It wasn't an official match, but Rose Lavelle made quite an impression in her first college soccer game.
The freshman midfielder scored twice and set up another goal in the opening half hour as the University of Wisconsin women's soccer team thumped No. 14 Marquette 5-1 last Thursday night at the McClimon Complex. It was the lone exhibition match for both teams, which will open the regular season on Friday.
Junior striker Cara Walls (Wauwatosa East), sophomore midfielder McKenna Meuer (Madison Memorial) and sophomore defender Brianna Stelzer also scored for the Badgers, while junior Mady Vicker (Whitefish Bay) had the lone goal for the Golden Eagles.
Walls put UW ahead in the fifth minute, Meuer finished off a set piece from Lavelle in the 18th, Lavelle converted a header in the 20th and the freshman – a Cincinnati native who came to Madison from a U.S. Under-20 national team camp in Carson, Calif. – made it 4-0 when she scored off a feed from Walls in the 31st.
"Like I told the players, this is only one game and a game that doesn't count at that," Badgers coach Paula Wilkins said in a news release. "As easy as it to get excited about this, we still have a lot of things to work on. But this is a great starting point for a very young team."
Sophomore C. Nortey helped set up freshman Coco Navarro's opener in the 67th and scored a goal of his own 9 minutes later to lead No. 12 Marquette past Wright State 2-0 in an exhibition opener Saturday night at Valley Fields.
Junior Charlie Lyon and freshmen Brady Walsh, Mac Wheeler (Kettle Moraine) and Kyle Gress combined on the clean sheet in the 110-minute match for the Golden Eagles, who started three freshmen: Defender Jake Taylor (Whitefish Bay), midfielder Alex McBride (Milwaukee Marquette) and forward Nick Parianos.
Nortey, who had a stellar freshman season in 2011 but redshirted last season as he recovered from knee surgery, hooked up with freshman Louis Bennett II (Shorewood) to help create Navarro's opener. Nortey found Bennett at the far post, and the coach's son headed it back across the goal for Navarro to nod home. The lead doubled in the 76th when Nortey finished off a cross from junior midfielder Sebastian Jansson.
Marquette concludes its exhibition season against top-ranked and defending NCAA champion Indiana on Thursday night in Fort Wayne, Ind., as part of the National Soccer Festival. Wright State is coached by Bryan Davis (Milwaukee/UW) and the Raiders' starting goalkeeper last season was Jacob Bye (Whitnall).
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