Sunday’s Women’s Soccer Results
Bowling Green 2, Buffalo 1
Akron 2, Toledo 0
Central Michigan 1, Miami 0
Western Michigan 1, Ohio 0
Ball State 3, Eastern Michigan 2
Kent State 1, Northern Illinois 0
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
Bowling Green 2, Buffalo 1
Boxscore
Redshirt junior Nikki Cox scored early in the second half to break a 1-1 tie and lift the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team to a 2-1 win over the University at Buffalo Sunday afternoon (Sept. 29). The Mid-American Conference match was held at a blustery Cochrane Stadium.
On Senior Day, fourth-year Falcon Maureen Kennedy also scored for BGSU (4-4-2, 2-0-0 MAC), as the Brown and Orange dominated the opening half. BG had possession of the ball for roughly 65 percent of the time in that first half, and had a 7-2 lead in first-half shots. But, the Bulls made the most of their chances, as Gianna Yurchak headed home a free kick to tie the score with under three minutes remaining before the intermission.
Cox, however, scored her team-leading fourth goal of the year just over two minutes into the second half, and that goal proved to be the game-winner.
BGSU had advantages of 12-5 in shot attempts, 9-3 in shots on goal and 6-1 in corner kicks.
Akron 2, Toledo 0
Boxscore
TOLEDO, Ohio– A pair of second-half goals by sophomore's Sydney Worthy (Groveport, Ohio) and Carly Pcholinsky (South Park, Pa.) hand the Akron women's soccer team a 2-0 victory over Toledo and its first win of the 2019 Mid-American Conference campaign.
The game-winning score goes to Worthy in the 75'. At the 73:40 mark of the match, Toledo was called for a foul and the Zips earned a free-kick. Junior Ryley Watt (Irwin, Pa.) booted the ball into play and into the box where Worthy was standing. The Zips forward leaped into the air, got her head on the ball, and put the Zips up 1-0 on the Rockets.
Akron put the game away in the 89' minute as Pcholinsky notched her first goal of the season. The Zips midfielder pushed the ball into the box down the left side of the field, fired a shot to the right side of the net and over the keeper's head for the score.
"This group never quits! We are delighted they got what they have been working so hard towards today. The forwards know the expectations on them and have embraced it, so we are delighted for Carly and Sydney to come good today," said head coach Noreen Herlihy. "It was a brilliant team effort starting with Libby in goal right through the whole team. It was a tough opening weekend so to have a clean sheet and score two goals down the stretch of the game shows the grittiness this bunch has."
The Zips won the offensive battle against UT by way of eight shots to the Rockets six, including a 6-to-4 advantage in shots on goal. On top of tallying the game-winning goal for the Zips, Worthy tallied a game-high three shots with all three coming on goal. Five other Zips including, Pcholinsky, senior Ashley Amato (Pittsburgh, Pa.), redshirt freshman Charley Kale (Sylvania, Ohio), freshman Lucia Lobato (Galway, Ireland), and freshman Bailee Bowers (Dublin, Ohio) registered a shot in the contest.
Freshman goalkeeper, Libby Harper (Hatfield, England), picked up her second clean sheet and third victory of the season for Akron while pulling in a career-high four saves.
UA tallied just three shots in the initial 45 minutes of play but could not find the back of the net. Worthy posted the first shot on goal in the affair in the seventh minute, but her attempt was pulled in. Lobato's lone shot of the match went high.
Following a few halftime adjustments, the Akron offense blitzed the Rockets in the second half en route to five shots, four shots on goal, and the Zips two goals.
Just 44 seconds into the second half, Worthy registered her second shot on goal but her attempt was again corralled in for a save.
Three minutes later, Amato nearly put the Zips ahead at the 48:46 mark but the Rockets keeper made her third save of the contest.
Akron makes its home debut during Mid-American Conference play as the Zips welcome in Ball State and Miami to FirstEnergy Stadium. UA takes on Ball State on Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m., before hosting Miami in an afternoon affair on Sunday, Oct. 6, to close out the weekend. The contest with Ball State marks the beginning of a three-game homestand for the Zips.
Central Michigan 1, Miami 0
Boxscore
OXFORD, Ohio – Back-to-back Sundays with game-winning overtime goals. And the second bigger than the first.
Marle Bringard scored in the second overtime period to lift the Central Michigan soccer team to a 1-0 Mid-American Conference victory over Miami (Ohio) on Sunday as the Chippewas completed a perfect Mid-American Conference opening weekend.
The win, CMU's fifth straight, lifted the Chippewas to 5-0-2. Included in that streak is a 2-1 OT win last Sunday at Kentucky, and a 1-0 in their MAC opener on Friday at Ball State. CMU is 2-0-2 in extra-time games.
Each league win is worth three points in the conference standings. A tie is worth one. The Chippewas, with six points, share the MAC lead with defending champion Bowling Green.
"This win was huge for us," CMU coach Jeremy Groves said. "All week, we talked about starting off the conference with six points, and putting ourselves in a really good position (in the MAC).
"It's hard to play on the road, and this puts us in a good spot. It's important to get off to a good start in conference as opposed to losing a couple of games and putting yourself behind a little bit."
Bringard's unassisted goal, her team-leading third of the season, came in the 107th minute. She scored the goal in the Chippewas' 1-0 win on Friday at Ball State.
"The ball came down our left hand side," Groves said. "The ball went in to (Bringard) from Alina (Miagkova). Bringard spun a girl in the box at the 18, turned, hit it, and it went right into the bottom corner of the goal. It was a really good goal from her.
"As the game went on, (Bringard) was the main threat for us. She had a couple of really good chances earlier in the game, and had an outstanding weekend."
Western Michigan 1, Ohio 0
Boxscore
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan women's soccer team earned its first conference victory of the season, defeating Ohio 1-0 on a rainy Sunday afternoon at the WMU Soccer Complex. With the win, the Broncos improve to 3-5-1 overall, while the Bobcats fall to 6-4.
WMU picked up its second clean sheet of the year on defense, shutting down the top scoring offense in the Mid-American Conference, as Ohio was previously averaging more than two goals per game. The Broncos last win against the Bobcats came on 9/30/2016 at Chessa Field in Athens, Ohio.
The lone goal of the contest came in the second half, with sophomore forward Morgan Otteson scoring off a pass inside the box from senior midfielder Grace Labadie. It was Otteson's team-leading fifth goal of 2019, and she now leads the MAC in points per game, averaging 1.63 through nine matches.
Western Michigan led its opponent on the shot chart 12-6, with six of those attempts coming on the Ohio goal. Junior Maggie Rogers stopped all five shots she faced in net for the Broncos to record her third victory of the year.
Western Michigan will travel to Mount Pleasant on Friday for a conference match against its in-state rivals from Central Michigan.
Ball State 3, Eastern Michigan 2
Boxscore
MUNCIE, Ind. – Led by a brace and game-winning goal from Nicky Potts, the Ball State University soccer team survived overtime to secure its first Mid-American Conference win over Eastern Michigan, 3-2, on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Briner Sports Complex.
The Cardinals improved to 7-3-0 for the year and 1-1-0 in league play while Eastern Michigan dropped to 1-7-2 and 0-2-0.
"The resolve the girls showed to stay with it and go get the goal at the end says a lot about this group," said Ball State head coach Josh Rife. "I don't care what anybody's record is, when you come into conference play every game is going to be tough. There's more on the line. Even a team like Eastern Michigan, that just hasn't gotten the results they would like, is a good team. I'm proud of our team because we knew it was going to be a grind."
Ball State found itself in a hole early as Eastern Michigan's Sabrina McNeill put the Eagles up 1-0 in just the sixth minute of the match. It was the second game in a row in which the Cardinals faced a one-goal deficit. The Cardinals were able to equalize in the 27th minute when Tatiana Mason's free kick deflected off the goalkeeper and Sammi Corcoran tapped it in for the first goal of her career. Mason was credited with an assist on the play.
BSU continued to apply pressure and broke through again when Potts scored her first goal of the day in the 39th minute. The goal came on an assist from Chelcy Ralph after Yela Ziswiler, who was also credited with an assist, crossed a ball into the box. The 2-1 score held until the halftime break.
Again, starting the half fast, EMU scored the equalizer when Sarah Ash headed in a corner kick in the 50th minute. Both teams had several chances for a game winner through the next 40 minutes, but could not score as the match headed to overtime. Eastern Michigan appeared to have the match won when its attacker earned a one-on-one with goalkeeper Tristin Stuteville, but Stuteville's pressure forced the shot to go wide and off the post to keep the Cardinals alive.
Minutes later, Emily Simmons sent a free kick into the box that found Sam Kambol. Kambol crossed it to Mason, who notched her second assist of the day by passing to a wide-open Potts. Potts recorded a brace by kicking in the game-winning goal to get the Cardinals back to .500 in league play.
Ball State finished the match with 11 total shots and seven on goal. Corner kicks were even with both teams earning six. Stuteville recorded six saves for the day. Potts' two goals put her up to four for the year, which ties here with Grace Alsop and Tatiana Hawkins-Dabney for most on the team this year. Mason's two assists brought her total up to five for the season.
The Cardinals now take their first conference road trip of the season with matches at Akron on Friday and Buffalo Sunday.
Kent State 1, Northern Illinois 0
Boxscore
DEKALB, Ill. – The Kent State soccer team (3-4-2, 1-0-1 MAC) notched its first Mid-American Conference win of the season downing Northern Illinois (2-6-1, 0-2-0), 1-0, on Sunday afternoon at the NIU Soccer & Track and Field Complex.
One goal is all the Golden Flashes needed to earn their sixth straight win in the series against the Huskies. Junior Vital Kats found the back of the net for the second time this year in the 47th minute on an assist from junior Cameron Shedenhelm. Kats scored both of her goals this season in back-to-back games after scoring on Saturday at Western Michigan.
Kent State controlled possession the majority of the match and outshot NIU, 25-7. The defense only allowed two NIU shots on target and redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Faith O'Neill (3-4-2) made two saves. O'Neill recorded her third shutout of the year and ninth of her career, which ranks sixth in a career in program history.
The Flashes placed 10 of their 25 on goal and each team earned four corner kicks.
Be sure to follow Kent State Soccer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for news and in-match updates about the squad.
