Northland College Men's Soccer dropped a non-conference game at home on Thursday to UW- Eau Claire 4-0.

The tough non-conference schedule for the Northland College Men's Soccer team continued Thursday night when the undefeated Blugolds of UW- Eau Claire traveled to Ashland for a game under the lights at Ponzio Stadium. The visiting Blugolds scored a first half goal in the 32nd minute to take a 1-0 lead into halftime before opening up the lead in the second half with three goals in the middle of the second half to remain undefeated on the season. The Blugolds were able to control the pace for much of the game putting a lot of pressure on the LumberJacks' junior keeper Jamie Colvill. In total, Colvill was able to make seven saves in the contest.

Northland (0-3, 0-0 UMAC) had several opportunities to find a goal throughout the contest. The best opportunity came after a late foul just outside the box allowed Northland to setup an offensive attack. Quinton Tlusty fired a ball into the defensive wall for UWEC and the ensuing fight for the ball lead to another foul even closer to the top of the box. This time Kellen Richardson took the freekick. His shot richoted off the defender and forced Blugolds keeper to push the ball off the crossbar. Several attempts to get the rebound to go in were blocked by the defense leaving the LumberJacks scoreless.

"Aside from a four minute period (in the second half), I thought we battled with them every step of the way," said Head Coach Greg Gilmore. "Their a team that is almost certainly going to be in the national tournament in November, and we more than held our own. Now we have a week to get ready and learn from these first four challenging games and try to get some wins rolling for conference play."

The LumberJacks will be back on the pitch next Thursday as they travel to Finlandia University for the last non-conference matchup before UMAC play begins. 

Northland College is an NCAA Division III institution located in Ashland, WI. The LumberJacks and LumberJills sponsor 14 varsity sports and compete in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, Midwest Lacrosse Conference and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.