Sunday's MAC Soccer Results
Ball State 2, Eastern Michigan 1
Akron 3, Miami 2
Buffalo 1, Ohio 0
Central Michigan 3, Northern Illinois 0

Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Inforrmation Departments

Ball State 2, Eastern Michigan 1
Boxscore
MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Ball State soccer team is headed to the MAC Championship game.
 
Jenna Dombrowski scored both goals Sunday as the Cardinals held off Eastern Michigan 2-1 in the regular season finale to claim the MAC West Division championship.
 
Ball State will play Saturday at East Division champion Bowling Green for the conference title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
 
For the second straight game, it was do or die for the Cardinals (6-2-1). A loss or a draw and Eastern Michigan (6-3-0) would be on its way to the championship game instead.
 
But the Cardinals prevailed by the same score as they did last month at Eastern Michigan to sweep the season series from the Eagles. BSU overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit in the first one. This one followed a completely different script.
 
Dombrowski put Ball State on the board in the 19th minute. Nicky Potts' cross into the box was deflected to her feet, and she sent it past EMU keeper Chelsea Abbots.
 
She added a second shortly after halftime on a well-executed set piece. Lexy Smith delivered a 50th-minute corner kick into the box where Shelby Kean got a head on it and directed it to Dombrowski. She finished it off to stake the Cardinals to a 2-0 lead.
 
Ball State had chances to stretch the lead to three, but Abbots stood strong to keep her team in the game. Eastern Michigan went into attack mode and finally broke through in the 82nd minute when Sabrina McNeill found some space at the top of the box.
 
The Eagles spent the final eight minutes frantically seeking an equalizer, but Ball State held strong and Maitane Bravo made some key plays to preserve the win.
 
Now the Cardinals move on to face Bowling Green in the MAC Championship game for the second time in three years. The teams played to a draw through two overtimes in the 2018 MAC Tournament finals before the Falcons emerged in penalty kicks.

Akron 3, Miami 2
Boxscore

OXFORD, Ohio - A short-handed University of Akron women's soccer team capped its spring campaign with a 3-2 road triumph past Miami on Sunday, April 11 on the strength of a two-goal performance from junior Sydney Worthy (Groveport, Ohio).
 
The Zips (3-5-1, 3-5-1 MAC) earned the victory despite being outshot in the affair, 18-10, including 11-7 on net.
 
Worthy and redshirt junior Aislinn Meaney (Ennis, Ireland) highlighted Akron's offensive efforts with a game-high four shots apiece, including three and two strikes on goal, respectively. Jaimie Tottleben led the RedHawks with a team- and game-best four shots.
 
Sophomore GK Vanessa Berlin (Gau-Oderheim, Germany) registered seven saves in net for Akron, while Izzie Vaccari made four stops for Miami.
 
Worthy opened the scoring in the affair connecting on her second goal of the season off an assist from senior Ryley Watt (Irwin, Pa.) at the 10:48 mark.
 
The Zips withstood the RedHawks connecting on the next seven shots in the game, with Berlin making a pair of saves and Akron defenders clearing a pair of strikes off the line for two team saves.
 
In her first collegiate start, freshman Julia Kressig (Sargans, Switzerland) registered her initial shot as a Zip, a strike on frame, in the 31st minute (30:40) that was saved by Vaccari.
 
Meaney tallied Akron's fourth shot on goal in the first half at the 34:23 mark, but her attempt was thwarted by a stop from Vaccari.
 
Miami leveled the score at one in the 37th minute (36:20) when Desiree Grubbs found the back of the net with a goal off assists from Kristina DeMarco and Kyleigh von Klahr.
 
The Zips regained the advantage, 2-1, at the 59:16 when Meaney delivered her first goal of the season. Worthy earned the assist on the tally for Akron.
 
Just over two minutes later in the 62nd minute (61:42), Worthy scored what proved to be the game-winning goal as part of her second career multi-goal performance.
 
Berlin remained stellar in net for the Zips recording saves at the 67:00, 79:22 and 80:22 marks, respectively.
 
The RedHawks cut the deficit to one, 3-2, on a goal from Soph Spinelli in the 86th minute (85:49) with an assist to Grubbs.
 
Worthy added one final shot on goal for the Zips at the 88:29 mark, a strike that was saved by Vaccari.
 
Akron finished its spring campaign winning three of its final four contests, while the Zips scored two or more goals in their last three games.

Buffalo 1, Ohio 0
Boxscore

ATHENS, OH – The University at Buffalo women's soccer team (6-1-1) concluded the regular season with a 1-0 win at Ohio on Sunday afternoon at Chessa Field.

Offense would be at a premium in the first half with the Bulls managing just one shot in the early going, but they would make it count in the 29th minute as Leah Wengender came up with the ball after a Bobcats turnover and played a beautiful ball into the box that found the foot of Marcy Barberic and she slid a shot into the bottom right corner of the net to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead.

The Bobcats outshot the Bulls 7-2 in the opening half, including a 3-2 edge in shots on goal, but Emily Kelly and the UB defense held strong keeping Ohio off the board.

Barberic continued to attack as she had two good looks in the opening 10 minutes of the second half but Sam Wexell made a pair of saves.

The Bobcats had a good look in the 65th minute off of a set piece as Jenni Santacaterina got a head on a ball off of a free kick but Kelly made a great punch save. Kelly would be tested again a few minutes later as Abby Townsend ripped a shot on net but Kelly went full extension and knocked the ball out of play. The Bobcats had one last chance in the final minutes of play but Kelly and the UB defense came up big once again to preserve the clean sheet.

In net, Kelly picked up her third shutout victory of the season, finishing with five saves while Wexell also made five stops for Ohio. Kelly, Tess Ford and Emily Lazenby shared Player of the Game honors.

Central Michigan 3, Northern Illinois 0
Boxscore

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Central Michigan soccer team finished their season with a 3-0 win against Northern Illinois on Sunday at the CMU Soccer/Lacrosse Complex.
 
The Chippewas outshot the Huskies, 21-4, with 10 shots of their shots on goal to one for NIU.
 
Central's first goal was scored by Jaelyn Dobrowolski in the 15th minute. Natalie Belsito gave CMU a 2-0 lead seven minutes later with a goal assisted by Katie Coleman. Samantha Kaye-Toral scored CMU's final goal in the 53rd minute with an assist from Belsito.
  
It was the final game of the season for the Chippewas, who finished 5-4. They began the season 4-1 and then suffered a three-game losing streak before closing with the win on Sunday.
 
The season was stacked with challenges as the CMU, like everybody else, navigated COVID-19 precautions while working to improve. They played a nine-game MAC-only schedule.
 
Belsito led the Chippewas with four goals. Dobrowolski and Kaye-Toral finished with three each.
 
The Chippewas finished the season with a 2-to-1 advantage over their opponents in both shots and shots on goal. They also had almost twice as many corner kicks combined than their opponents and outscored their foes, 15-9. All of those numbers are signs that the Chippewas are indeed close to contending for a league title.
 

Western Michigan 2, Toledo 1
Boxscore
TOLEDO, Ohio – The Western Michigan women's soccer team wrapped up the season with a thrilling come-from-behind win, 2-1, on the road at Toledo on Sunday.
 
The game was deadlocked at 1-1 heading into the final minutes of play. Junior right back Kai Sugiyama took the ball down the right flank and cut into the box at the goal line. She placed a low cross into the middle of the box and senior midfielder banged it into the net from eight yards out to give the Broncos a 2-1 lead with 1:57 left to play.
 
WMU killed off the remaining time to finish the season with a 6-2-2 record and a four-game winning streak. Ball State defeated Eastern Michigan to earn the Mid-American Conference West Division's berth in the MAC title game next Saturday against Bowling Green.
 
Western Michigan's other goal was scored by Morgan Otteson, while senior Hannah Sargent finished off her career with five saves and a perfect 6-0-0 record on the season.

After a scoreless first half Ashton Cassel scored to give Toledo a 1-0 lead in the 54th minute. A Rocket forward tried to cross it into the box from the right side of the field but a Bronco defender deflected the pass. Cassel won a race to the ball in the top right corner of the box and fired it into the net.
 
Minutes later Otteson scored her second goal of the season and second goal in as many games to tie it up at 1-1. Toledo attempted to clear the ball from its box but it got deflected to the just outside the center. Otteson beat a UT player to the ball and shot it into the far-left corner of the net.