EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - With goals in each half of today's first round NCAA Division III Regional Soccer Tournament, UW-Eau Claire moves on to face Wheaton College (Ill.) Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Bollinger Fields.

The Blugolds came up with a 3-0 win over Carthage College today to move on. Eau Claire improves to 18-2-3 while Carthage ended its season with a 17-4-0 mark. In the early game today, Wheaton College beat Carroll University 3-1.

Eau Claire's Rachel Nerison (Fr.-Maple Grove, Minn.) netted her 14th goal of the season on an assist from Liz Kooistra to get the Blugolds on the board at 25:23. In the second period Amy Smith (Sr.-Bloomington, Minn./Thomas Jefferson) found the goal with less than 10 minutes remaining to give the Blugolds the 2-0 lead. Nerison also recorded an assist on the goal.

With only 23 seconds remaining Alyssa Walker (Fr.-Madison, Wis./West) scored her second goal of the season to increase the Blugolds' advantage. Allison Smith (Sr.-Bloomington, Minn./Thomas Jefferson) recorded the assist on the Blugolds' third goal of the contest.

Besides the Blugolds' goal in the first half, the half was played fairly even as Eau Claire put up six shots to Carthage's four. In the second Eau Claire put up 12 shots while Carthage had four. Eau Claire ended the game with 18 total shots and Carthage totaled eight. Of the Blugolds' 18 shots, 11 were on-goal while Carthage only placed two on-goal. The Blugolds also edged the Lady Reds 6-4 in corner kicks.

Allie Rivard (Sr.-Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) played the entire 90 minutes in goal and stopped two shots. This was her ninth shutout of the season. Carthage's Lindsey Bollmann was in the net the whole game, recording eight saves and allowing three goals.

The contest between Eau Claire and Wheaton tomorrow will be the third time the two teams have met in NCAA postseason play in the last four years. Wheaton prevailed each time, winning 2-1 in overtime in 2005 and 2-0 in 2006. Earlier this season the two teams faced each other and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.

Eau Claire-Carthage Box Score

Game Slideshow

Regional Web site

- KM -