ST. PAUL, Minn. – The opening round of the 2024 UMAC Women’s Soccer Tournament took place on Wednesday night as four teams competed in a pair of semifinal contests. The No. 1 seeded University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets and No. 2 Bethany Lutheran College Vikings won their games to advance to the championship.
 
SEMIFINAL: No. 1 Yellowjackets def. No. 4 Polars, 4-1
| Box Score | Broadcast |

UW-Superior (14-7, 11-1 UMAC) hosted the Crown College Polars (6-9-2, 6-4-2 UMAC) for their semifinal match. The Yellowjackets had won both of their games against the Polars during the regular season, winning 4-0 in a road game on October 10 and then 1-0 at home on November 2.
 
In the tournament game on Wednesday night, UW-Superior earned a 4-1 victory over Crown to advance to host this Saturday’s championship game.
 
After an own-goal by the Polars in the seventh minute, Emma Domka tied the game for Crown at 1-1 with a goal in the 34^th minute. Niamh Larson would take the lead back for the Yellowjackets before halftime with a goal in the 42^nd minute to put UW-Superior up 2-1.
 
The Yellowjackets added two more goals in the second half to secure the win. Allison Alessi scored in the 57^th minute and Lindrey Schendel added one more in the 80^th minute.
 
UWS outshot Crown 34-7 in the game. Rachel Fuller had 10 saves in goal for the Polars.
 
SEMIFINAL: No. 2 Vikings def. No. 3 Eagles, 5-1
| Box Score | Broadcast |

Bethany Lutheran (9-6-3, 8-2-2 UMAC) hosted the University of Northwestern Eagles (7-10-2, 7-4-1 UMAC) for their semifinal contest. The Vikings had split their regular season series with the Eagles, falling 3-0 on September 18 and then winning 4-2 on October 22.
 
In Wednesday night’s playoff game, Bethany Lutheran defeated Northwestern 5-1 to advance to Saturday’s tournament title game; the first UMAC Tournament championship game appearance in their program’s history.
 
Olaitz Muguruza scored in the fourth minute to give BLC an early 1-0 lead. Ashley Caspar doubled the Vikings’ lead just four minutes later with another goal. Just 37 seconds after Caspar’s goal, Elena Luján Rubio scored another for Bethany Lutheran to put the Vikings up 3-0 less than nine minutes into the game.
 
Reese Moorad would score one more first-half goal for BLC in the 25^th minute to put the Vikings up 4-0. Northwestern would get on the scoreboard in the 33^rd minute with a goal by Naomi Meehan.
 
Muguruza added one more goal for Bethany Lutheran in the 80^th minute as the Vikings took the 5-1 victory.
 
UP NEXT
 
The UW-Superior Yellowjackets and Bethany Lutheran Vikings will battle for the UMAC postseason title and the automatic bid to the NCAA DIII national tournament on Saturday, November 9 at Superior Choice Credit Union Stadium in Superior, Wisconsin at 2:30pm.
 
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
 
• Semifinals: Wednesday, November 6
    - 7:00 PM | #4 Crown at #1 UW-Superior
        - FINAL: Yellowjackets 4, Polars 1
            - Box Score | Broadcast
    - 7:00 PM | #3 Northwestern at #2 Bethany Lutheran
        - FINAL: Vikings 5, Eagles 1
            - Box Score | Broadcast
• Championship: Saturday, November 9
    - 2:30 PM | No. 2 Bethany Lutheran at No. 1 UW-Superior
        - Live Video | Live Stats
 
TICKETS

• $15 | Adults
• $10 | Seniors
• $10 | College Students
• $10 | Youth (Ages 6-18)
• Free | Ages 5 and Under
• Free | Any UMAC students, faculty, and staff with a valid and current institutional ID.
• No other passes will be accepted.