NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College women’s soccer team shut out the Crown College Storm on the way to a 3-0 win Tuesday to keep its chances of reaching the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Postseason Tournament alive.

The Knights peppered the Storm goal with shots for much of the first half and finally broke through with a Nicole Porter goal off her own rebound in the 31st minute to take a 1-0 lead.

MLC continued to press forward in the second half and was rewarded with an Emily Witkowski goal off a cross from Mary Falck in the 53rd minute.

In the 64th minute, Erika Rosenbaum put the game away for good with a goal to finish the scoring.

That was more than enough offense for MLC keeper Mollie Fischer and her defense. The Knights allowed only six total shots, with Fischer stopping all three shots on goal. The MLC offense finished with 38 total shots, including 21 shots on goal.

The shutout was the sixth of the season for Fischer.

The goals by Porter, Witkowski and Rosenbaum were the third of the season for each player.

The Knights entered the game in need of a pair of wins this week to secure a spot in next week’s conference tournament. The win over the Storm pushed MLC’s record to 3-3-1 in league play, and they will need to defeat UW-Superior on Saturday (2:30 p.m.) to finish in the top five of the conference standings.

MLC men fall to Crown

NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College men’s soccer team suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Crown College in Tuesday’s regular season UMAC finale.

The Knights came into the day with the chance to clinch the fourth seed in the UMAC Postseason Tournament with a win and dominated the game everywhere but the scoreboard.

MLC out-shot the Storm 18-3 in the first half, including an 8-3 edge in shots on goal. The Knights had numerous opportunities in the half to get on the board inside the box, but the Crown defense was able to hold them off the board.

The Storm had one scoring opportunity in the second half and took advantage, as Grant Moody took a pass on the right sideline and weaved his way into the box before beating MLC keeper Joshua Higgins to the near post for the game’s only goal.

The Knights pushed even harder following the goal and dominated possession on Crown’s side of the field, but couldn’t find the goal to show for it.

MLC finished the game with 31 shots compared to five for the Storm, and also finished with 15 corner kicks compared to zero for Crown.

Joe Graumann led all players with seven total shots. Lucas Martin recorded five shots, including three shots on goal.

The Knights fell to 5-12-2 overall and 3-5-0 in UMAC play in defeat. Crown improved to 4-13-2 on the season and 2-5-1 in league play with the win.

MLC must now wait for the result of Northwestern’s game at Bethany Lutheran College on Tuesday night. A UNW win would knock the Knights out of the conference tournament. A BLC win would send the Knights to Northland College on Monday in the quarterfinal game.