UW-Eau Claire women’s soccer fourth-year forward Elise Pinewski was named the WIAC Offensive Player of the Week. The award is voted on anonymously by coaches across the WIAC by who they think had the best offensive showing for the week for all teams.
Pinewski said that the nomination for the award is a by-product of the effort put in during the offseason and practices.
“We wake up at 5 a.m. for our workouts during the spring season,” Pinewski said. “So it’s really rewarding that all of that work is starting to show.”
In her performances over the weekend in the North Central Invitational, she scored her first goal of the season against Albion College on Friday night. This goal was followed by another the following afternoon against North Central College.
Pinewski’s goals helped contribute sufficient offensive play for the Blugolds at the Invitational. For Pinewski, she took responsibility upon herself as a fourth-year leader and captain on the team to help contribute to their success.
“I took some responsibility for it because we were playing some pretty good teams and we were coming off of both a loss and a tie,” Pinewski said. “Although we didn’t get the results that we wanted, our play as a team really improved and I showed it to myself that I could get on the scoresheet.”
While the Blugolds tied on Friday night against Albion and lost against North Central on Saturday, they would take the momentum from the Invitational into the following week of games, spearheaded by the offensive efforts of Pinewski.
Pinewski scored two goals in a winning effort against Bethel College on Monday with a final score of 5-1. She also contributed two shots on the goalie in a winning effort on Wednesday against Luther College by a final of 3-0, improving the team’s record to 4-3-1 on the season.
According to Pinewski, her play during the previous week’s games gave her and the team a boost of confidence heading into the two games against Bethel College and Luther College the following week.
“It gave me quite a bit of confidence because it showed me what I could do and showed how fun it is to play in front of our home crowd,” Pinewski said.
Something that has given Pinewski a significant amount of pride and fulfillment as a leader on this team is seeing younger players on the team succeed, giving her extra motivation to play harder with and for them.
“It gives me a lot of pride seeing the younger players succeed because we go through a lot together and we push each other to get better,” Pinewski said. “Not only does their success make me proud, but it pushes me to become a better athlete and a better person.”
In her four years as a Blugold, Pinewski was named the 2021 Team Rookie of the Year and achieved All-WIAC honors in 2022 as a second-year player while scoring a career-best eight goals during the 2022 season.
Looking back on her time as a Blugold, Pinewski says that the biggest area of growth for her as a player has been her confidence and knowing what she has to offer to the team as a leader and as a competitor, hoping to leave a lasting impression on the younger players on the team.
“The thing that I’ve improved on the most is my confidence and going up against other teams knowing what I bring to the table doesn’t intimidate me against the competition,” Pinewski said. “I hope to leave a lasting impact on the newer players and help instill confidence in themselves as players.”
Pinewski said she is looking to keep making an impact on the team going forward, for the rest of the schedule and into conference play.
After two more non-conference games, Pinewski and the Blugolds kickoff WIAC play against UW-Whitewater at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5 in Whitewater.
Mikalofsky can be reached at [email protected].
