St. Norbert Scares No. 1 Washington in First-Round NCAA Tournament Loss

From Sports Information Director, November 15, 2013 | Women's Soccer
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

ST. LOUIS - St. Norbert College threw a major scare into the top-ranked team in NCAA Division III women's soccer before being eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in a 5-2 loss to Washington University at Francis Field.

The unranked Green Knights (14-5-2) took a 2-0 lead in the game's first two minutes before wearing down in the second half. The Bears (18-1), ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA and D3soccer.com Top 25 polls, needed three second-half goals to pull away from a 2-2 halftime tie.

St. Norbert got on the board at 8:24 when Katie Vanden Avond scored her 37th goal of the season, finishing a one-timer with Shannon Jung assisting. Vanden Avond's marker gave her 91 for her career, and her 37th of the year made her just the seventh player in Divison III history to record at last that many in one season.

The Green Knights certainly got everyone's attention at 11:49, when Kaitlin Schmitz scored for the eighth time this season. Elly Wiebusch's corner kick was flicked to Zoe Kurth, who set up Schmitz for the one-time finish.

Washington got things rolling after that, with Kate Doyle finishing a header off a corner kick at 18:35. Anna Zambricki tied the match at 22:10, and that's where the score stood at halftime.

The Bears took the lead at 51:29 on an unassisted goal by Becky Berels. Washington salted the match away with two goals 19 seconds apart by Doyle and Katie Chandler at 76:52 and 77:11, respectively.

Washington held a commanding 37-6 lead in shots, including 24-3 in the second half. The Bears also had an 11-2 edge in corner kicks. Sarah Platzer made 13 saves for the Green Knights, who also had to make a pair of team saves between the posts. Amy French made one save in 85 minutes for the Bears.