifinal contest between the University of Northwestern and Bethany Lutheran College was all to familiar to the conference foes. The Vikings visited the Eagles in last year's UMAC Semifinals, where UNW emerged the victor in a 1-0 slugfest. While the style of game was quite different this time around, Northwestern once again defended its home turf and controlled the game from start to finish in a 5-2 win.
Haley Mersberger (Kiel, Wisc./Elkhart Lake Glenbeulah) broke a scoreless tie in the 12
th minute, taking a long pass from
Mallory Moseman (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) into the box and punching it in to put the Eagles on top, 1-0. The goal was her 27
th of the season, which breaks her own program record she set last year for goals in a season. Right before halftime, Mersberger again found the back of the net off an assist from her fellow 50-career goal scorer,
Megan Moeller (Sheboygan, Wis./Sheboygan Christian School).
Megan Kohrt (Monona, Wis./Homeschool) joined in on the action in the 49
th minute, when
Briella Babcock (Byron, Minn./Byron) found the junior streaking down the left side of the field on a perfect cross across the box to extend UNW's lead to three. Bethany Lutheran got on the board in the 60
th minute, but the Eagles answered right back 10 minutes later when Kohrt again scored on a beautifully struck tear drop shot over the goalkeeper's head. Mersberger and
Madeline Hallberg (Princeton, Minn./Princeton) teamed up to assist on the goal, which gave Kohrt her first career multi-goal game. Mersberger would finish off her fifth hat trick of the season in the 87
th minute after splitting the BLC defense. The Vikings converted a penalty kick in the 88
th, but ran out of time in their comeback attempt.
Despite being out-shot 29-12 and 13-7 on goal, the Eagles were incredibly efficient with their opportunities, turning five of those seven shots on goal into goals. Mersberger led the way with four shots, all on goal. Kohrt finished with three shots and two shots on goal.
Mya Chan (Brandon, S.D./Homeschool) shot three times and once on goal, while Moeller fired off two shots of her own.
Samantha Hansen (Cottage Grove, Minn./New Life Academy) had a great game in net, making 11 saves to keep the Vikings at bay for most of the game.
Northwestern will travel north to take on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets on Saturday for the UMAC Tournament Championship. The Jackets came from behind to beat Crown College 2-1 in their semifinal game Wednesday night. It will be a rematch of last year's conference title game, which UW-Superior won to qualify for the NCAA National Tournament.
