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The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's soccer team made a furious push over the final 15 minutes of play Friday afternoon, but fell just short in its comeback attempt in a 1-0 loss against Hope (Mich.) in the first round of the NCAA Division III Championship in snowy, cold weather at the University of Chicago.
 
The Warhawks finish the 2017 campaign with a 14-4-4 record after making the program's seventh consecutive appearance in the national tournament. The team finished with a 4-2-1 mark in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference during the regular season to finish second in the standings and reached the WIAC Tournament final.
 
UW-Whitewater tallied nine corner kicks in the contest compared to five for the Flying Dutch (19-2-1), including a 5-1 edge in the second half. Hope out-shot the Warhawks by an 11-7 margin.
 
UW-Whitewater tallied a pair of corner kicks while attempting two shots over the first 12-plus minutes of action before Hope applied pressure later in the half.
 
The Flying Dutch made an early push in the second half. Sophomore goalkeeper Nina Yonan (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) made a fantastic, point-blank save on a shot fewer than two minutes into the period, but the ball deflected in front of the net and was finished by Hope, which took a 1-0 lead in the 47th minute.
 
Despite a corner kick in the 67th, the Warhawks were unable to find a shot opportunity until the 79th, when they started to apply heavy pressure on the Flying Dutch defense.
 
Freshman forward Anna Boyd and junior forward Emily Mouille (Waunakee, Wis./Waunakee) put consecutive shots on net in the 79th as the team took two corner kicks during that stretch.
 
UW-Whitewater had consecutive corner kicks in the 84th minute, and Mouille tried a free kick off a foul in the 85th.
 
Junior defender Payton DeLuga (Algonquin, Ill./Dundee Crown) had one final shot attempt in the 90th minute, but the ball sailed high of net.
 
Friday's match was the career finale for seniors Morgan Beaty (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb), Marie Lesperance (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha South) and Devon Polk (Racine, Wis./St. Catherine's). Beaty and Lesperance helped the Warhawks to two WIAC championships, two conference tournament titles and four consecutive NCAA appearnces during their four years with the program. Polk was part of the team for the last two years after transferring from Findlay (Ohio).