Women's Soccer 10/17/06 -- Augsburg 2, Bethel 0

BOXSCORE

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (10/17/06) -- Claiming a 27-1 shots advantage, the Augsburg College women's soccer team claimed its ninth shutout of the season with a 2-0 win over Bethel Universityin a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest Tuesday afternoon at Bethel's Ona North Field.

Angie Neuhaus (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest HS) and Becky Lewis (Sr., Duluth, Minn./Duluth Marshall HS) scored goals for the Auggies, who improved to 9-4-2 overall, 6-2-1 with the victory, taking a step closer to securing a berth in the four-team MIAC postseason playoffs for the third straight year.

With the win, Augsburg moved into a second-place tie with Macalester (5-0-3 MIAC) and Carleton (6-2-1 MIAC) with 13 league points. Augsburg and Carleton have two conference games remaining, while Macalester has three league games left. Concordia (7-0-2 MIAC), with 16 league points, has already clinched a berth in the conference playoffs.

"We've had some last-second losses that have made us tougher, and now we are playing better soccer as a result of these setbacks," said Augsburg head coach Mike Navarre. "As I've said before, there is a lot of fight left in us."

Neuhaus scored her third goal of the season in the 26th minute for the Auggies, coming on an assist by Emily Anderson * (Sr., Hudson, Wis.). Lewis notched her team-best fifth goal of the season in the 55th minute, on assists from Jackie Keller (Jr., Traverse City, Mich./Traverse City West HS) and Aili Brom-Palkowski * (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./South HS).

"We played well today," Navarre said. "We were organized and confident. We are getting stronger and more excited to play as we approach the end of the regular season. I credit all the players, their work rate and support of each otherhas allowed us to stay relaxed and focused when we train and play."


Augsburg collected 12 shots to Bethel's one in the first half, then outshot the Royals by a 15-0 margin in the second half. Auggie goalkeeper Maggie DeGroot (So., Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha West HS) stopped the only shot she faced to collect her ninth shutout of the season and 17th of her career.

Augsburg had nine corner kicks to Bethel's four in the game. Whitney Holman (Fr., New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) led the Auggies with seven shots, while Anderson had four shots and Lizzie Broin (Fr., Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins HS) had three shots.

Bethel goalkeeper Charli Sorensen made 11 saves. Lauren Johnson had the lone shot for the Royals.

Augsburg returns to action next Wednesday (10/25) at 3:30 p.m., with a game at Gustavus. Bethel is also next in action next Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., hosting St. Mary's.