SLIDESHOW: Soccer advances to MAC Tournament semifinals with 2-0 win over Northern Illinois

A 2-0 victory over Northern Illinois Sunday kept the women’s soccer team season alive and secured them in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament.

After a scoreless first half, sophomore forward Laura Gosse headed the game-winning goal in the 72^nd minute off an assist from freshman midfielder Josie Seebeck. Seebeck entered the game five minutes before her assist due to her skills under pressure.

“She’s tactical and sees good opportunities; she’s an intelligent soccer player,” Central Michigan head coach Neil Stafford said. “When you make a substitution like that and it pays off, it makes a coach look like a genius.”

After getting the ball wide, Seebeck dribbled, cut in on a defender and crossed to set up Gosse for the goal. The goal was Gosse’s fourth of the season, tying her with junior midfielder Jennifer Gassman to lead the team in goals.

“I was just trying to get around them and try to find those wide players, and the only thing I could think of was to hit the line and try to do something with it,” Seebeck said.

CMU continued to pile on shots, out-shooting the Huskies 18 to four. NIU was unable to get off a shot on goal in the match.

In the 83^rd minute, senior forward Laura Twidle extended to the lead to 2-0 with an unassisted goal from 15 yards out. It was her third goal of the season

“It’s always nice to get the second goal from the game winner, so that it gives us more of a breather,” Twidle said. “It’s a good feeling to get that goal in this game.”

The Huskies came out in the second half looking to get on the board first, with freshman forward Nicole Gobbo breaking away and shooting within the first minute of resumed play, but her shot went wide.

Senior goalkeeper Stefanie Turner recorded eight saves in the shutout.

Earlier in the season, the Chippewas defeated the Huskies 2-1 in double overtime — an intense, physical match where CMU played with 10 players for 83 minutes.

Sunday’s game was also aggressive, with 10 fouls on the Chippewas and eight on NIU. Freshman midfielder Christen Chiesa was given a yellow card late in the first half.

CMU (14-5-1) will be in action on Friday in Oxford, Ohio for the semifinals against Toledo. Toledo is the No. 6 seed in the tournament and lost 2-0 to CMU in regular season play.

Stafford said the team will continue their mentality of taking things one game at a time.

“We’ve got to take care of business on Friday,” Stafford said. “We’ve got to go through everybody at some point to get the MAC championship.”