RIPON, Wis. - The Ripon women's soccer team added to their program-best start to a season Saturday, improving to 8-0-0 with a 2-1 victory over Monmouth College in the Red Hawks' 2016 conference opener. This game was closer than most, as it was tied at one for 50 minutes and wasn't decided until a Paige Birschbach goal found the back of the net for the go-ahead score in the 72nd minute.

Ripon (8-0, 1-0 MWC) got on the board first in the game's eighth minute when Kaylee Tadych netted her sixth goal of the season on an assist from Paige Pierce. Monmouth (3-4-1, 0-2-0 MWC) answered in the 22nd minute when Kara-Jade Gordon netted her team-leading sixth of the year thanks to an assist from Andrea Correa.

That's where the score would remain into the second half until Birschbach's 15th of the season, which leads all of Division-III. She was assisted by Tadych, who leads the nation with 11 assists, giving her 41 in her career, which is just six away from breaking the Midwest Conference record. That final goal is Birschbach's fifth game-winning goal of the season, which is also tops in D-III.

Goal Keeper Miye Aoki-Kramer played all 90 minutes for the Red Hawks, making nine saves, while her counterpart, Nicole Neagle, also saved nine shots in 90 minutes of action.

Ripon, which is currently ranked seventh in the NCAA D-III North Region, will try to remain unbeaten and untied on Sunday when they'll battle Cornell College. That game will begin at 3:30 p.m. at Prairie Field in Ripon.