EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – First year
Katie Beaudry scored for the second-straight game, but the St. Olaf College women's soccer team went behind early and could not recover in a 3-1 road loss to UW-Eau Claire on Wednesday evening at Simpson Field.
With St. Olaf (1-2-0) trailing 2-0, Beaudry headed in a corner kick from classmate
Marit Klagge in the 53rd minute to bring the Oles within one, but UW-Eau Claire (2-1-0) scored just 49 seconds later to reclaim its two-goal advantage. The Blugolds held a slender 9-8 advantage in shots in the game but scored with three of its six shots on goal.
Megan Hansen gave UW-Eau Claire an early lead inside the first four minutes with her first of two goals in the game, tucking the ball into the lower-left corner of the net from near the penalty spot. St. Olaf nearly got the goal back seven minutes later when first year
Cat Duffy-Shaw hit woodwork from the top of the box on the right.
Senior
Grace Sprangers made the best of her three saves in the game in the 29th minute, getting down quickly to get a finger to Hansen's shot and steer it out for a corner. After taking a 1-0 lead into the break, the Blugolds doubled their lead less than five minutes into the second half when Elise Pinewski streaked down the right side before firing a shot in under the bar from inside the box to make it a 2-0 game.
Pinewski's goal started a stretch of three goals in 3:16 between the two teams. Just 2:27 later, Beaudry got on the end of a Klagge corner for the second game in a row to bring the Oles within one, but Hansen grabbed her second goal of the game less than a minute later.
Trailing by two goals again, St. Olaf nearly got back within a goal in the 59th minute when Beaudry's glancing header off another corner kick was judged not to have gone over the line, denying the first year her second of the night and third of the year.
Sprangers had three saves but suffered her first loss of the season, while Kennedy Boll picked up the win with one save for the hosts.
St. Olaf is back in action at home on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. against St. Norbert College.
