PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Haley Rich (Sr.-West Chicago, Ill.) made 19 saves in an outstanding performance in goal and the Lakeland University women's soccer team played well even in a 3-0 loss to Milwaukee School of Engineering Wednesday night at Taylor Field.

The Muskies gave one of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference's defending regular season champions all sorts of trouble, staying within a goal for the first 64 minutes and fighting off the Raiders time and again despite being on defense much of the night. Lakeland dropped to 3-5 overall and 0-3 in the NACC but had a considerably better result against a top conference team after losing its first two league games by a combined score of 13-1.

The Muskies slowed up an MSOE team that was coming in off a 19-0 drubbing of Alverno College in its last game. The Raiders also were one of three teams to tie for NACC regular season championship last year and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament, and at 4-1-3 overall (2-0-1 NACC) have lost just once in their first eight games this year.

MSOE got on the board early, with Nicole Robb centering a pass to Jill Ruark, whose shot from 15 yards was just inside the right post and past Rich for a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute. The Muskies would keep the Raiders off the board the rest of the half, though, and even had a few chances as Jenna Caterino (So.-Stanton, Mich.) got off a shot after a counter attack in the 15th minute and Caterino and Alondra Reyes (So.-Milwaukee, Wis.) worked a give and go for Reyes to bend a shot from 25 yards out that was stopped by Reagan Tompkins in the 36th minute.

MSOE posted a 19-2 shots advantage in the first half but led just 1-0 at the halftime break, and the Muskies continued to hold strong even as the Raiders continued to fire away at the goal. Rich made ten saves in the first half and nine more in the second half, several of the spectacular variety.

Lakeland even had several chances to tie early in the second, often making the most of limited advances towards the MSOE goal. A first attack in the 57th minute that was shut down resulted in another chance when Riley Jahnke (Sr.-Howards Grove, Wis.) won a ball at midfield and advanced it quickly to Caterino, who quickly turned and shot on goal from 30 yards out to force second half Raiders goalkeeper Page Sanchez to make the save.

MSOE finally cashed in for a second goal in the 65th minute. Shortly after a shot by Reyes that was stopped, the Raiders' Emma Halverson sent a long ball ahead down the middle to Grace Quinn, who collected and quickly found Addison Spilman on the left. The quick transition caught the Muskies as Spilman fired from 15 yards past Rich for a 2-0 lead.

The Raiders added a final goal off a corner kick with just over five minutes left, with McKayla Zastrow heading in the service by Nicole Robb in the 85th minute. MSOE added two more shots on goal in the final three minutes but Rich saved both for a season high in saves just three off her career high of 22 saves set in 2019 as a freshman at Illinois Tech.

MSOE finished with a 41-6 advantage in shot attempts including a 22-4 lead in shots on goal. Faith Turley (Jr.-Lincoln, Ill.) joined Reyes and Caterino with two shots each. Among a number of others contributing in slowing the Raiders was the defensive back line of Hanna Brouch (So.-Kaukauna, Wis.), Ellie Rau (Jr.-West Allis, Wis.), Brianna Love (Fr.-Levittown, Pa.) and Abby Runkel (So.-Burlington, Wis.) and midfielders including Marlen Reyes (Jr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) and Gwynn Manteufel (So.-Kewaskum, Wis.).

The Muskies are on the road for their next game Saturday when they travel to face Aurora University at 3:30 p.m. in Montgomery, Ill.