CMU soccer aims to extend home unbeaten streak with wins against Miami, BGSU


Sometimes there is just no place like home.

The Central Michigan women’s soccer team is unbeaten in its last 29 home matches, going 26-0-3 during that stretch.

“It’s impressive,” said junior forward Jennifer Gassman. “But we don’t like to focus on it. We just focus on one game at a time.”

The Chippewas look to extend that streak this weekend against a pair of Mid-American Conference opponents. They host Miami at 4:30 p.m. today and Bowling Green at 1 p.m. on Sunday at the CMU Soccer Complex.

Miami has struggled lately, losing its last three matches. The RedHawks lost 2-1 on Sept. 30 against Ball State and lost 3-0 against Toledo on Sunday.

Still, MU features a strong offensive attack, scoring 1.91 goals-per game, which leads the MAC. Sophomore Kayla Zakrzewski leads the team with six goals, while junior Jess Kodiak has five.

“We are just going to do our job to the best of our ability and we’re going to try and execute things we are working on in training,” said head coach Neil Stafford. “If we can do that, then we will be successful.”

BGSU's three-game goalless drought has left itself 0-3 during that span. The Falcons lost both of their games last weekend, 1-0 against Toledo and 2-0 against Ball State.

Leading the way is Alyssa Zuccaro who has four goals on the season. No other player has more than one.

After CMU tied Buffalo last weekend despite outshooting the Bulls 19-4, Stafford does not want his team to get consumed with the need to score, but rather the process of getting quality chances.

“That’s going to be our mindset on Friday,” Stafford said. “It’s going to be, what we need to do that will eventually lead to a goal, and we need to execute those things.”

The Chippewas do not have a prolific goal scorer this season, but have goals from ten different players.

“It’s really nice because we have lots of people who can score and now we know they can score,” Gassman said.

CMU will also look to extend its shutout streak to five games. They have not given up a goal in the last 427:50 of play.

The Chippewas are 11-6-2 all-time versus Miami, winning the last three meetings and outscoring the RedHawks 6-0.

They are 8-5-2 all-time against BGSU with wins in their past five games.

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