TOLEDO, Ohio – Alysa Burke and Liz Abro each scored twice as the Western Michigan women's soccer team defeated Mid-American Conference West Division rivals Toledo in a 4-3 thriller on Sunday afternoon.
The Broncos completed the road sweep after winning at Bowling Green on Thursday by the same 4-3 score line. WMU (11-6-1, 5-4-1 MAC) is now 3-0-1 in its last four games.
"It's very hard to get wins in this conference, especially on the road," said head coach Lauren Sinacola. "I am very happy with how the team battled this weekend through some of the most entertaining college soccer I have seen in some time. We defended well and fought hard as a back line and also scored some beautiful goals. We can take some good from this game and more importantly, moments we can learn from going into our final regular season game against Northern Illinois."
Burke got the Broncos on the road early with a goal in the 11th minute. Candice Uhl found Burke outside the box and she chipped the ball over UT goalkeeper Katie Wilson and into the net for her third goal of the season.
Western Michigan goalkeeper Stephanie Heber made four of her game-high eight saves in the first half to give the Broncos a 1-0 lead at the break.
The Rockets struck first in the second half, in what turned about to be a crazy 10-minute stretch. In the 61st minute Toledo's Kiersten Johnson tied the game at 1-1. The goal was the first of two by Johnston in the game and was set up by Chiara Paradiso and Isa Echeverri.
WMU and Abro responded just 40 seconds later at 61:07 for the senior captain's fourth goal of the season. Junior midfielder Alex Ruffer set up the goal as the Broncos took a 2-1 lead.
That lead didn't last for three minutes as Paradiso struck on an unassisted goal at 63:46 to tie the game up at 2-2.
Western Michigan retook the lead on a penalty kick by Abro at 69:08 to finish off a stretch of four combined goals.
Burke tallied her second of the game and fourth of the season in the 79th minute to put WMU up 4-2 and seal the victory.
Johnson added her second of the game late in the 83rd minute to cut the lead to 4-3, but the Bronco defense kept the Rockets off the board for the final seven minutes.
WMU was outshot by UT 17-9 on the game and Toledo also had a 12-7 edge in shots on goal.
Western Michigan closes out its 2016 regular season hosting the Northern Illinois Huskies on Thursday at 3 p.m. at the WMU Soccer Complex. After that the Broncos must wait to see its MAC Tournament fate for the Quarterfinals on Sunday, Oct. 30 .
