Despite injuries and being short on starters, the UW-Platteville Women’s Soccer team ended two long-standing losing streaks last week, and got back in the win column after two ties.

On Wednesday the Pioneers traveled to La Crosse to break their losing streak of 16 years. With a nail-biter game, the Pioneers held their ground through two overtimes with a strong defensive game.

“The girls had a good practice leading up to the game,” Head Coach Chris Bianchi said.

The game went into two overtimes, ending with a tie at 0-0.

“We did everything we should have done,” Stephanie Lund said. “We had good opportunities for shooting.”

With the tough competition at La Crosse, the Pioneers were ready to take on Stevens Point.

The Pioneers have lost to Stevens Point for 19 years, but finally broke their streak on Sunday.

Being down five starters and having multiple player injuries on the team, the Pioneers pushed even harder to stay in the game. The game was tied through the first half. In the second half Amanda Pramat of Stevens Point scored at 61:55 putting the Pointers up by one.

“14 minutes later Kim Schenkloth brought us back to a tie,” Megan Ferrera said.

At the end of the second half the score was tied and the game went into overtime.

With only 1:26 left in the second overtime, the Pioneers put put one in the net. The Pioneers rushed the field only to be crushed when the referee declared the goal off-sides.

“In the second overtime goaltender Laurie had a tremendous save to keep us in the game” said Lund

Although the games were tied, the Pioneers felt as though they were victorious in that they played hard and ended the losing streaks.

“It was a flat out war,” said Chris Bianchi, “I don’t think I’ve seen a performance from any of my soccer teams that was shown at Stevens Point.”

After two tough ties on the road the Pioneers welcomed back the home crowd with a 3-0 victory against Maranatha Baptist Bible.

The Pioneers got two goals from freshman Allie Metcalfe and a goal from freshman Erin McDonald. Metcalfe and Ashly Hamilton each had an assist in the game. The Pioneers had a huge offensive advantage in the game, with 13 shots on goal compared to zero for Maranatha Baptist.

Freshman defender Hope Huston was named the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference defensive player of the week

The Pioneers are off to the best start in their 15 year history at 6-1-2.

The Pioneers will put their 6-1-2 record on the line at the University of Dubuque on Thursday Sept. 28 at 8:00. The enxt home game for the Pioners is Saturday Sept. 30 vs. Ripon.