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| The Pioneers celebrate their goal |
By Paul Erickson, Sports Information Director
UW-Platteville's Anna Strasser is 5-foot-2, and she needed every one of those 62 inches to lead the Pioneers past UW-La Crosse for the first time ever.
Strasser stretched and headed in a ball from Allie Metcalfe, who had crossed it from the right side to the center. The headed ball sailed into the net at 67:49, and the Pioneers made that goal stand up for the 1-0 victory.
"I'm 5-2, if that," Strasser said with a laugh. "Maybe on a good day ... Allie made a perfect crossing pass. I saw it coming and just thought, 'this was perfect.' "
The goal made it a perfect night for the Pioneers, who were 0-18-1 in their previous games against the Eagles.
"It felt amazing," said Metcalfe. "It was really exciting, and I was glad she got a head on it. That was awesome. Winning our first conference game is really going to help a lot."
The Pioneers improved to 3-3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, while the Eagles fell to 1-3-1, 0-2.
Both teams had several good scoring chances, including having direct kicks right outside the box within two minutesof each other early in the second half. The Eagles' Chelsea Hall also hit the crossbar three minutes before the Pioneers broke the scoreless tie.
Acting Coach Allison Sanyi, with Head Coach Enzo Fuschino at a women's game for the first time since his Aug. 1 heart attack, saw the defense hold on with stellar play despite the Eagles having three corner kicks in the last seven minutes.
Kaitlyn Wiedeman made five saves, and the defense combined to kick a ball out of the goal with four minutes left for another save.
Wiedeman is one of five new players who started for the Pioneers Wednesday, along with Anna and twin sister Alysa Strasser, Kimmy Trapp, and Ashley Alonso.
"We have a lot of freshman, but we have a lot of potential," Anna Strasser said.
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