Sophomore Stacy Downing will look to continue her strong offensive performance when the women’s soccer team hosts Buffalo and Kent State this weekend.

Friday’s game begins at 4 p.m. at the soccer field, next to the Student Activity Center.

Through the team’s first five games, Downing has two goals and two assists, for a team-high six points. All six came in back-to-back games against Cincinnati and Bowling Green, as she scored and assisted a goal in both games. The team defeated the Bearcats 2-1 and tied BGSU.

“I am getting on other people’s crosses and it’s everybody else building up and I just happen to be in the right place at the right time,” Downing said.

Despite her big scoring totals, Downing knows it takes more than finishing to create offense.

“It really is teamwork,” she said.

Central began its season with a five-game road-trip which it finished 1-2-2. They opened MAC play last weekend with the tie against Bowling Green and a 2-0 loss at Toledo.

Coach Mark Salisbury was disappointed with the way his team played after Toledo and hopes they can get on track this weekend. Salisbury said that while it has shown stretches of great play, it must maintain consistency throughout the game.

“We have a lot of young players that are pretty good and now all of a sudden, they have to get better and it’s an adjustment for them. That’s why their focus level needs to crank up to be at 90 minutes,” Salisbury said.

The team showed its resiliency coming from behind twice to get the tie against BGSU. Conversely, CMU was inconsistent and out of rhythm against Toldeo, Salisbury said.

“We have been going over everything that we do and absolutely making sure that everyone knows exactly what their job is,” he said.

Friday’s game against Buffalo is the team’s home opener.

The Bulls come to CMU with a record of 5-2, 1-1 in the MAC. They lead the conference in goals scored (17), eight ahead of the next closest team. Leading the Bulls is senior Emily Russell with six goals and 14 points.

Kent State (4-1-1) comes to CMU Sunday leading the MAC with a conference record of 2-0. It rotates a pair of freshmen in goal — Alicia Fernandez and Shannon Lynn. The offense is led by MAC Player of the Week Lauren Covay, who is tied for the team lead with two goals. It is off to its first 2-0 MAC start in team history and plays Toledo Friday.

Downing is looking forward to playing in front of the home fans.

“We are really excited, it’s our first home weekend and we did have a rough loss on Sunday so everybody is really anxious to get back in and win at home,” Downing said. “We have been away so much, so it makes for a good weekend for everyone to get back into it and have some energy and do well.”

She said this is a very important weekend for the team, since there are very few conference contests. With the MAC Tournament qualifying point system, wins are necessary.

“I expect us to be fired up and be ready to play and work really hard,” Salisbury said.