St. Norbert Stays in Title Contention With Win at Ripon

From Sports Information Director, October 28, 2015 | Women's Soccer
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIPON - St. Norbert College kept its chances at the Midwest Conference championship alive with a 4-3 win over Ripon College at Prairie Field.

The Green Knights (11-4-2, 8-1 MWC) trail Lake Forest College (13-2-2, 8-0-1) by one point in the MWC standings, setting up a winner-take-all battle between the two sides at Noon Sunday in Lake Forest, Ill.

St. Norbert wasted little time taking control, getting two goals 74 seconds apart just prior to the 16th minute elapsing. Katie Vanden Avond took a pass from Nicole Beine and converted at 14:24. Danielle Harris then cashed in with her first goal of the season off a pass from Monica Stephans at 15:38.

Katherine Oleniczak scored her second goal of the season by converting a penalty kick at 44:05 for a 3-0 lead at intermission.

Vanden Avond gave the Green Knights a 4-0 lead with her 36th goal of the season, scoring off another assist from Beine at 63:49. Vanden Avond's goal total is one short of matching her career high of 37 goals set in 2013.

From there the Red Hawks (7-9-1, 3-6) mounted a furious last-ditch rally. Shelbi Buettner scored at 73:50. Savannah Skamra scored at 87:03, and Alyssa Kennedy then cut the deficit to one at 88:47, but the Red Hawks couldn't get the equalizer.

St. Norbert outshot Ripon 20-13. Maddie Plinska made seven saves for the Green Knights, while Jessica Bykowski made five stops for Ripon.