Sept. 29, 2000

MILWAUKEE-In a thrilling, hard-fought battle, the UWM women's soccer team stepped-up in double overtime on Friday to defeat the Illinois State Redbirds, 4-3. Playing to sudden-victory, sophomore Kristin Munyon scored two goals including the game-winner to put the Panthers in a frenzy and improve their record to 5-5-1 on the season.

With her back facing the goal, Munyon received the ball from senior defender Katie Waltenberger and turned on an Illinois defender towards goal. Blasting a shot far post from inside the box, Munyon's goal came in the 107th minute of the game to lift the Panthers to victory.

"It's a great win. Illinois State is a very good team, they're ranked high in the region," said UWM coach Michael Moynihan. "It was an exciting game. There were lots of swings, back and forth."

In a very up-tempo match, UWM and Illinois State both shared stretches of dominating the attack. The Panthers scored first with a goal from junior midfielder Julie Ruma in the 15th minute. After a great build-up from the midfield, Waltenberger sent in a low cross across the box that slid past both UWM and ISU. Ruma cleaned it up from 12 yards out to take the 1-0 lead.

After a costly UWM defensive error, Illinois State put away a goal in the 29th minute to tie the score, 1-1. The Panthers avenged with a great hustle goal from freshman forward Megan Mann late in the first half. Sophomore Amy Oechsner sent in a diagonal ball to lead Mann into the box. The Redbirds' goalkeeper seemed to have the advantage to the ball, but Mann burst ahead to get a foot on it past the keeper to lead UWM, 2-1, into halftime.

Illinois State opened second-half scoring with a 40-yard shot that caught UWM goalkeeper Kerri St. Aubin off her line at the 52:30 mark. Two minutes later, UWM was stunned when a goal was awarded to the Redbirds for the 3-2 lead. St. Aubin, a second-half sub for goalkeeper Mary Duffy, reached high to save an Illinois State shot on goal. Initially tipping it back, St. Aubin then stepped back to quickly make the grab, but the referee called it as already having gone across the line and into the goal.

Munyon scored her first goal of the game in the 62nd minute off a corner kick from senior midfielder Lindsey Munkwitz. Munyon got up past the Redbirds' defense for the equalizing header, sending the game past regulation time.

"Right now, it's a very important win. We're halfway into the season, and we talked before the game about which direction we want to go in. There were a couple of games that we gave up. Today, we earned it," Moynihan. "It sets a good tone for the second half of our season. That's exactly what we were looking for."