KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's soccer team fell to Kent State, 2-1, in the MAC Semifinals on Thursday afternoon at the WMU Soccer Complex.
WMU finished the 2023 season with a 12-4-3 record and earned the program's first regular season MAC Championship. Along the way, WMU went on a program-best 11 game unbeaten streak. The Broncos went undefeated in conference play, earned six All-MAC selections and had
Lewis Robinson,
Mira Pierre-Webster and
Lauren Boafo earn specialty awards.
FIRST HALF
The Broncos controlled play early, getting shots from
Jen Blitchok and
Jenna Blackburn in the opening minutes. However, Kent State would start to settle in and take control of the middle portion of the first 45 minutes.
In the 22nd minute, Alisa Arthur would find the back of the net, giving the Golden Flashes a 1-0 lead. Kent State would go on to double its lead to 2-0 in the 29th minute.
Now trailing by two goals, Western Michigan started to find more offensive rhythm. Over the final five minutes of the half,
Madison Cotta would get a pair of shots on net, and Blackburn had a shot saved in the closing seconds. Kent State entered halftime up two goals.
SECOND HALF
The second half was much different for Western Michigan, as the Broncos came out with a sense of urgency and controlled much of the play.
Abby Werthman and Blackburn were able to get looks in the opening minutes of the half to set the tone.
Following that, Blackburn had a shot saved in the 56th minute. Not too long after that, WMU would get consecutive corner kicks and
Heidi Thomasma would get a chance to get the Broncos back in the game. Her shot would miss the net, however.
As the game moved to the final 10 minutes, the match really started to ramp up, and the Brown and Gold finally broke through with Blackburn ripping a shot into the net to bring WMU within one. In the final five minutes, Thomasma would get one more look on net, but KSU goalkeeper Sarah Melen was there to shut the door.
The Broncos would go on to lose, 2-1, despite leading in shots (17-9), shots on goal (9-6) and corner kicks (13-4).
