The CMU soccer team will have a chance to earn its first-ever Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship this weekend.

The Chippewas (15-3-2, 9-0-2) play Toledo (11-6-3, 6-3-2) in the first semifinal at 11 a.m. Friday at the CMU Soccer Complex for a chance to play Sunday in the final.

The winner will play the winner of Eastern Michigan-Miami (OH) game, which will be played at 2 p.m Friday at the CMU Soccer Complex.

CMU and Toledo played to a double-overtime 0-0 tie Oct. 25 in Mount Pleasant earlier this season.

CMU outshot Toledo 10-2 in regulation but, after both teams were held shotless in the first overtime, the Rockets had three more shots in the second overtime.

The Chippewas clinched the MAC regular season championship earlier that weekend with a 1-0 win against Bowling Green. Junior Jenna Hill said the team became too complacent in its abilities.

“They wanted to win more than we did that day,” she said. “They shut down our forwards pretty well, but we were not ready to play. We were kind of satisfied in winning the MAC and we were not ready to play that Sunday.”

Offensive woes

While the Chippewas’ offense leads the MAC in goals, it has only scored six goals in its past seven games.

Senior forward Amanda Waugh said in order to put the pressure on the Toledo, CMU cannot have another slow start to the game.

“We haven’t really had a game where we have came out strong since the beginning,” Waugh said. “As the game wears on, we tire them out and usually score in the second half, but we need to have a game where we come out really strong and score a goal early.”

Although the Chippewas are the No. 1 seed, it is the Rockets who won the last three MAC Tournaments.

Toledo also has playd well in Mount Pleasant, with the Chippewas’ latest victory over Toledo in Mount Pleasant coming nine years ago in a 5-2 win in 2000.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge,” said coach Tom Anagnost. “They are a great team, we highly respect them but, on our end, if we do what we are supposed to do and play how we’re supposed to play, I feel like we challenge them mightily.”

The CMU offense has had trouble putting the ball in the back of the net against Toledo, having scored one goal against it since the 2002 season.

However, Anagnost said this year’s team is different because it has so many players capable of scoring at any given moment. The Chippewas have had 14 different players score this season.

“You can’t really key on anyone on our team,” he said. “We’ve proven that every game. It makes us more difficult to defend.”

CMU will play at home, where it is 17-1-2 in the past two years. Anagnost said it is a great example of how a program can rise just two years after not reaching the MAC Tournament.

“We’re excited about that and we hope we get a big crowd this weekend,” he said. “It shows a lot of where we’ve come from the last few years.”

E-mail the author: Matthew Valinski