MILWAUKEE -- It took Maddy Williams only 22 minutes to record a natural hat trick and the junior's three early goals propelled Purdue women's soccer to a 4-0 victory in preseason exhibition action at Milwaukee Tuesday afternoon.
Williams scored in the ninth, 15th and 22nd minutes, finding the back of the net off assists from Vanessa Korolas, Dagny Olson and Nicole Robertson, respectively.
In the 28th minute, Williams was taken down inside the 18-yard box to create a penalty kick opportunity for Olson. The Illinois State transfer converted to put Purdue in front 4-0.
Tuesday marked Williams' fourth career multi-goal game as a Boilermaker. Unfortunately, statistics compiled in exhibition games do not count towards career totals or program records. The junior would have tied Purdue's single-game goals record Tuesday. The last of the four hat tricks in regular-season program history was posted by Jordan Pawlik in September 2012 vs. Evansville.
The Boilermakers put together an impressive performance in their first fall action under new head coach Drew Roff. The team opened preseason practice Aug. 5 and has another exhibition game Friday at home vs. Miami (Ohio) before the regular season kicks off Aug. 21. Purdue also beat Milwaukee 3-0 in the spring.
"It was a very solid first time out for us," Roff said. "We started fast and scored some really nice goals early to set the tone. I thought our defensive organization was good and we did a nice job keeping the ball, especially in the first half. Every available player played and got some valuable experience, which was great. We did a lot of things well today that we can build on. We also were able to identify some areas of our play that need to be sharpened up. That is exactly what you hope to get out of a game like this."
Freshman Dannah Williams earned the start at defensive midfielder. Transfers Hannah Leinert (forward), Gabby LaMere (defender) and Olson (midfielder) were in the starting lineup as well. The Boilermakers also welcomed back two-year starting midfielder Melissa Casella, who missed all of the 2014 season due to injury.
Williams opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a 30-yard rocket into the upper 90 inside the far post off a throw-in by Korolas. In the 15th minute, Olson's cross connected with Williams for a near post goal to finish off a semi-breakaway. A long service from the sideline by Robertson led to a goal on a point blank header as Williams completed the hat trick in the 22nd minute.
Erika Yohn started at goalkeeper and finished with two saves. Jordan Ginther played the second half and made one save. At the 33rd minute, Purdue brought on eight new players. Twenty-two of the 27 players on the roster saw action altogether.
The Boilermakers put 13 of their 17 shots on goal while limiting UWM to five shots and just one corner kick. Milwaukee's Mallory Geurts made six second-half saves to keep the game scoreless in the final 45 minutes.
LaMere logged a team-high 86 minutes. Kim Love played 80. Andrea Petrina and Hannah Mussallem both played 39 minutes, the most among the field players off the bench.
Purdue returns to action Friday when it hosts Miami (Ohio) for a 5 p.m. exhibition game. It's also the opener of a six-game homestand at the Boilermaker Soccer Complex.
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