Sunday’s MAC Women’s Soccer Results
Akron 1, Kent State 0
Eastern Michigan 2, Western Michigan 1
Toledo 2, Northern Illinois 0
Bowling Green 3, Ohio 0
Buffalo 4, Miami 0
 
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
 
 
Akron 1, Kent State 0
Box Score
 
AKRON, Ohio - A first-half goal from junior Sydney Worthy (Groveport, Ohio) and a stout defensive effort propelled the University of Akron women's soccer team to a 1-0 triumph over rival Kent State (2-4, 2-4 MAC) in Mid-American Conference action on Sunday, March 28 at wind-swept FirstEnergy Stadium.
 
The Zips (1-4-1, 1-4-1 MAC) earned a half point in the Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center Wagon Wheel Challenge with the victory to assume a 4.5-4.0 overall series lead in the cumulative team standings.
 
Akron cracked the scoring column at the 14:34 mark on the first goal of the year for Worthy, who headed home a ball served into the center of the box off a corner kick from freshman Sarah Nguyen (Irwin, Pa.). The assist was the first collegiate point for Nguyen.
 
In only her third start of the campaign, sophomore GK Libby Harper (Hatfield, England) earned her second clean sheet of the season for Akron, registering four saves. Sarah Melen recorded a trio of stops in net for the Golden Flashes.
 
Each side garnered 10 shots in the affair, while matching one another with four strikes on goal each.
 
Junior Sydney Ward (Connellsville, Pa.) led the Zips with a game-high four shots, while redshirt junior Aislinn Meaney (Ennis, Ireland) and Worthy added three and two shots, respectively. Yasmine Hall paced the Kent State attack with a team-high three shots.
 
The Zips scored their goal on the initial shot of the game in the 15th minute (14:34).
 
Ward added a shot on goal at the 19:19 mark that Melen corralled for a save.
 
The Zips held a 1-0 advantage at the intermission posting a 4-2 edge in first-half shots, including a 2-0 margin in shots on goal.
 
Akron garnered the first five shots of the second half, including a shot on net from junior Carly Pcholinsky (South Park, Pa.) in the 47th minute (46:38).
 
Harper posted her first save of the night at the 56:46 mark off a shot by Hall before adding another in the 75th minute (74:38).

Meaney delivered a strike on frame at the 75:11 mark, a shot that was saved by Melen.
 
Harper denied shots in the 82nd (81:29) and 83rd (82:25) minutes, respectively, to preserve the shutout.
 
Akron returns to action traveling to Bowling Green, Ohio to battle Bowling Green in a 7 p.m. tilt on Thursday, April 1.
 

Eastern Michigan 2, Western Michigan 1
Box Score
 
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — After being shutout by Western Michigan University on March 7, the Eastern Michigan University soccer team rebounded to collect a 2-1 victory over the Broncos Sunday, March 28, inside the St. Joe's Sports Dome.
 
The win pushes the Eagles to 4-2 on the season, and keeps them in the hunt for a berth in the conference championship game. Meanwhile, WMU falls to 2-2-2.
 
The Green and White came out aggressive on offense, tallying the first three shots of the game, with the best opportunity coming from senior Kennady Kuhlman (Howell, Mich.-Hartland). The Broncos' keeper was just able to block her shot away in the opening minutes of the game.
 
Keeping up the attack, EMU was able to break through and get on the board first, as redshirt senior Sabrina McNeill (Whitby, Ontario-Henry Street) found sophomore Amanda Cripps (Bradford, Ontario-Trinity Catholic), who buried a shot past the keeper just eight minutes into the game for the 1-0 Eastern advantage.
 
The Eagles continued to apply pressure throughout the first half, with Cripps and McNeill finding plenty of scoring opportunities. In the 31st minute, McNeill found some open space and blasted a shot on goal, but the WMU keeper made the save. A few minutes later, Cripps took her shot at trying to add another goal, putting the ball just over the crossbar.
 
The Broncos found some offensive momentum late in the half, spending a few minutes in the attacking zone, but senior Chelsea Abbotts (Ottawa, Ontario-Mother Teresa) and the Eagles' defense were there to slow down the late charge and take a 1-0 lead in to halftime.

The Eagles outshot the Broncos overall (11-5) and in shots on goal (7-1) over the opening 45 minutes. The relentless offensive attack kept the WMU keeper busy, as she recorded six saves to Abbotts' one.
 
It didn't take long for the Eagles to build on their momentum from the first half, as their first shot of the second half was put in the back of the net by freshman Lexy Alston (Amherst, Ohio-Marion L. Steele) at the 53 minute mark. Receiving the ball from Kuhlman, the freshman broke away from the WMU defense to charge up the field and put the Green and White ahead, 2-0.
 
The Eagles would get a pair of looks minutes later, with the Western keeper stopping chances from McNeill in the 58th minute and Alston in the 65th minute. However, it was the Broncos who were able to convert, pulling the game within one, 2-1, after a 71st-minute score.
 
As time wound down, Western ramped up the pressure as it looked for the equalizer. Holding strong, the Eagles closed it out, pulling away with the 2-1 win.
 
The Eagles finished with more shots than the Broncos (16-14), put more on frame (10-5). Abbotts finished the contest with four saves, compared to the WMU keeper's eight.
 
The Green and White will head to Mount Pleasant, Mich. for a second match against Central Michigan University, Thursday, April 1. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.
 
 
Toledo 2, Northern Illinois 0
Box Score
 
DeKALB, Ill. – Sophomores Stephanie Currie and Brooke Stonehouse scored goals in the final 25 minutes to lift Toledo to a 2-0 victory at Northern Illinois on Sunday afternoon. The Rockets controlled play for much of the contest, registering a 10-3 shot advantage as redshirt freshman Emma Boutorwick notched her first collegiate shutout.
 
Buchholz added that the Rockets handled the extremely windy conditions well. Toledo held a 3-0 edge in shots in the first half and a 7-3 cushion in the second half.  
 
"The weather conditions were tough for both teams with high winds throughout," Buchholz said. "We went into the wind in the first half, and I thought we still had some good moments on offense. In the second half when we had the wind, we really pressed high up the field."
 
Neither goalkeeper was tested until late in the first half when a 43rd minute shot from junior Ashton Cassel was collected by NIU senior goalkeeper Megan Donnally as the Huskies and Rockets went into halftime scoreless.

Currie put the Rockets on the board in the 69^th minute when she fired a rebound into the net. Freshman Ellie Pool set up the score when her initial shot came off the post and back out the opposite side where Currie was first to it.

Stonehouse increased the Rockets' advantage to 2-0 in the 76^th minute. Pool initiated the play again when she whipped in an excellent cross toward the back post that Stonehouse headed into the net from inside the six-yard box. 

Toledo will return to action on Wednesday, March 31 with a matchup vs. Ball State at Paul Hotmer Field. Kickoff for the contest is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. 
 
 
Bowling Green 3, Ohio 0
Box Score
 
ATHENS, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team seized control early in Sunday's (March 28) match, scoring twice in the first 11 minutes en route to a 3-0 win against Ohio University. The Mid-American Conference match was held at Chessa Field.

Sophomore Katie Cox scored the game-winning goal for the second consecutive match, and Madi Wolfbauer scored two goals, also for the second-straight match.

Cox and Wolfbauer scored just under two minutes apart, with Wolfbauer's penalty-kick goal giving BGSU (5-1, 5-1 MAC) a 2-0 lead at the 10:57 mark, and the Falcons were never headed. Wolfbauer added another goal early in the second half to cap the scoring.

Lili Berg made one save in goal as the Falcons posted a fifth shutout in six matches this season. Sam Wexell had one save for the Bobcats (2-4, 2-4 MAC).
 
Madi Wolfbauer, in her first playing season with the Falcons, now has team-leading totals of five goals and 10 points. All five of her goals have come in the last three matches.

Wolfbauer has nearly tripled the opposition's goal total all by herself. BGSU has allowed just two goals through the season's first six matches.
 
Katie Cox opened the scoring with just under nine minutes gone. The goal was her second of the season, and her second in as many matches. Madison Alberty assisted on the play, for her first assist as a Falcon.

Just under two minutes later, Katie Cox was fouled in the penalty area, and a penalty kick was awarded. Madi Wolfbauer stepped up and converted that PK, and the Falcons had a 2-0 lead with 10:57 gone.

Wolfbauer added to the BG lead at the 51:59 mark, with her second goal of the day giving the Orange and Brown an insurmountable three-goal advantage.

Sunday's match marked the beginning of the second half of the abbreviated 2020(-21) schedule. With the win, the Falcons remain in first place in the MAC's East Division. BGSU is now 5-1-0 on the season, and the Falcons have five shutouts in this season's six matches.

BG has outscored opponents, 15-2, with 60 percent of the schedule completed. The 10-game schedule sees each team play the other five divisional opponents twice each.

Over the last three games, the Falcons have outscored the opposition by a 10-0 count.

Katie Cox now has scored the game-winning goal in each of the last two games. She had the lone first-half goal in last Sunday's (March 21) 5-0 win over Kent State at Cochrane, before finding the back of the net early in the Ohio match.

Madi Wolfbauer, as mentioned, now has five goals in the last three games, with back-to-back two-goal matches. She is the first Falcon in over a decade to score two or more goals in two-straight matches (Alyssa Zuccaro vs. Indiana State [two] and Buffalo [three]; Sept. 19-24, 2010).

Lili Berg and the Falcons, as mentioned, have kept five clean sheets in six matches. Berg has recorded three complete-match shutouts and has combined with Becky Moss on two others.

On the season, Berg has a goals-against average of just 0.35, having surrendered only two goals in over 514 minutes of action.

The Falcons trail Ohio, 12-9-5, in the all-time series, but BGSU swept both matches this season, and BG is now undefeated in the last seven meetings (6-0-1) with the Bobcats.

BGSU is now 46-19-7 overall, 31-7-1 in MAC regular-season matches and 37-8-3 in all games vs. conference foes since the start of the 2017 season.

Since the beginning of the 2018 campaign, the Falcons are now 33-12-6 overall, 25-3-0 in MAC regular-season action and 29-3-2 in all games vs. league opposition.

BGSU returns home for the next two matches, beginning with a Thursday (April 1) matchup with Akron. That contest will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Then, the Falcons will wrap up the home portion of the regular-season schedule against Buffalo next Sunday afternoon (April 4).
 
 
Buffalo 4, Miami 0
Box Score
 
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's soccer team (4-1-1) left Miami (OH) seeing red as they defeated the RedHawks 4-0 on a rainy Sunday afternoon at UB Stadium.

The Bulls were aggressive from kickoff and it paid off in the second minute as Kaitlyn Walsh played a beautiful ball through to Katherine Camper and she fired a shot into the bottom left corner of the net to give UB an early 1-0 lead.

Buffalo would add to their lead in the 11^th minute as Hannah Callaghan played a ball to Camper who found Marcy Barberic in front of the net and she banged it home to give the Bulls a 2-0 lead.

The Bulls would continue to attack for the rest of the half with several other good looks that just missed off target while the UB defense allowed just two shots the rest of the half.

Buffalo would pick up right where they left off to start the second half as Kaitlyn Walsh was in the right place at the right time off a rebound and she converted the goal to give UB a 3-0 lead.

Later, in the 57^th minute, Camper found a streaking Barberic and she found the back of the net on the one-timer for her second goal of the day put Buffalo up 4-0 and that would be more than enough to secure the victory as the Bulls' defense allowed just one shot the rest of the game.

The Bulls dominated offensively, outshooting Miami 27-3 while also holding the 3-1 edge in corner kicks.

In net, Emily Kelly finished the day one save as she picked up her second shutout win of the season while Emily Boutin made seven stops for Miami. Sarah Bykowicz made her first appearance of the season, logging 22 minutes in the win. Camper was named Player of the Game by the UB coaching staff.

"Really pleased with the fast start in both halves," said head coach Shawn Burke. "We've been putting such an emphasis on our attacks and transition and looking to put other teams on their back foot and I just thought that they players responded really well today and put together a dominant performance from start to finish."

Up next, the Bulls will close out the homestand with a rematch against Kent State on Thursday, April 1. Kickoff is set for 7pm.