Women's Soccer 10/28/06 -- Augsburg 3, St. Thomas 0 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (10/28/06) -- The Augsburg College women's soccer team qualified for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason playoffs for the third straight season, clinching the bid with a 3-0 win over the University of St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon at Augsburg's Edor Nelson Field.

Playing into a strong westerly wind in the second half, Augsburg scored three times, with Angie Neuhaus (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest HS) collecting a goal and an assist to lead the Auggies.

Whitney Holman (Fr., New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) and Aili Brom-Palkowski * (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./South HS) also scored goals for Augsburg, which finished the regular season 10-5-2 overall, 7-3-1 in MIAC play. It's Augsburg's fourth double-digit victory season in the last five years, and Augsburg finished with a perfect 8-0-0 record in home games at Edor Nelson Field this year.

Auggie goalkeeper Maggie DeGroot (So., Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha West HS) set a single-season school record against the Tommies, making two saves for her 10th shutout of the season. She broke the old single-season record of nine shutouts, set by Beth Petrik in 1997 and Laura Hoffman in 2002.

With the win, Augsburg will play in the conference playoff semifinals on Wednesday (11/1), with its postseason opponent depending on the outcome of Carleton's conference finale on Sunday (10/29) at St. Olaf. If Carleton wins, Augsburg would be the No. 4 seed and would play at conference regular-season champion Concordia-Moorhead on Wednesday at 2 p.m., with Carleton hosting Macalester in the other semifinal. If Carleton loses to St. Olaf, Augsburg would be the No. 3 seed and would play at Macalester on Wednesday at a time to be determined, with Carleton playing at Concordia-Moorhead in the other semifinal. The conference playoff championship game is next Saturday (11/4) at the highest remaining seed.

Augsburg is the lone school to have both its men's and women's soccer teams qualified for the MIAC postseason playoffs this year.

"I'm very proud of our program. The MIAC is one of the best conferences in the country. To make the playoffs three years in a row is a significant achievement," said Augsburg head coach Mike Navarre. "We look forward to the semifinals. We've played each team well this season and will be excited to play."

St. Thomas finishes its season at 7-9-2 overall, 4-6-1 in MIAC play. Kaisa Erickson (Jr., Eugene, Ore./Sheldon HS) made nine saves in goal for the Tommies in a losing effort.

Augsburg maintained control of the game throughout, claiming a 21-10 shots advantage. The Auggies also had four corner kicks and did not allow a Tommie corner kick attempt.

With the wind in the first half, Augsburg collected four shots on goal, but could not score. But in the second half, playing against the wind, the Auggies scored all three goals from its five shots on goal.

"We played very well in the second half. We just needed to relax and play with confidence," Navarre said.

Holman started the scoring for the Auggies in the 64th minute, claiming a pass off a steal by Neuhaus and depositing the ball in the lower right corner of the net.

In the 82nd minute, Neuhaus pounced on a rebound of a Jackie Keller (Jr., Traverse City, Mich./Traverse City West HS) and put it in the goal to put the Auggies up 2-0. Four minutes later, Augsburg clinched the win, as a free kick from 25 yards out by Brom-Palkowski found its way across the crease into the top right corner.

Emily Anderson * (Sr., Hudson, Wis.) had seven shots for Augsburg, with Holman taking five shots.

For St. Thomas, Stephanie Paasch (So., Cottage Grove, Minn./Park HS) had three shots, with Jade Crepps (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest HS) and Abigail Krause (So., Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret HS) taking two shots each.

The game was the final home contest for five Augsburg seniors -- Anderson, Brom-Palkowski, Carla Giuliani (Sr., Whitefish Bay, Wis./Dominican HS), Becky Lewis (Sr., Duluth, Minn./Duluth Marshall HS) and Shannon Olson * (Sr., Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS) and . This year's senior class has a four-year record of 39-21-11.

"Today was a special day for our team and our seniors," Navarre said. "Emily, Aili, Carla, Becky and Shannon have given outstanding leadership to the program, and they are a huge reason for our success."