MAC Women's Soccer Quarterfinal Results
Championship Central 2014 Women's Soccer Tournament Bracket
#1 Buffalo 2, #8 Toledo 0
#2 Miami 0, #7 Northern Illinois 0 [Penalty kicks 4-3 NIU]
#6 Western Michigan 3, #3 Eastern Michigan 2 (2OT)
#4 Ball State 2, #5 Kent State 0
Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications
#1 Buffalo 2, #8 Toledo 0
Box Score
BUFFALO, NY – The State University of New York, Buffalo women's soccer team (14-2-3, 9-0-2 MAC) advanced onto the Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals with a dominant 2-0 victory over eighth-seeded Toledo on Sunday afternoon at a windy UB Stadium. The Bulls advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2011 and will host for the first time since 2000.
"We did enough to win today and I am excited for the girls to be hosting the semifinals and the finals at UB Stadium," said first-year head coach Shawn Burke. "Toledo gave us all we can handle and the difference today was we finished our chances. We will have to be better next weekend but getting a result is the most important thing."
With the win, UB improved to 14-2-3 overall and will move onto the MAC semifinals to take on the Ball State Cardinals at UB Stadium. With the win today, the Bulls tie a program record for wins in a season with the 2000 squad. The Bulls are now unbeaten in 12 straight contests, tying another program record for longest unbeaten streak in a season. The last time UB was unbeaten in 12 straight contests was in 1999.
After a first half that didn't lend too many great scoring chances for either side, the Bulls seemed energized coming out of the locker room at halftime.
In the 63rd minute, Katie Roberts got UB on the board first with her MAC-leading 11th goal of the season after a great effort play and pass by Celina Carrero. Carrero worked hard to steal the ball away from the Toledo defender and then found Roberts who drilled a right-footed shot over the keeper and into the right corner of the net. The dynamic duo of Roberts and Carrero, have combined for 17 goals on the season for the Bulls and Carrero leads the squad with seven assists.
Less than a minute after the Roberts marker, Kassidy Kidd saw her blast of a shot from 20-yards out deflect off the keepers hand, off the inside of the goal post and across the goal line and out. The near miss denied Kidd of her third goal of the season.
After entering off the bench late in the second half, freshman Alex Lambert made an impact on the game right away for UB as she forced an errant pass by the goalkeeper that went right to Megan Giesen, who fired a shot just over the cross bar.
Less than a minute later, Lambert came roaring into the offensive third of the field and found a streaking Andrea Niper who buried the high hard shot into the top right corner to extend the UB lead to 2-0. On the play, Niper recorded her first-career goal while Lambert also collected her first-career point with the assist.
"Both goals today were fantastic and Niper stood out as the player of the game for us today with her outstanding play in the midfield and her first career goal," Stated Burke.
Down the stretch of the contest, it was the defense that stood up and preserved their program record 13th clean sheet of the season. In the 80th minute, Kristin Markiewicz came up with what proved to be the play of the game for the Bulls. After a UB turnover, Kiersten Johnson had nothing but net to shoot at but her right-footed attempt was blocked by a sprinting Markiewicz and cleared out of harms way, preserving the clean sheet.
With the Toledo pressing for their first goal of the contest, freshman goalkeeper Laura Dougall made her best save of the afternoon with just six minutes remaining in the contest. The Rockets crossed a dangerous ball into the box where leading scorer Geri Siudzinski had a point blank shot that was turned away by Dougall to preserve her program record 12th clean sheet.
In goal, Dougall made three saves en route to her 14th win of the season. The Pickering, Ontario native now has 12 clean sheets to go along with a goals-against average of 0.37 and a save percentage of .911.
The For the 14th time this season, the stingy UB defense held their opponents to five shots on goal or less for the game, most in the MAC. UB has held their last six opponents to five shots or less. Markiewicz, Jackie Hall, Sophie Therien and Angel Hart took the Toledo forwards out of the game as only three Rockets earned a shot in the contest.
For the match, UB held the 17-5 advantage in shots and the 5-2 edge in corner kicks. The Bulls had six players record at least two shots, led by Julia Benati who finished with three shots on the afternoon. Off the bench Niper had two shots while Courtney Mann, Megan Giesen, Kidd and Roberts all record two shots for UB.
Following the match, Niper was awarded the "Player of the Match" award by the UB coaching staff after coming off the bench and scoring her first career goal for the Bulls. Niper had another solid game in the midfield to lead the UB reserves in the victory.
#2 Miami 0, #7 Northern Illinois 0 [Penalty kicks 4-3 NIU]
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio – Amy Annala saved two penalty kicks and Ashley Neubeckscored the winning penalty shot as the Northern Illinois University women’s soccer team advanced to the Mid-American Conference Tournament Semifinals for the first time since 2007 thanks to a 4-3 penalty-shootout victory over Miami after the two teams played to a scoreless draw in regulation.
NIU won a penalty shootout for the first time in school history and became the first No. 7 seed to knock off the No. 2 seed in the MAC Tournament since 2006.
Annala (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) finished with six saves as the heroic Huskie defense shutout the most prolific offense in the MAC on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the Miami Soccer Field in Oxford.
Allie McBride (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), Lauren Gierman (Prospect Heights, Ill./John Hersey), Emily Nulty (Omaha, Neb./Omaha) and Neubeck (Lindenhurst, Ill./Lakes Community) scored the four penalty kicks for NIU in the shootout in a dramatic conclusion to the match.
An ecstatic NIU head coach John Ross praised his players for their performances, especially Annala’s clutch display in regulation and the penalty kicks.
“We’re so proud of our team. They worked extremely hard, stuck to our game plan and gelled as a team offensively and defensively,” Ross said. “Everybody played an unbelievable match. Amy came up huge for us time and time again and then again in penalty kicks. We expected to win today, and we’ll go to Buffalo for the semifinals expecting to win there too.”
Having conceded two goals in the first half to the RedHawks in each of their last two trips to Oxford, the Huskies defended stoutly for the opening period while also creating a few chances.
Alex Elias (Phoenix, Ariz./Boulder Creek) had a great scoring opportunity from a corner kick well saved in the 25th minute, and Annala made three first-half saves to keep the match scoreless at the break, including two from MAC leading scorer Kelsey Dinges.
Early in the second half, Miami had its best two chances to score but the RedHawks uncharacteristically squandered both opportunities.
Then the Huskies started controlling the tempo and possession in the match, creating numerous chances through set-piece kicks by Gwen Sabo (Alton, Ill./Alton) and flip throw-ins by Sammy O’Brien (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora).
Miami almost won the match with four minutes remaining as a mishit cross sailed over Annala’s head and smashed against the crossbar, but the Huskies survived the scare and cleared the ball.
Neither team could find a breakthrough in regulation, and the match headed to 20 minutes of sudden-death overtime, which saw very few scoring opportunities and finished with the match still level at 0-0.
Having recorded the most saves in a season for NIU season, it was no surprise that the fantastic freshman Annala made the difference for the Huskies to keep their season alive, brilliantly saving Miami’s first two penalty kicks to give the Huskies an advantage it wouldn’t relinquish.
NIU converted four of its five attempts under pressure from the penalty spot, and when Neubeck fired her shot into the net, the Huskies stormed onto the field and celebrated their historic triumph.
“It’s an amazing feeling to advance to the semifinals, especially with it being my senior year,” Neubeck said. “This program hasn’t had this type of success in a long time, so we’re so proud to be the team to get back to the MAC Semifinals.”
The NIU women’s soccer team will face Western Michigan in a semifinal clash on Friday at host Buffalo, who faces Ball State in the other semifinal.
#6 Western Michigan 3, #3 Eastern Michigan 2 (2OT)
Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Western Michigan freshman Emma Kahn headed in the game-winning goal in the 107th minute to send the Broncos to the Mid-American Conference Tournament Semifinals after a 3-2 upset over three-seeded Eastern Michigan on Sunday afternoon.
WMU was awarded a free kick with time winding down in the second overtime when Lindsey Lee served a ball into the box that Kahn headed into the net for her fourth goal of the season.
"I thought we played a great first 70 minutes, maybe our best of the season and against a fantastic team," said head coach Nate Norman. "I give Eastern a ton of credit though, they played so well the final part of the game and were able to get two late goals."
To get to overtime the Eagles fought back from a 2-0 deficit on goals by Molli Krick in the 82nd minute and the game-tying goal by Madison Hirsch with 1:24 remaining in regulation. After blowing the lead the Broncos needed to refocus heading into overtime.
"We told them that we have dealt with adversity all season and this is just another opportunity to react in a positive way," added Norman "There was a lot of momentum going against us but we had to refocus and get the game back. I think the way they responded speaks to the character and the type of people we have on this team. A group of lesser people would have probably folded in that situation, but they didn't."
Western Michigan built its 2-0 lead on goals by Liz Abro in the 28th minute and Nicole Hatcliffe in the 46th minute. Abro headed in her fourth goal of the season from the center of the box off of a free kick by Lee, who earned her first of two assists on the day.
Just 34 seconds into the second half Hatcliffe netted her first goal of the season from the left side of the box to put the Broncos up 2-0.
Western Michigan goalkeeper Stephanie Heber made three saves to earn her ninth win of the season.
The Broncos head to Buffalo for the MAC Semifinals where they will play Northern Illinois on Friday at 7 p.m. The Huskies upset second-seeded Miami on Sunday afternoon.
#4 Ball State 2, #5 Kent State 0
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. -- Elaina Musleh’s two second-half goals propelled the Ball State soccer team to a 2-0 victory over Kent State in Sunday’s Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal at the Briner Sports Complex.
The win put the fourth-seeded Cardinals (11-6-2) into the semifinals for the second year in a row. They will travel to face No. 1 seed Buffalo at 4 p.m. Friday. The other half of the draw features a match between No. 6 seed Western Michigan and No. 7 seed Northern Illinois.
Musleh picked the right time for a breakthrough performance Sunday, helping Ball State continue its season with its second victory of the year over Kent State (10-7-3).
“I only had one goal this season, and it had become mental for me,” Musleh said. “It was getting over that mental hump and just believing in myself. After that first goal today, I had the feeling that I am back and I can do this.”
The game was scoreless at the half, but that changed in the 63rd minute when Leah Mattingly lined up a free kick near midfield. Musleh was able to get free behind the Kent State defense, where she met the ball and found the net.
The junior from Carmel, Ind., struck again less than 15 minutes later when she took a pass from Jasmine Moses near the top right corner of the box and beat Kent State keeper Stephanie Senn to the far post.
“We talked about not being as direct as we were in the first half,” Ball State coach Craig Roberts said. “We wanted to try to link our passes a little more through the middle. Kent State is very good in the air. They win a lot of headers off re-starts, and we wanted to be more competitive in that area. Our players stepped up in the second have and did a great job with that.”
The two goals were more than enough for Ball State keeper Alyssa Heintschel and the back line. The Cardinals posted their ninth shutout of the year, one shy of the school record, to match their total from last season.
Heintschel recorded her fourth solo shutout in seven starts this season, stopping all four shots she faced. The Cardinals also successfully defended against seven Kent State corner kicks.
Ball State will now face Buffalo in a rematch of a game played nine days ago at UB Stadium. The game went to overtime before a controversial hand-ball call gave Buffalo a penalty kick opportunity. The Bulls capitalized for a 2-1 win.
The Cardinals will have the benefit of some recent experience at this stage of the tournament. They advanced through the semifinals in a penalty kick shootout last year against Miami to reach the championship game for the first time ever.
