Thursday’s Women’s Soccer Results
Kent State 4, Bowling Green 2
Miami 1, Ohio 0
Western Michigan 1, Northern Illinois 0
Eastern Michigan 1, Akron 0
Toledo 0, Ball State 0
Buffalo 0, Central Michigan 0
Stories Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Kent State 4, Bowling Green 2
Box Score
KENT, Ohio- The Kent State soccer team took down the Bowling Green Falcons 4-2 Thursday afternoon at Dix Stadium.
The Golden Flashes (8-6-3, 5-4-2 MAC) win their third straight at Dix Stadium and clinch the fourth seed in the Mid-American Conference tournament while the Falcons (7-7-3, 4-5-2 MAC) clinch the sixth seed in the MAC tournament.
Kent State jumped out to an early lead with an Olympico off the right foot of Siena Stambolich. The senior curled the corner kick up and around the head of the Falcons goalie and curled it just inside the back post.
Bowling Green would equalize with just 30 second left in the first half to go into the halftime break 1-1.
The Falcons would gain a 2-1 advantage in the 57th minute but, the Flashes would turn up the intensity and not allow another Bowling Green Shot on goal the rest of the match.
Kent State found the equalizer in the 66th minute when freshman Allison Collins made a run up into the midfield and played a ball perfectly to the feet of Alisa Arthur who took a touch and slotted the ball to the keeper's left and into the bottom corner of the net.
The Flashes would then take the lead of another beautiful corner kick by Stambolich that found the rising head of Ava Todd at the back post for the header. Giving Kent State a 3-2 advantage with just under 20 minutes left to play.
Arthur would give the Flashes some insurance in the 84th minute when Sam Miller played a ball that gave the Falcon defender some trouble and ended up at the feet of Arthur who hit a powerful left-footed strike into the bottom corner of the net. Those two goals put Arthur in sole position of fifth on the Kent State career goal list.
In the box score The Flashes led the way in shots (14-4), shots on goal (7-2), and corner kick opportunities (6-5). Arthur led the flashes with four shots, three of which were on goal. Todd, Collins, Heidi Marshall, Salopek, Ali Weibel, and Katie Henahan played all 90 minutes for the Flashes.
Miami 1, Ohio 0
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio- The Miami soccer team shut out rival Ohio 1-0 at Bobby Kramig Field Thursday afternoon to clinch a spot in the MAC Tournament. The RedHawks completed their first unbeaten home season since 1999 and improve their overall record to 8-4-6 (4-3-4 in MAC). Ohio falls to 10-4-4 (5-3-3 in MAC).
HOW IT HAPPENED
Dominique Popa kept the game level after Anna Burchett took a long-range effort and she punched it over the bar in the 65th minute.
In the 68th minute, Taylor Hamlett got in a cross to the back post that was knocked down by a Bobcat defender, but Makenna Morrison pounced on it and put it past Celeste Sloma to give Miami the lead.
NOTES
- Miami finishes the home regular season with a 4-0-5 mark at Bobby Kramig Field and has an 11-game home unbeaten streak dating to last October.
- The RedHawks had 12 shots to the Bobcats' nine.
- Miami had nine corners to Ohio's one.
- Popa made two saves and recorded her sixth clean sheet of the season.
Western Michigan 1, Northern Illinois 0
Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan defeated Northern Illinois on Thursday evening at the WMU Soccer Complex to become the first women's soccer team in MAC history to finish back-to-back seasons with an undefeated conference record.
WMU's 1-0 win capped off an 11-1-6 overall regular season, including an 8-0-3 mark in MAC play. Callie Cunningham tallied the lone goal of the game, while Jen Blitchok and Jenna Blackburn picked up assists. Goalkeeper Lauren Boafo made two saves to earn her eighth shutout of the season.
FIRST HALF
June Mullen and Blackburn both had great looks in the opening few minutes. Both missed just over the crossbar. However, not too long after that, Cunningham was able to put the Brown and Gold in front with a goal in the 14th minute. Blitchok and Blackburn picked up assists on the goal.
Following that, NIU got its first shot on net. Boafo was there to make the stop for WMU. About 10 minutes later, Blitchok took aim at the net and had a chance saved by Huskies goalkeeper Ary Purifoy.
A little bit after that, Abby Werthman nearly made it 2-0. She broke free to the net, but the play was called offside. Down the stretch of the first half, Northern Illinois had one more look on net saved by Boafo. The Broncos carried a one-goal lead into the second 45 minutes of play.
SECOND HALF
Blackburn kicked off a flurry of chances for WMU in the opening minutes of the second half. Her shot was saved by Purifoy to keep the score 1-0 in favor of the home team. A few minutes later, Blitchok and Maya Dean had shots go off target.
NIU found some offensive life in the 66th minute, as the Huskies had a shot miss just wide left of the net. From there, Werthman ripped another shot on goal that was saved by the Huskies.
Brooke Bailey had the best chance of the second half for the Brown and Gold. She found some space in the open field and fired a shot off of the right post. NIU was able to collect the ball and clear it away. The WMU offense wasn't done there, as Blitchok nearly fired a shot by Purifoy for a 2-0 lead. She was able to collect the chance and keep it a one-goal game.
Down the stretch, WMU would limit NIU's chances and create some more offense. After a pair of WMU shots, Tyra King got the Huskies' last chance of the game, which missed over the top of the net. Western Michigan closed out a 1-0 win to finish off the regular season with an undefeated MAC record.
Eastern Michigan 1, Akron 0
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University soccer team earned a season-closing, Mid-American Conference 1-0 victory over the University of Akron behind sophomore Olivia Sipsock's 4th-minute game-winner as the Eagles recorded their nine clean sheet of the season Thursday, Oct. 31, at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Eastern (14 points) finished seventh in the MAC, falling one point shy of Bowling Green (15 points) for sixth in the MAC.
How It Happened
Eastern netted the match's lone goal on a 16-yard right-footed strike from Sipsock in the 44th-minute as sophomore Cameryn Susey's (Westerville, Ohio/Olentangy Berlin) shot was blocked and found the foot of Sipsock before she sent the ball inside the right post.
Redshirt sophomore Ella Holland (Dunwoody, Ga./Dunwoody/Samford) was credited with five saves as she played every minute in goal in 2024.
Akron outshot EMU by a 15-12 margin while Eastern held a 5-4 advantage in corner kicks.
Game Notes
» Eastern moved to 7-6-5 (3-3-4 MAC) on the year while Akron moved to 5-9-4 (0-9-2 MAC) for the season.
» Sipsock's goal was her fifth of the season, matching her mark from the 2023 campaign.
» Sophomore Sarah Van Euwen (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) and redshirt sophomore Scarlett Thomas (Sterling Heights, Mich./Utica Academy/Missouri) each played 90 minutes, marking Van Euwen's 15th full game of the season and Thomas' 12th.
» Sophomore Lucia Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin/Akron) was credited with the assist on Sipsock's goal, marking the first point of her career in her return to Akron.
Historical Notes
» After today's contest, Eastern leads in the all-time series, 15-6-2.
» The Eagles finish the season with a winning record for the first time since the spring of 2021 (6-3-0).
» EMU's nine clean sheets are its most since 2009 (10).
» Holland is the first EMU player to play every minute in a single season since Kaylin Williams in 2016.
