Huskers Post Shutout over Minnesota

Lincoln -- Meghan Anderson's two goals paced the fourth-ranked Nebraska women's soccer team to a 5-0 win over Minnesota Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 1,814 at the Abbott Sports Complex.

With the win, the Huskers (21-1-1) will face Texas A&M, a 3-2 overtime winner over Kentucky earlier Sunday, in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament next Sunday, Nov. 21, at 1 p.m. NU defeated the Aggies, 1-0, in College Station, Texas, on Oct. 8 and has won four straight matches against their Big 12 rival. Minnesota ends its season with a 13-9-0 mark.

Today's win marks the fourth straight season that Nebraska has advanced to the Sweet 16, and improves the Huskers' record at the Abbott Sports Complex to 5-0 in NCAA Tournament matches.

The Huskers jumped out to a 1-0 lead 16 minutes into the match as sophomore Becky Preston took Lindsay Eddleman's pass and fired a shot past UM goalkeeper Dana Larson to give NU a 1-0 lead.

"I thought we were a little slow getting started, but a lot of the credit goes to Minnesota," Walker said. "They started with a lot of energy. Once we found our feet, it was a little bit of a wake-up call, and I thought we played pretty well in the last 30 minutes of the first half, where we played at a high level, and the first 30 minutes of the second half."

NU, which has won 13 straight matches, increased the lead to 2-0 on Anderson's first goal of the game with 11 minutes left in the half. Off a free kick, Nonen found Anderson, who beat Larson for her 21st goal of the year to give NU a 2-0 halftime lead.

"Our three defenders did a good job of handling their forwards and that allowed us to take more chances up front," Walker said. "I also thought our forwards did a good job of keeping pressure up front. Our first goal came out of that where Lindsay won the ball and was able to get the ball to Becky for the goal. In the middle of the field, Meghan Anderson was a very dangerous offensive weapon for us today, and Amy Walsh did a good job of ball-winning defensively. The tandem has worked well all season. Karina did a good job making that early save to keep us from going one down early in the match. Overall, it was a great team effort against a good team."

The Huskers, who have ended Minnesota's season in the NCAA Tournament in two of the past three seasons, increased their lead to 4-0 with a pair of goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Sophomore Shannon Tanaka tallied her seventh goal of the year five minutes into the half off assists from Anderson and Nonen.

Nonen, a two-time All-American, would put the game out of reach with a goal off a free kick from 35 yards out to give NU a 4-0 lead. The goal was her third of the season and capped a four-point day for the senior from Vancover, British Columbia.

Anderson, who recorded her fifth multiple-goal performance in the last nine matches, pushed the Husker lead to 5-0 with her second goal of the match with 22 minutes remaining. In all, NU controlled the match, outshooting the Gophers, 28-12, including a 14-5 advantage on shots on goal, and outcornering UM 12-2.

The Huskers also received a solid performance from junior goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc, who stopped five Gopher shots in recording her 12th shutout of the season, reducing her season goals-against average to 0.53.

NCAA Second-Round Scores

Brigham Young	0	#1 Santa Clara	2	F
San Diego	1	at UCLA	2	F
Dartmouth	0	at Connecticut	3	F
Boston College	1	at #8 Harvard	0	F
Dayton	1	at #5 Notre Dame	5	F
Cal Poly	1	at Stanford	3	F
Texas A&M	3	at Kentucky	2	F-OT
Hartford	1	#3 Florida	0	F
James Madison	1	at Virginia	3	F
SMU	1	at USC	0	F-OT
Maryland	2	#6 Penn State	3	F
Marquette	0	at #7 Clemson	1	F
Michigan	0	at Wake Forest	1	F
Duke	0	at William & Mary	3	F
Central Florida	0	at #2 North Carolina	8	F