Nov. 20, 2009

Box Score | Box Score

NEWTON, Mass. -- Wisconsin's NCAA tournament run ended Friday night at Newton Field when Boston College edged the Badgers, 1-0, in the Sweet 16.

"I'm disappointed with the loss, but I am extremely proud of my players and how far they have come this season," said third-year head coach Paula Wilkins. "I think that Boston College is a very good team with some great players that can attack 1v1. They are very dynamic and obviously caused some problems, and you can understand why they won the ACC."

The Badgers battled throughout, but the second-seeded and No. 7-ranked Eagles proved too much and out-shot Wisconsin, 21-7.

UW hung with the Eagles for 61 minutes before the Eagles' Brooke Knowlton took a shot from 22 yards out and placed it in the top corner of the net to seal the win.

Victoria DiMartino switched the point of attack and collided with UW's Taryn Francel, drawing the foul and knocking the ball out. The foul called was a BC advantage, and Knowlton played through to drill the ball to the back of the net.

The Eagles outshot the Badgers 10-3 in the first half, but put only two shots on goal. UW's only shot on goal came on a free kick, when Lindsey Johnson launched a ball to BC Jillian Mastroianni. The scoreless first period saw 10 fouls, with six coming against BC.

UW's other shot on goal came off the foot of Leigh Williams from about 20 yards out. UW's other scoring chances came off two of Johnson's flip throw-ins that were placed perfectly high and inside the box. However, UW couldn't convert on either opportunity.

The game ended with 26 total fouls, including 16 on BC. The Eagles also held a 3-2 advantage on corner kicks. UW's Michele Dalton made seven saves in the outing, Mastoianni had two.

Wisconsin ended its season with a 10-6-6 record and its best NCAA tournament finish in 16 years.

Notes:
The loss ends UW's season with its first Sweet 16 appearance since 1993 ... This is UW's best finish in the NCAA since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 2001 ... The win for BC marks the first time the Eagles have advanced past the third round under head coach Alison Kulik ... UW moves to 12-15-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament ... Through three rounds UW's Dalton leads the 2009 NCAA Tournament with 16 saves ... With the loss the Badgers fall to 2-4-2 against ranked opponents ... The 1-0 loss was UW's 14th game decided by one goal, Wisconsin went 10-3 in those games, winning all of their games by one goal