The women’s soccer team won their ninth straight game on Wednesday with a 2-1 win over the Augsburg College (Minn.) Auggies.

Freshmen Kara Ryan and Allie Stone each had a goal a piece for the Blugolds. The winning streak is the longest for Eau Claire since the 2006 team opened the season with 10 straight wins.

Head Coach Sean Yengo was pleased with the accomplishment but was reluctant to pat the team on the back too much.

“Nine in a row is great, it means we’re doing a lot of things right,” Yengo said. “But at the same time, I think there are some areas we still need to improve on.”

Stone was happy about the win, but agreed with her coach that it wasn’t easy.

“We stuck it through,” Stone said. “I mean it was hectic throughout the whole game but we came together and pulled out the win.”

Eau Claire jumped out to a lead first in the 20th minute on the goal from Ryan that was assisted by senior Megan Hillesheim.

Eau Claire fended off a few chances from the Auggies and was able to take their 1-0 lead into the half.

Yengo said he made sure to address the importance of not playing back with a lead at the break.

“We thought we had somewhat of a slow finish after a strong start and that Augsburg did a lot of things to get themselves back into the game,” Yengo said. “We had some opportunities to put the game away and didn’t, so we talked about trying to put the game out of reach.”

Eau Claire came out with an aggressive pace to start the half, but ended up falling back on their heels again after a few minutes.

Augsburg seized the moment after a series of passes led to a turnaround shot in the box and a goal to tie the game.

Conceding the goal seemed to be just what the Blugolds needed though, as the team began to methodically move the ball down to their offensive end after it.

Just six minutes after giving up the goal, Stone got the ball in the middle of the box and took a few touches before placing it in the side netting of the far post.

Stone’s goal ended up being the eventual game winner, the first of her collegiate career.

“It feels good,” Stone said. “Being a freshman, I am stepping into a big position and it feels good to contribute.”

It wasn’t easy though, as the Blugolds seemed to have little confidence in their lead after already blowing one earlier in the game. Hillesheim, one of the team’s captains, said things got pretty daunting down the stretch.

“It felt like it was a little scary,” Hillesheim said. “We should just play our game and instead we were sort of hesitant and nervous, especially in the last five minutes on their corner kicks.”

Eau Claire was ultimately able to fend off the attack though, improving to 10-2-0 overall with the victory. The team now has a week off before their next game, something Hillesheim thinks will benefit the team.

“It wasn’t our best game and at least we got the win and now we have a long stretch of time off before our next game,” Hillesheim said. “So hopefully we start to get our energy back.”