The Eastern Michigan soccer team clinched a spot in the MAC Tournament by defeating Central Michigan on Thursday, Oct. 31. On Halloween, the Eastern Michigan’s women’s soccer team went to Central Michigan and dominated the Chippewas by a score of 3-1.
Early in the match, Kristin Hullibarger made a great cross to junior Sabrina McNeil, who made the first goal of the game. Later in the game, Nicole Remedios found Haley Tausend for the second goal for the Eagles. It was Tausend’s first goal of the season. Both Remedios and Tausend are juniors.
Freshman Amanda Cripps sealed the win for Eastern Michigan with her goal, the third of the day for EMU. Overall the Eagles statistics for this game consisted of 10 shots in the first half and seven in the second half. The Eagles finished the match with two saves, three corner kicks and four fouls.
Hullibarger led the team with two assists. Three different Eagles were able to score in the win. McNeil, Cripps and Tausend scored one goal each. McNeil lead the game with a total of nine shots and four shots on goal. Cripps followed behind with four shots in the game. Chelsea Abbots, the junior goalkeeper, had two saves for the game.
With the regular season coming to a close, the leaders on the team were Lindsey Shira with 15 points, six goals and three game-winning goals. Sabrina McNeil totaled 54 shots and 26 shots-on-goal. Remedios had five assists for Eastern Michigan.
Looking to keep momentum from the win over Central Michigan, the Eagles will start the MAC Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 3 with a matchup against Ball State University (14-4, 8-2), who holds the 2nd seed in this years conference tournament. The Eagles hold the 7th seed in the tournament and will travel to Muncie, Ind., to face the Cardinals.
If the EMU defeats the Ball State, the team will then face the winner of the 3rd seed Western Michigan Broncos (8-9-1, 6-4-1) and the 6th seed Ohio Bobcats (10-8-1, 5-5-1). The other side of the bracket includes Bowling Green (12-5-2, 10-1 MAC), the defending champions and the top seed of the 2019 MAC Tournament, who will face the 8th seed Central Michigan Chippewas (7-5-4, 4-5-2).
Last year, the Eagles finished the regular season with the eighth best record in the conference and faced Bowling Green in the first round of the conference tournament. Bowling Green defeated Eastern Michigan and eliminated the Eagles by a score of 2-1.
With the win over Central Michigan, the Eagles improve to 6-11-2 on the season and have a 5-6 record in the MAC. Eastern Michigan is just 3-8-1 on the road, though. EMU finished the season with back-to-back wins over Buffalo and Central Michigan, and went 3-2 in their last five outings.
If the Eagles advance past Ball State, they will play in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 8. The MAC championship game will be played on Sunday, Nov. 10. The winner of the MAC championship will advance to the NCAA Tournament, which begins on Friday, Nov. 15.
