CMU Women's Soccer rains a monsoon of goals Purdue Fort Wayne
Six goals from six different players fueled a dominant win for Central Michigan soccer against Purdue Fort Wayne during the team's 6-1 victory in the season’s home opener.
After three matches on the road to start the regular season, the Chippewas made it back to Mount Pleasant with a 1-2 record. They faced the Mastodons at the CMU Soccer/Lacrosse Complex with a crowd of over 200 fans wearing maroon and gold.
“We had a tough result on Sunday, and we had a couple of rough days of training. I was pretty frustrated and expressed that frustration,” head coach James DeCosemo said. “Their response with this performance was really important.”
The onslaught of offensive pressure from the Chippewas started early, scoring two goals within the first ten minutes. Central Michigan totaled 21 shots with 12 on goal and 10 corner kicks.
First blood was drawn by freshman defender Claire Bergsma, just six minutes into her first collegiate start. It was an accurate corner kick from the left corner off of Rachel Jackson’s foot that put it right on the doorstep across to the right side of the goal for a redirection finish from Bergsma.
That set the tone immediately, and just one minute and 43 seconds later, Bergsma made a great stretch pass across midfield to Ella Dykstra to give her a great fast-break opportunity. She buried it into the top-right corner over the outstretched arms of the goalkeeper, Sam Christle.
Purdue Fort Wayne had a great scoring opportunity just before the end of the first half due to sloppy backline defending, allowing a lone run to the net from the midfield. It looked perilous, but once again it was Bergsma who tracked down the threat to block a shot in the penalty box and defuse the situation.
“A massive moment obviously, if that’s a goal the game completely shifts,” DeCosemo said. “Also, credit to Claire because she got her goal and an assist on the second goal. It was a big moment in her first start.”
A lot of new faces contributed to this total performance, including DeCosemo seeing his team play at home for the first time in his career.
The Central Michigan Women’s Soccer team had a large roster turnover from last season as they welcomed 14 new players while only 13 stayed on from the previous year, which had only three wins on the season.
One of those returning players shined in this game. Ella Betzold had gotten into the face of Christle a few times and had quality scoring chances but couldn’t see one go in. It took until her fifth shot of the game that she hit the net to cap off the night for Central Michigan.
“We’re in a bit of a clash phase right now where things are going well, and some aren’t, and that's important,” DeCosemo said. “And as we start to really figure out who we are and who we can trust and who’s going to be reliable. This was a really important moment.”
CMU scored on another corner kick where Naomi Phillips buried a header goal four and a half minutes into the second half to make it 3-0. Melania Troy kicked it in from the corner to get the assist.
“Corners are something we work on and something that I actually spoke about before the game. We’ve come close,” DeCosemo said. “We’ve either got the run right and not the delivery, or the delivery and not the run. Today we put them together.”
Perhaps the hardest shot of the night came from Jordan Bailey’s right foot as she crushed one past the keeper from the right side of the penalty box on a rush, making the score 4-1.
And shortly after, a pop pass from Phillips on the right side towards the center of the penalty box was put in a perfect spot for Kylee Weed to strike it in the air towards the left post to extend the lead to 5-1.
It seemed like everyone was in on the action, except for Jadia Kershaw, who had a quiet night at the office in goal for the Chippewas. Her only save took place halfway through the first half as she caught a simple shot right into her mitts, barely moving a muscle.
There was only one other shot on goal for Purdue Fort Wayne, and it was in their first attack in the second half, resulting in their first goal of the game as Madison Cox kicked it into the net following a shot off the crossbar to make it 3-1 at the time.
It was an impressive homecoming for CMU as the team begins a three-game homestand, playing Cincinnati next on Sept. 3 at 7 p.m.
