The UW-Eau Claire varsity women’s soccer team defeated the Hamline University Pipers 1-0 in a defensive battle on Tuesday, Sept. 20 in Eau Claire.

About 18 minutes into the first half, senior Jocelyn Etten went down after taking a bad hit while rushing the opposing goal. Senior Caroline Henderson took the resulting penalty kick and scored the one and only goal of the game. Hamline had solid ball possession and steady pressure on the Eau Claire goal in the second half but the Blugold defense held strong and was able to keep up with Hamline and pull out a victory.

Ann Hanson, mother of freshman Olivia Hanson was all smiles before the game.  

“(Olivia Hanson) is excited for the year,” Hanson said. “She tore her ACL last summer so she had to take a year to recover but she’s excited to be back on the field again.”

The game was prefaced by a few technical difficulties as the booth couldn’t get the national anthem to play.  Not to be discouraged, the girls from both teams all joined in for an a cappella performance of the national anthem.

Eau Claire’s current record is 2-5, but the team seems to be finding their rhythm. At the game on Sept. 10, the team struggled with communication and playing as a team but that didn’t seem to be an issue this time around. On the field there was non-stop conversation between all of the players.

After the game, sophomore Hannah Jacobson spoke very highly of her team.  

“We’ve finally been getting better at talking and we kept up the intensity really well this game,” Jacobson said. “We actually played like a team. That’s something we’ve been working on.”

Sophomore Eva Charlesworth-Seiler was equally impressed with her team after Tuesday’s game.  

“Everybody stepped up tonight,” Charlesworth-Seiler said. “The mids really figured out how to distribute this game and that made all the difference.”

Last year Eau Claire made it through the first round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), but lost 0-1 against UW-Oshkosh in the WIAC semifinals.  

“One of our goals as a team is to finish higher in the WIAC this year,” Charlesworth-Seiler said. “I just want to see the team succeed.”

The team will be back on the field for another game at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22 when they take on Gustavus Adolphus on Bollinger Fields.
The Eau Claire varsity women’s soccer team conference schedule starts at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 1 with an away game against UW-Platteville. The season and conference will continue through the month of October.