CMU soccer shut out by Wolverines
In the final eight minutes, the University of Michigan doubled its score as it shut out the Chippewas 7-0 on Sunday in Mount Pleasant.
Central Michigan soccer (1-5) held its own in the first half of the match up with the No. 24 ranked Wolverines (4-2) but quickly lost control in the final 45 minutes.
“I thought the first half we gave a really good account of ourselves and how we progressed, the second half we slipped back into some old habits which is really disappointing,'' said head coach Jeremey Groves. “I think it's obviously a good opponent, the top 25 in the country so it's always tough.”
The Wolverines scored the first goal of the match just minutes before the second half. Kacey Lawrence caught the CMU goalie Kendall Krupiczewicz by surprise and buried a shot into the right corner of the net.
Krupiczweicz had a total of six saves in the first half for the Chippewas.
“I'm really happy for Kendall, she is a walk-on that joined us last fall and she is extremely dedicated,” Groves said.
Coming back from the half, the Chippewas struggled to keep up with the fast-paced Wolverines.
Michigan upped the score as Lily Farkas scored right past the diving CMU goalie.
Lawrence scored her second goal of the game at the 63-minute mark, sending the ball past the reach of Krupiczewicz and nailing the top right corner, to put the Wolverines up 3-0.
At the 71-minute mark, the Chippewas got their first shot as Jaelyn Dobrowolski raced down the field taking a shot towards the bottom left corner but was met by the Wolverines' diving goalie Stephanie Sparkowski.
The Wolverines outshot the Chippewas 24-3. CMU had one shot on goal compared to Michigan's 13.
“We came in with a game plan, to sit a little deeper and defend and hit them on the counterattack,” Groves said. “First half I thought we did an okay job and in the second half again we made a couple (of) mistakes and people got down on themselves and we kind of imploded.”
With eight minutes remaining the Wolverines took advantage of the tired Chippewas. Sammi Woods beat a CMU defender to put the ball in the top of the goal, hitting the left corner assisted by Taylor Brennan and Meredith Haakenson.
“Obviously Michigan has some really good players… like I said before, the way we wanted to play was a little bit deeper and hopefully get a lot of their numbers coming forward and be able to hit them on the counterattack,” Groves said. “But obviously they got pretty good athletes back there and at times it's hard to break down, but I think a couple times we created some chances and I think that is some encouragement for us.”
Three minutes later, Woods scored her second goal of the game to put the Wolverines up 5-0.
In the final minute, the Wolverines scored two more goals, as they shut out CMU, 7-0.
The Wolverines dominated corner kicks, attempting seven compared to two for CMU.
CMU will be back at home for Senior Day on Sunday as they take on Eastern Illinois at noon.
