Box Score

DE PERE, Wis. - Four years ago, the Ripon College women's soccer team was coming off 14 consecutive losing seasons. Entering 2011, newly hired Head Coach Sam Schroeder sat down with his team to develop a dream and a vision, which included reaching the conference tournament for the first time in program history. Wednesday, that dream became reality, as Coach Schroeder's team clinched a spot in the 2014 MWC Tournament with a 2-0 win at St. Norbert College.

The game was tightly contested throughout much of the night, but Ripon (11-6-0, 7-2-0 MWC) broke a scoreless tie in the 28th minute on Kaylee Tadych's 10th goal of the season, scoring on an open net off an assist from Paige Birschbach.

After taking that 1-0 lead into halftime, the Red Hawks doubled their lead in the second half when the roles were reversed. Birschbach scored her 14th goal of the season on a header in the 55th minute off a corner from Tadych, giving her 18 assists on the year, which breaks the MWC's single season record. That also gives Tadych 38 points this season, which ranks seventh in school history for a single season, while her 60 points in just two years is ninth on Ripon's career list.

The Red Hawks were led in goal by Sidney Blodgett, who recorded her sixth shutout of the season and 19th of her career, which is tied for the fifth-most career shutouts in MWC history. She also made 10 saves, which is tied for her second-highest total of the season.

Ripon will now look to finish the regular season strong Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against Grinnell College in Ripon. That game will serve as a tune-up for the 2014 MWC Tournament, which will take place November 7-8 in Lake Forest, Ill., with Ripon playing as either the number two or three seed, depending on what happens Saturday.