SUPERIOR, Wis. – The Yellowjacket women's soccer team mowed through the competition in 2021, going undefeated in conference play on the way to claiming the program's first-ever UMAC regular season championship.
 
Wednesday, the post-season tournament got underway with the Yellowjackets hosting Minnesota Morris in one of two UMAC semifinal matches. Wednesday's match was the third meeting of the season between the two teams, with the Yellowjackets winning 6-1 at home Oct. 2 and 4-1 at Morris last Friday.
 
And after today, the 'Jackets have the trifecta.
 
Niya Wilson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) and Annah Schussman (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) each scored a pair of goals as the Yellowjackets blanked Minnesota Morris 6-0 Wednesday to advance to the UMAC Championship match. It's the third time in the last four seasons the Yellowjackets (17-3-1, 13-0-1 UMAC) have reached the conference final, and the first time the enter the title match as the No. 1 seed.
 
The Yellowjackets will host No. 2 Northwestern in the final. The Eagles squeaked past Bethany Lutheran 1-0 in the other semifinal.
 
It was a dominating opening half for the Yellowjackets, as they outshot the Cougars 10-0 in the half, including an edge of 6-0 in shots on goal, yet they had just a slim 2-0 lead at the break.
 
Wilson got the Yellowjackets on the board in the 17th minute, scoring her team-leading 18th goal of the year, taking a feed from Schussman in the box and sending a shot into the lower right corner.

It went to 2-0 a few minutes later when Schussman also found the lower right corner of the goal, burying a feed from Maggie McAlister (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) in the 24th.
 
Early in the second half Schussman made history. Just over ten minutes into the frame, Wilson fed Schussman, who directed a shot into the upper right corner for a 3-0 Yellowjacket lead. For Schussman, it was the 33rd goal of her career, establishing a new school record for all-time goals. The Yellowjacket senior broke the mark of 32, set by Elyse Dowdell (2004-08).
 
The Yellowjackets built on the lead late. In the 78th minute Ava Giswold (Duluth, Minn./Proctor) fed a perfect feed to the left side of the box and Emma Fornengo (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) scored into the awning cage, scoring her first collegiate goal to make the lead four.
 
Giswold got into the act in the 84th minute, converting a feed from Wilson dead-center into the middle of the goal for her sixth marker of the year to push the score to 5-0.
 
Then, with just over two minutes to play in the match, the Yellowjackets closed out the scoring. Wilson picked up her 19^th goal of the season. McAlister started the play with a pass to Giswold who found Wilson, and the top scorer made no mistake, finding the lower left corner to make the final score 6-0.
 
For the match the Yellowjackets outshot Morris 28-3, and owned a 16-1 edge in shots on goal. Wilson led the charge with five shots on goal, while Giswold finished with four.

Jenna Lang (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) got the start in goal for the Yellowjackets and pitched the shutout, stopping all three Morris shots to push her record on the year to 15-2-1. It was her fourth shutout of the season.
 
The top two teams in the UMAC will now square off for the UMAC playoff championship and the right to advance to the NCAA tournament. The title match is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6 at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.