Badgers Close Regular Season With 2-0 Win Over NIU
October 30, 2004 | Women's Soccer
Seniors Sarah Capel (New Berlin, Wis.) and Molly Meuer (Madison, Wis.) each scored to lead the University of Wisconsin women's soccer team to a 2-0 victory over Northern Illinois Saturday afternoon in front of 325 fans on Senior Day at McClimon Soccer Complex.
The win gives the Badgers (15-4-1) a seven-game winning streak and a perfect 10-0-0 record in non-conference play.
UW out-shot the Huskies (6-7-5) 25-7 in the match, with sophomore Allison Preiss (St. Louis, Mo.) leading the Badger attack with five shots.
Elaine Eliadis paced the NIU offense with two shots while keeper Carrie Dvorak made nine saves.
Wisconsin started all four of its departing seniors, as Marla Froelich (Iowa City, Iowa), Katrina Ziaja (Hartland, Wis.), Meuer and Capel were all playing in their last regular-season home match as Badgers.
'It was a special day for the seniors,' head coach Dean Duerst said. 'They were all great today.'
Before being honored at halftime, Capel and Meuer made their mark in the first half. Capel opened the scoring 9:06 into the match, knocking the ball into an open net after Dvorak could not control a shot by Amy Vermeulen (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan). The goal, which proved to be the game-winner, was Capel's first of the season and the seventh of her career.
UW extended the lead at the 30:50 mark when a corner kick by Katy Lindenmuth (Geneva, Ill.) was headed down by Kara Kabellis (Homer Glen, Ill.) to Meuer, who deflected it into the net.
That was all of the offense that Wisconsin would need, as freshman Lynn Murray (Marietta, Ga.) and sophomore Stefani Szczechowski (Plymouth, Mich.) combined to make three saves and post a clean sheet.
'We wanted to put a stamp on this regular season and I felt that we did that,' Duerst said. 'We reached our goal of a perfect non-conference record and we are playing consistently and confidently going into the tournament.'
The sixth-seeded Badgers begin postseason action Thursday evening at 6:30 CT when they take on No. 3 seed Michigan in the first round of the Big Ten tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
