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It was quite a weekend for Purdue’s women’s soccer program. The ladies have struggled in recent seasons. They have not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2009. The only winning season they have had since then was in 2015, when they were just over .500 at 9-8-1. This season they were picked to finish 13th in the 14 team Big Ten, so expectations were low.
Well, consider the expectations higher now. This weekend Purdue earned a plethora of awards and had a historic sweep at Michigan and Michigan State.
On Thursday the program won its first ever games in Ann Arbor with a late 1-0 win over the Wolverines. Kylie Hase scored in the 83rd minute to steal the late victory for the Boilermakers.
Since he lives in Ann Arbor, Juan was able to capture the moment when Purdue finally won in Ann Arbor:
On Sunday the party continued, as Purdue dropped a six goal bomb on Michigan State in a 6-2 win in East Lansing. It marked hte program’s first ever road sweep of the Michigan schools. Maddy Williams had two goals and three assists, becoming the school’s assist leader in the process. Andrea Petrina also had a pair of goals while Hannah Melchiorre and Katie Stephens also added goals.
Williams’s effort earned her the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Week Award for the second straight week. Hase also became the first Purdue freshman to win Freshman of the Week honors since 2014.
Obviously it is still early in conference play, but Purdue sits tied with Penn State atop the league standings with 6 points (you get three points for a win and one for a draw in soccer). In terms of overall record, Purdue 7-2-0 with a pair of 2-1 losses to Loyola Marymount and Cincinnati.
The Boilers have a shot at the NCAA Tournament if they can stay hot, too. Currently, Purdue is 22nd in the RPI (Cincinnati is 20th and Loyola Marymount is 23rd). They have a great chance to stay in the Big Ten race, too.
The next game is at Indiana (5-4-1, 1-1-0) Saturday night. The Boilers them come home to face Illinois (3-7-0, 0-2-0) and Northwestern (4-4-1, 1-1-0) on September 28th and October 1st.