CMU advances in MAC tournament with first round win against NIU
The CMU women’s soccer team survived a scare at home, beating Northern Illinois 2-1 in the first round of the Mid-American Conference tournament Sunday at the CMU Soccer Complex.
Junior defender Claire Horton scored her first goal of the season in the 33rd minute on a rebound from a blocked shot by junior defender Liesel Toth. Horton said she was more happy about helping the team, than she was individually getting her first goal.
“It was a good feeling,” Horton said. “I’m just really glad that I gave us an opportunity to move onto to the next round.”
Both teams played physically in the game which featured 23 fouls. Although CMU wasn’t able to control the ball as much as it usually does, it still dominated the offense, firing 22 shots compared to five for NIU.
Despite the win, head coach Tom Anagnost said he wasn’t pleased with his team’s performance against the No. 6 seeded Huskies.
“We feel as coaches, we’re good enough to put teams away and bury them, and we didn’t do that,” he said. “We let in a soft goal in the second half. It got a little chaotic.”
Horton said she thinks the team came out flat, and didn’t perform to its ability.
“I don’t think we came out with the intensity that we have in previous games,” she said. “I think we just need to come out knowing that every game could be our last, and we’ll be fine.”
Sophomore forward Laura Twidle put the Chippewas up 2-0 on an assist from Toth in the 59th minute, scoring her seventh goal of the year. Twidle’s seven goals in conference play are the most in the MAC.
Twidle said CMU’s forwards need to do a better job possessing the ball.
“I thought we could have held the ball for the team a bit better,” she said. “If we don’t hold the ball for our team, then it’s going to get jammed back down our throat. Nobody wants that.”
The Huskies countered Twidle’s goal with one of its own just a minute later when NIU freshman forward Shannon Renner scored on a defensive breakdown in the box.
A Huskies player crossed the ball into the middle, where sophomore goalkeeper Stefanie Turner could have controlled it, but a CMU defender deflected the ball into the air, allowing NIU to fire a quick shot that found the back of the net. The goal was the first given up by Turner since Sept. 26 against Ohio.
CMU was able to hold on at the end, and turns its attention to Miami (OH) for its second round game Friday in Toledo, Ohio. CMU beat Miami 2-0 when the teams met Oct. 1 in Oxford, Ohio.
Anagnost said his team is going to have a better performance in its second round game.
“We’re going to have to play a lot better Friday or the season’s going to come to an end,” he said. “We’re going to have to be excellent in the back and opportunistic up top, and we’re going to have to be great.”
