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Wiepz Powers Pointers to Win Over Lawrence
By
Scott Williams
Stevens Point Journal
Original Article
Box Score
The offense was looking a little stagnant in
the home opener for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point women's
soccer team Wednesday.
So UWSP coach Sheila Miech sent freshman Kimie Wiepz into the match with
Lawrence University looking for a spark.
Instead, Miech found a keg of dynamite in Wiepz as the explosive forward
scored a pair of goals to lead UWSP to a 2-1 victory over the Vikings at
the Pointer Soccer Bowl.
The Pointers sit at 3-0 on the season heading into a showdown with
top-ranked University of Chicago at home on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 3
p.m.
"I view myself as whatever coach wants me to do. If she wants me to score,
I'll do that. If she wants me to be a playmaker, I'll do that," said Wiepz,
who has a team-high three goals. "Right now as a forward, I'm trying to
score goals."
Wiepz wasted little time making an impact
Wednesday. The recruit out of Stoughton showed off her talents
shortly after coming into the match. Wiepz got her head on a crossing pass
from Megan Frey and found the back of the net in the 30th minute to break
a scoreless tie.
Wiepz doesn't care if she starts or comes off the bench. She uses the time
on the bench to study the game and see how she can best help the team.
"I try to sit on the bench and see things I can fix out there. You
definitely get a different perspective on the bench," explained Wiepz. "I
just want to get a chance to put a touch on the ball."
Every soccer coach is looking for players who can score.
The Pointers spent most of the opening half creating scoring chances but
doing nothing about them once in position.
That inability to bury chances and the fact UWSP was holding a slim 1-0
lead at halftime left Miech in a sour mood.
"We have to find people to finish scoring
chances. We were getting opportunities to finish but we were not putting
them away," said Miech, who raised her career record to 252-78-21, making
her only the fifth coach in NCAA women's soccer history to win 250 games
at the Division III level.
"Once we get healthy, I think you'll see we have a lot of weapons on this
team." Wiepz is proving to be one of the most lethal weapons.
The combination of her and Frey killed the Vikings (0-3) who were unable
to slow either Pointer down.
Frey had free rein and all sorts of open space on the right wings which
made it easy to get the ball to Wiepz. And the freshman knew what to do
with the ball once in her possession.
Example No. 2 came with 66 minutes, 59 seconds elapsed in the match when
she found the far corner off another pass from Frey. Melissa Becker
originated the play with a beautiful long ball from the back.
"We're always of the mindset to play the best
teams in the central region because that is the only way to prepare for
conference," Lawrence coach Moira Ruhly.
"We like the beating and the competition. It's great soccer. Stevens Point
is the standard in this area to see how we match up. I don't feel we were
outplayed."
The Vikings showed they belonged on the same
field with the Pointers. Greta Raaen scored the first goal in 254 minutes
this season for Lawrence when she got behind the UWSP defense and beat
keeper Kortney Krill.
Jaime Nodarse got the play started with a long ball from the back and
Raaen outfought a pair of defenders and found Krill off her line.
The outcome was a vast improvement on a 5-0 loss to the University of
Chicago. However, Ruhly still thinks the match with the Pointers on
Saturday will be worth the price of admission.
"Chicago is very physical. They play the body before the ball and we
weren't ready for that," Ruhly said. "As far as individual talent, both
teams are very similar." |
