OAK CREEK, Wis. — The Milwaukee Area Technical College women's soccer team saw its bid for a historic first postseason victory come to an end Thursday afternoon with a 3-1 home loss to College of Lake County in the opening round of the NJCAA Division II Region 4 Women's Soccer Tournament.

Sixth-seeded MATC generated plenty of chances but struggled to finish, while No. 11 seed Lake County capitalized on its limited opportunities. The Lancers recorded just eight shots, four on goal, but converted three of them. Olivia Christy opened the scoring in the seventh minute with an unassisted strike before freshman teammate Ashley Melgoza added another in the 35th minute to give Lake County a 2-0 halftime lead.

Christy converted on her second goal in the second half, scoring off an assist from Alejandra Colo to extend the lead to 3-0. MATC finally broke through with just under 18 minutes remaining, when Stormers all-time leading scorer Katelyn Haeft buried a penalty kick to cut into the deficit. It was the lone goal for MATC despite a barrage of 20 total shots, including seven on frame.

The loss ended MATC's season at 5-4-3 and prolonged its search for a breakthrough postseason win.

"It's not the feeling we wanted to leave with," Stormers head coach Aron "Buddy" Gentry said. "CLC and coach Kevin are very organized and well-coached. Credit goes to them — they were very good. We had opportunities and needed to finish them, but we didn't today. Lady Luck was more on their side, and CLC buried their few opportunities."

Despite the disappointment, the Stormers closed out a historic campaign. Their 5-4-3 record marked the first winning season in program history and the second straight year finishing .500 or better, following a 5-5-2 mark in 2024-25.

"We've had two years in a row where we're making history," Gentry said. "This year we finished with a winning record for the first time in program history, whether at the Division II or Division III level. It's another historic year these ladies have been able to put together, and it's great to have those types of seasons back-to-back."

Haeft capped her Stormers career by setting the school record for career goals (26) and single-season goals (17).

"I'm happy Haeft was able to notch another goal during her last college match," Gentry said. "She's been a true asset to this program. We're definitely going to miss her next year, but she's been a great steward for us."

Along with Haeft, sophomores Lia Peterson, Hannah Christopherson and Katelyn Bassler also played their final matches. Even so, Gentry expects a strong returning core, with 16 freshmen having gained valuable postseason experience.

"We had a large group of freshmen who made up the bulk of our roster this season, and they are all very talented in their own right," Gentry said. "We hope they learned a lot from our sophomores, who have given so much to this program and helped set the foundation for us. We'd love to retain all of them and have them mentor our incoming freshmen next season."