Respect in soccer is ultimately earned on the field. Pundits and fans may have stigmas internalized about various teams and their comparative worth.

In women’s college soccer there is a definite pecking order, with a small handful of teams competing at the top of the mountain, a somewhat larger group looking to get onto the summit and then a much larger group seemingly consigned to the bottom.

While conferences tend to get lumped together in these characterizations, the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers of the Horizon League state they have no interest in a “mid-major” designation, or a mid-anything as far as that goes.

Whether the general public recognizes this or not, teams in college soccer are getting the message. Currently 4-3-2, UWM this season alone has wins over ranked programs such as Ohio State and Michigan State, and just this weekend went on the road to claim a couple of victories from Big 12 opponents Kansas and Missouri. Add a draw vs. Marquette and one-goal losses to Auburn and Wisconsin and you get the idea.

UWM coach Michael Moynihan responds to questions about scheduling with a bit of nonchalance. To the 14th-year head coach, this is what a program with serious ambition is supposed to do.

“We’ve been taking on tough schedules for a few years now. I want to give the team as competitive a schedule as I can provide,” he said. “We made that move (to a higher level) a while back. In our recruiting, we see that good players want to play against good teams. If I can only provide average competition for them, there’s less incentive for top players to want to be here. So we’ve made a point to build a strong schedule.”

Moynihan added that this fits with his overall goal of providing top opportunities for player development as part of the program. While some college coaches say they are no longer in the business of developing talent (but rather of collecting it and winning), Moynihan embraces the developmental side of things as well.

“We’ve had a lot of recruits come here and watch a training session and say ‘I know I can improve here.’ I think that’s a massive part of our mission. I don’t see how you can’t be into player development. We’ve got four years to help a player get better. I think you’re doing a major disservice to a player if you’re not trying to help them get better. That’s what it’s all about. It’s not fun if you’re not developing anymore. Sure you want to have big wins and big games, but you also want to see yourself getting better. That’s why we put in the work.”

For the past two years, a player who has set a benchmark for individual quality not just at UWM but nationwide, is forward Sarah Hagen, the Appleton, WI, native and FC Milwaukee product has scored 24 goals in each of her first two college seasons. This year Hagen may have been missing the considerable contributing talents of Kate Megna, who compiled 28 assists in those same two years. With Megna graduated, UWM has been working to find the right formula to goal-scoring, but Hagen, who scored in both of last weekend’s big wins, thinks they’ve got it figured out, starting in the back.

"I think it’s gotten a lot better. Especially with our defense, Ashley (Apazellar) is playing well as a freshman, and our goalkeeper (Leslie Deebach) has been here for a while and knows what needs to be done. She’s getting a chance to play now and has done a great job,” Hagen said. “We’ve been playing with different formations and finally have showed how threatening we can be offensively. As we get back to attacking, it can take the pressure off the defense and we can continue to get some more wins.”
 
{mosimage:300}Hagen, who along with Canadian junior Keara Thompson has 4 goals so far this year, is a penalty-area assassin. She has been playing with a bulky, padded cast after breaking her wrist in a preseason match. Unlike some college goalscorers who find goals mainly through transition, Hagen can receive service and do the little things necessary to put herself in position to strike, which she does with high frequency.

“Any striker can go through rough spots. This season I’ve had a dry spot, but you can’t ever look down, you have to keep looking for opportunities to score,” she said. “You have to have a certain mentality where you want to score.”

Moynihan cited a combination of physical, mental and technical as the reason for Hagen’s success.

“To be a good finisher, you need a certain sense of composure. Some finishers just scrap and look for 2nd balls, but others are more composed in that key moment,” he said. “A lot of players will rush when they get that chance and make mistakes. Sarah is able to keep her composure. Part of that is she is exceptional with the ball at her feet, with her technical ability, but mentally she is very strong.

“When you watch her play, you wouldn’t guess she’s as athletic as she is. When she was with the (U23) national team her ranking on SPARQ training within the team was 2nd overall.”

Hagen was with the U23 WNT this summer for trips to Germany and England, and admitted she is hoping for more of the experience.

“I can only hope. That whole experience with the U23 team showed me what I had to do to get to that level,” she said. “I just want to continue working on my work rate and improving through the fall so I can hopefully get the call back.”

As that improvement continues on the team level, Moynihan, Hagen and the Panthers are turning heads across the soccer landscape. Whatever success the team continues to enjoy should no longer be seen as a surprise.