Season of success so far for soccer

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It has been a record-setting year for the CMU soccer team.

First, senior Stephanie Martin broke the school’s career point record with a goal against Kent State on Oct. 2.

Then, senior Molly Gerst scored two goals against Buffalo two days later for her sixth multi-goal game of her career, which ties her for first in school history.

Last weekend was about keeping the other team off the scoreboard.

Friday, Central broke the school record for consecutive minutes without allowing a goal and, on Sunday, CMU moved to 6-0 in the Mid-American Conference for the first time in school history. CMU broke the school record for most shutouts in a season with 11.

“Myself and the back line take a lot of pride along with the whole team to not let up any goals,” said junior goalie Shay Mannino. “It isn’t just not allowing a lot of goals, it’s chances, too. We are keeping those down and just taking a lot of pride in our defending.”

Central also moved into a tie for 11th all-time in NCAA history with 9 consecutive shutouts and has the longest streak in the nation since Navy shut out 10 consecutive opponents during the 2006 season.

The 11 shutouts also keep Central in a tie with No. 7 South Carolina for the most shutouts in the NCAA this year.

“Our back line is playing awesome but, also, our whole team is connecting,” Mannino said, “Defensively, we haven’t been giving up a lot of shots on net and we are playing aggressive.”

The Chippewas have gone 8 hours, 42 minutes and nine seconds of game time since allowing a goal.

Communicating

Freshman Bailey Brandon said the biggest reason for Central’s defensive ability is the communication on the field.

“The number one thing is communication,” she said. “We are at our best when we are at our loudest … We have a lot of smart girls on our team so, in the backline, we see everything. It is more of a mental game than anything.”

Brandon also said the entire team deserves credit, not just the defense, to the school’s record-setting performance so far this year, but said the defense does take pride in all the shutouts.

“It is a really great feeling because it is not only a few people contributing, it is everyone,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if they are coming off the bench, we always talk about our defense being the heart and soul of the team and we take a lot of pride in that.”

Sophomore Chelsi Abbot said she recognizes what the Chippewas have done, but also realizes it puts that much pressure on themselves, and they have to be willing to live up to the expectations.

“We know that we have a big target painted on us right now,” she said. “They come in here wanting to beat us and we know that we have to bring it to them.”