Soccer splits weekend series
Keeping pace in the Mid American Conference tournament race, the Central Michigan University soccer team split a pair of games this weekend, claiming its first road victory of the season.
The Chippewas earned their first conference points by beating Bowling Green 1-0 in double overtime Friday. The women then fell to the Eastern Michigan 2-0 on Sunday.
“We had a good weekend,” said head coach Peter McGahey. “Our competitiveness throughout the weekend was very good, which is a big positive for us.”
CMU’s offense played a strong match against BGSU outshooting the Falcons 21-15. The Chippewas were unable to score in regulation due to the solid play of BGSU goalkeeper Lauren Cadel. The Canadian made 10 saves during a 90-minute span to force overtime.
Senior forward Jennifer Gassman scored her first goal in more than a calendar year in the 104th minute to give CMU a victory.
CMU sophomore goalkeeper Heather Laeufer made four saves and preserved the shutout in her second start of the season. Laeufer replaced Maddy Bunnell in net.
“Anytime you can keep them off the board, it increases your opportunities to win,” McGahey said.
CMU got off to a rough start against EMU allowing two first half goals. The Chippewas were able to stay close in the second half while getting outshot 10-8 by the Eagles.
“We created enough chances and weren’t able to punch one through,” McGahey said. “We conceded two goals that made us chase the match the whole second half. Unfortunately, we could not punch one through to make the second half a little less of a mountain.”
The Chippewas are currently six points behind Ball State for the final MAC Tournament spot. With five matches remaining in their season, McGahey is not letting his team give up hope just yet.
“I told the team you have to run the race all the way until the end,” he said. “Though you may have some disappointing moments, you have to keep going until the end. As you can see by the other results, the conference race will not be decided until much later than now. Nothing is final today.”
