SUPERIOR, Wis. – Judging by the results of the regular season, conventional wisdom would say that the Yellowjacket women's soccer team should have had little difficulty with the Crown College Polars in their Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) semifinal match.
After all, the Yellowjackets swept the regular season series from Crown, and in the process outscored the Polars 12-0. The most recent victory, a 7-0 shutout, came just four days ago when the teams met in the regular season finale in St. Bonifacius, Minn.
Well, conventional wisdom isn't always right, and things were anything but easy for the Yellowjackets in the semifinals.
Crown gave the Yellowjackets everything they could handle and then some, but the Yellowjackets rallied to escape with a 2-1 victory on a cold, late fall day at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.
With the win, the Yellowjackets (15-5-1, 13-1-0 UMAC) will take a three-match winning streak into the UMAC championship match Saturday.
The 'Jackets had more than their share of chances to break through early in the match, but they struggled with their touch, and despite outshooting the Polars 12-0, including a 6-0 edge in shots on goal, the teams went into the break in a scoreless tie.
Early in the second half it was much more of the same, as the Yellowjackets bottled up Crown while peppering the Polars goal with shots. Still things remained scoreless.
That changed in the 58th minute when Crown got its first shot on goal of the match, and at the same time moved in front. Ellie Schanbacher got the shot on goal, putting a low ball past Yellowjacket goalkeeper
Quinn Clark (Duluth Minn./Duluth East), making it 1-0 Polars.
From there, Crown took on a defensive posture, hoping to make the one goal stand up. The Yellowjackets, meanwhile, continued to try and break through, but found the sledding to be tough.
Things were looking rather bleak, as the Yellowjackets' snakebitten ways continued. Then, in a span of 23 seconds, the game turned on a dime.
The Yellowjackets got the break they were looking for when
Allison Alessi (Shakopee, Minn./Prior Lake) put a low shot into the goal for her seventh goal of the year, tying the match at 1-1. Schendel's goal came at 77:08.
Immediately after the goal the Yellowjackets regained possession and headed back toward the Crown goal.
Liberty Dickerson (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) had the go-ahead goal on her foot, but her shot went off the woodwork and it stayed 1-1. Seconds later, however, the 'Jackets didn't miss and moved in front 2-1.
Off an assist from Dickerson,
Niya Wilson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) scored her 24th goal of the 2023 season to put the Yellowjackets in front. Wilson now sits in a tie for fourth in the nation in goals scored.
From there the Yellowjackets applied the necessary pressure, both offensively and defensively to preserve the lead and escape with the win.
For the match, the Yellowjackets outshot Crown 26-2, and had a 12-2 edge in shots on goal. Clark finished the match with one save, and with the win improved her record to 7-3-1.
The Yellowjackets now advance to the UMAC championship match, which they will host Saturday, Nov. 4. They will take on Northwestern, with the opening kickoff time from the NBC Spartan Sports Complex to be determined.
