Iowa State Outshoots Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2-1

AMES, Iowa-- Iowa State's freshman class came up big tonight as Erin Witte scored the first two goals of her collegiate career and goaltender Jo Haig had four saves, helping Iowa State to defeat Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2-1 Friday night at the ISU Soccer Complex. With the win, ISU snaps a four-game losing streak and improves its record to 2-5, while Wisconsin-Milwaukee falls to 1-6-1. It was the second game of the 2004 Nike Invitational. Creighton defeated Youngstown State, 8-1, in the evening's first game.

Witte found the goal in the five-minute mark fresh off two straight ISU corner kicks. On the second one, UWM's goaltender passed the ball back out where senior Kelly Burke and sophomore Jess Villhauer got the ball to Witte for the score. The Cyclones had six first-half shots and played solid defense the rest of the half, allowing UWM only two shots.

"It was a solid first half for us," head coach Rebecca Hornbacher said. "I thought we really stepped it up on both sides of the ball and played well."

In the second half, ISU continued its solid play, but Wisconsin-Milwaukee stepped up its play as well, scoring its lone goal in the 62 minute mark to tie the game. But the Cyclones wouldn't back down and shot in the game-winning goal less than three minutes later when Villhauer found Witte along the right side of the net. The Panthers managed two more shots on goal, but Haig stepped up and nabbed both of them to close out the game with four saves and only gave up one goal.

"I thought Jo played outstanding," Hornbacher said. "What we needed after the game was tied up was what she gave us. She didn't back down and didn't let anything past her."

The Cyclones had a season-high 12 shots along with eight corner kicks to UWM's eight shots and five corner kicks.

"We've had some rough games early on this season and we talked about fine-tuning things and just really came together tonight," Hornbacher said. "It was a total team effort. I saw it all over the field tonight. Our defense was solid tonight and our offense came through when we needed it to. It was a great night for us."

Iowa State will take on Youngstown State on Sunday in the conclusion of the 2004 Nike Invitational. Kick off is set for approximately 2:30 p.m. Creighton will take on Youngstown State in the earlier game, starting at Noon. Both games are at the ISU Soccer Complex.

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Players Mentioned

Kelly Burke

Kelly Burke

Jess Villhauer

Jess Villhauer

Erin Witte

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