MOUNT PLEASANT — Ashley Mejilla’s first collegiate goal in the 69th minute was all the offense the Central Michigan soccer team needed to record a 1-0 victory over Western Michigan in the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday.
The win gives CMU (15-3-2, 9-0-2 Mid-American) a school-record 15 victories this season and moves the Chippewas to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament for the second year in a row.
The remainder of the MAC Tournament will be played at the CMU Soccer Complex next weekend. The semifinal matches will be played on Friday while the MAC Tournament championship match will take place on Sunday.
Sunday’s match featured several scoring opportunities that went by the board for CMU.
Chelsi Abbott nearly put CMU on top in the 15th minute when she brought the ball across the middle in front of the box and fired a shot left side that WMU goalkeeper Sarah Phillips steered aside.
Central threatened again with under five minutes remaining in the first half,
Stephanie Martin got behind the Broncos’ defense and was one-on-one with Phillips, who came out of the goal aggressively to force Martin to fire the shot wide. The contest remained deadlocked at 0-0 at halftime despite CMU holding a 9-3 edge in shots and a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.
“I felt we played well overall today,” head coach
Tom Anagnost said. “We played better than the last time we played Western. However, we need to convert on our scoring opportunities. We did not put a lot of our shots on net and we need to do that if we want to advance.”
The Maroon and Gold continued to pressure in the second half as Martin again got a step on the Bronco defense and worked the ball into the attacking box on the left side, but just missed the near post with her shot.
CMU finally got on the board when Mejilla provided the lift mere seconds after coming into the match. The freshman was set up by a pass from
Bailey Brandon and won a foot race with Phillips to the loose ball and lofted a shot into the net to put Central on top, 1-0. Mejilla is the 14th different player to score a goal for CMU this season.
Western fired two quick shots a minute after Central’s tally, but the Maroon and Gold defense held the Broncos to only one shot the final 20:23 of the contest.
The Chippewas outshot the Broncos, 20-7, in Sunday’s match and also held a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Shay Mannino turned aside both shots she faced to post her 14th shutout this season and 26th of her career, just one shy of
Anne Decker’s school record of 27. The shutout was the Chippewas’ nation-best 16th this season.
Central will host defending MAC Tournament champion Toledo in the semifinals on Friday.
Courtesy: Robert Barclay/CMU
