Friday's Women's Soccer Results
Akron 1, Boston University 1
BOSTON - The University of Akron drew to a 1-1 tie at Boston University on Friday night after falling behind early but scoring a game-tying goal quickly in the second half at Nickerson Field.
The Zips fell behind the Terriers quickly in the first half as Taylor Krebs knocked a loose ball into the top of the net off of a Boston University corner kick punched down into the box by junior goalkeeper Klaire Adee.
Keeping up with the Terriers' tempo, Akron held strong for the rest of the half, taking two shots of their own and pushing to halftime still trailing just 1-0.
Coming out of the intermission, the Zips pushed forward and continued at a faster pace they built up to in the final portion of the first period.
"We started the game playing scared," said head coach Vernon Croft. "We couldn't connect two passes. To be fair to Boston [University], they thought they were going to cruise. They allowed us to get some tempo, though. We hit a post in the first half, we definitely got our chances. It was two teams that did a heck of a job of competing and they could just not break us down, and we were able to create opportunities on the counter."
Senior Lani Smith set up an opportunity for Akron just two minutes into the second half as she made a well-placed corner kick in front of the goal before senior Karina Atkinson snuck it by Terriers goalkeeper Alyssa Parisi to tie things up at 1-1. The equalizer was Atkinson's first goal of 2014 and the fifth of her career, also her first since October of 2012 when she scored a game-tying goal against Western Michigan.
"On a corner kick, she is supposed to frame the goal and she was where she needed to be and tucked it in on an open net," Croft added. "Kudos to her for doing what she was supposed to do."
The Zips kept pushing, as they outshot Boston University 4-3 in the second half as the two teams fought on through two overtime periods.
Though they couldn't capitalize off of a corner kick in each of the overtime periods, Croft saw many positive signs for his players: "We almost had a chance to go 2-1. In the second overtime, Lani [Smith] had a ball deflect awkward off a back that she handled."
The Terriers, receiving 13 votes in the most recent NSCAA Poll, were 4-2-0 coming into this match as the no. 38 team in the country.
"It is very possible this could be the very highest ranked opponent the team has gotten a result against, and it was on the road," Croft commented. "It's a team that has been in the NCAA Tournament nine of the last ten years. This is a result on the road against a big conference team. I could not be more proud of a team than I am of this team tonight. They had to play with a lot of grit and a lot of fight. They played for each other."
Croft, recapping his overall thoughts on the progress and effort that his roster made on the field tonight, concluded, "It was a concerted team effort today. I can't say any one did more than another. Tonight was about knowing your roles. Nobody did anything they weren't capable of doing. They are finding success because they are staying within the framework of how we want them to play."
Akron continues its roadtrip in New England as they face Bryant on Sunday at noon before returning home to take on Youngstown State on Friday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.
Ball State 1, Delaware 0
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Leah Mattingly scored on a penalty kick in the second half Friday, and the Ball State soccer team opened the Navy Invitational with a 1-0 win over Delaware.
Goalkeeper Brooke Dennis posted her third shutout in five games this season as the Cardinals improved to 3-1-1. Delaware fell to 2-4 with the loss. Ball State will be back in action Sunday at Noon against Navy on the Mids' home turf at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.
Friday marked the first game for Ball State in 12 days after its only game last weekend was canceled because of inclement weather.
“Both teams battled hard,” Ball State head coach Craig Roberts said. “It was a complete team performance. I felt we didn’t play as well in the first half, but we made some alterations at halftime, and the girls committed to those came out stronger and created more chances.”
One of those chances came in the 65th minute with the game still scoreless. Lucy Walton broke down the left side of the field and sent a cross it to the box, where it hit a Delaware player in the hand. The Cardinals were awarded a penalty kick, and Mattingly beat Delaware keeper Kailyn Rekos for what proved to be the only score of the day.
It was the second career goal for Mattingly, a sophomore defender from Floyds Knobs, Ind.
Delaware logged 14 shots for the game and put five of them on goal, but Dennis was there to turn them all away. It was her sixth shutout in 13 career starts.
“Brooke was outstanding,” Roberts said. “She was very good on restarts, and she showed a lot of maturity and a lot of strength in what she was doing. As a team, our concentration was there we when we were tested toward the end, and I was pleased we made some progress in closing out a game.”
Buffalo 0, Virginia Tech 5
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's soccer team (4-1-1, 0-0-0 MAC) dropped their first match of the season on Friday afternoon on the road at #3 Virginia Tech by the score of 4-0. As the teams entered the 12th minute of action scoreless, the Bulls set a program record for shutout streak at 482 minutes.
"Virginia Tech is a great team," said head coach Shawn Burke. "Our girls gave it everything they had as they had a stacked deck with no healthy goalkeeper on the roster."
The Buffalo defense set a new program record with a scoreless streak of 493:55 minutes, breaking the previous record of 481 minutes set in the 2008 season. During the shutout streak, freshman goalkeeper Laura Dougall recorded four straight shutouts.
UB allowed their first goal of the season in the 23rd minute as the Hookies broke through with the first goal of the match. Murielle Tiernan scored her fifth goal of the young season on a header following a perfect cross from Alani Johnson.
Just 20 seconds after the Hookies took the lead, Katie Roberts had a great chance to tie the score at one but her attempt was saved by Caroline Kelly.
Virginia Tech took the momentum into the locker room as they scored in the 42nd minute to take the commanding 2-0 lead.
The Hookies started off the second half quick, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after a pair of goals within three minutes of each other. Tiernan headed in another goal while Madi Conyers picked up her second of the game as well.
The Hookies closed out their scoring in the 82nd minute as Erika Perez buried the ball behind the Bulls keeper.
For the game, the Hookies held the 23-2 advantage in shots along with the 10-1 advantage in corner kicks. Roberts and Angel Hart recorded the shots for the Bulls.
Making her first career start between the pipes for the Bulls, Ashley Evans was very solid as she finished with five saves in the loss. The Buffalo defense had a tough test with the #3 Hookies but they stood up to the test as Jackie Hall, Sophie Therien, Kristin Markiewicz and Courtney Mann all had solid games for the Bulls.
Following the match, Evans and Mann were awarded the "Player of the Match" award by the UB coaching staff after competing hard throughout the contest against one of the best teams in the nation.
When asked about Evans tonight, head coach Shawn Burke said "Ashley stepped up big time in her goalkeeping debut and I cannot talk enough about her willingness to step up for the team and play in goal."
When asked about Mann, Burke stated "Courtney is the heart of this group. Regardless of the score or situation she played with all her heart until the final whistle."
Central Michigan , Air Force
Ohio 3, Detroit 1
ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio University women's soccer team defeated the University of Detroit 3-1 at Chessa Field on Friday afternoon.
The victory is the team's second win in a row.
The Bobcats (3-4-0) scored the game-winning goal in the 71st minute when freshman Allie Curry's (Fairfield, Ohio) cross from the right side found sophomore Alexis Milesky (Plain City, Ohio) in the box. Milesky finished with a powerful volley off her right foot into the back of the net to put the Bobcats up, 2-1.
Ohio took a 3-1 advantage when Jaggers found the back of the net herself in the 85th minute for her first goal of the season. Freshman Celeste Fushimi-Karns (Dublin, Ohio) played the cross in to Jaggers, who was able to volley the ball in to an open net.
Detroit (1-4-1) opened the scoring up for the game in the 26th minute when Alyssa Lotito swung the ball in off a corner kick and found the head of senior Alyssa Riley. Riley's goal came off of the team's second corner kick in the first half.
The Bobcats found their equalizer in the 38th minute when sophomore Alli Cislo (Crownsville, Md.) redirected a shot attempt from freshman Kelly Zebrowski (Powell, Ohio) and found the back of the net.
Ohio had another good chance in the 14th minute off of a dangerous free kick which sophomore Mollie Whitacre (Perrysburg, Ohio) put at the feet of senior Liz Finley. Finley's shot went just wide of the net.
Senior Nicole Amari (Vernon Hills, Ill.) finished with 5 saves for Ohio.
The Bobcats recorded 14 shots and won six corners.
Ohio next takes the field when they travel to Dayton on Friday, September 19. That game gets underway at 7:30 p.m.
Northern Illinois 5, Chicago State 0
NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Nothing could stop the Northern Illinois University women’s soccer team on Friday night – not a delayed start, not pouring rain, not near-freezing temperatures and not the Chicago State Cougars.
Once the match started, the Huskies (2-4) scored early and often as they defeated Chicago State (1-6) by a score of 5-0 at Commissioners Park in Naperville. Five different NIU players scored, including four freshmen. It was the first time the team scored five goals in a match since Sept. 26, 2004, a 5-0 win against Missouri State.
“With the late start and difficult weather conditions, I was very pleased with how our team maintained its focus and executed tonight,” NIU head coach John Ross said after the game. “It was a nice win made nicer by seeing several players get their first career goals.”
All four freshman that scored for NIU – Marisa Knott (Rosemount, Minn./Rosemount), Lauren Gierman (Prospect Heights, Ill./John Hersey), Sammy O’Brien (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) and Allie Ingham (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) – scored their first goals as Huskies on Friday night.
NIU also recorded its second consecutive shutout, the first time since September 2012 the Huskies have achieved that feat.
The first of the goals arrived five minutes into the match as Knott sprinted on to Natalia Pena (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Hoffman Estates)’s long pass and chipped the Cougar goalkeeper from 25 yards out for a spectacular first goal for the freshman forward.
It didn’t take long for NIU to double its lead as Lauren Gierman notched her first Huskie tally a few minutes later, slotting the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
The teams battled through the elements for the remainder of the first half until NIU scored with just eight seconds left in the period. Emily Nulty (Omaha, Neb./Marian) made a rampaging run from right back and crossed the ball to the back post, where O’Brien forced it into the net for her first career NIU goal.
Having seen three freshman score their first NIU goals, junior forward Nicole Gobbo (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) put her name on the scoresheet early in the second half when she headed home Knott’s nice cross.
The Huskies created several other opportunities before freshman forward Allie Ingham also scored her first career goal with seven minutes left, receiving O’Brien’s pass, rounding the goalkeeper and placing the ball into an empty net.
NIU hopes to extend its winning streak to three games on Sunday when the Huskies host SIUE. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex in DeKalb.
