TOLEDO, Ohio – The Western Michigan women's soccer team defeated Toledo, 2-0, on Thursday night at Paul Hotmer Field. The win pushed WMU's record to 9-1-6 overall and 6-0-3 in MAC play. The victory also secured the Brown and Gold a spot in the MAC Tournament.
Jenna Blackburn and
Maya Dean provided the goals for WMU, while Blitchok was able to tally an assist. Goalkeeper
Lauren Boafo notched her seventh shutout of the season.
FIRST HALF
Neither team could get much going offensively in the opening minutes of the game. However, WMU was able to get a corner kick in the 14th minute. Off of that look,
Callie Cunningham had a shot out front of the net. Her look was blocked by the Toledo defense.
A little later,
Heidi Thomasma's shot off of a corner kick went wide of the net. In the 37th minute, the Broncos got a huge break, as Toledo's goalkeeper was sent off with a red card. Western Michigan's offense was much more aggressive following that.
Abby Werthman had a pair of shots just miss the net, with one clipping the left post and running out of bounds. Down the stretch of the first 45 minutes,
Meredith Vance's first shot of the game was caught by new UT keeper Paige Dornheggen. The two teams went into the halftime break tied at 0-0.
SECOND HALF
Playing up a player, Western Michigan dominated the possession to open the final half.
Emily Pagett and Blackburn had shots in the opening minutes of the half. After a few more chances, the Broncos finally broke through.
Blackburn intercepted a pass in the offensive zone and buried a shot into the right side of the net. That put WMU in front 1-0 in the 58th minute. Following that goal, WMU's offense went right back on the attack, getting a shot from Blitchok. Her look was saved by UT and kept the Rockets within one.
As the game moved to the back half of the second 45 minutes, Werthman and Blitchok had looks on net saved by Dornheggen. However, WMU would find the back of the net one more time in the 83rd minute, as Blitchok fed a nice pass to Dean for the game's second goal. The Broncos would go on to close out the 2-0 victory.
UP NEXT
WMU returns home for senior day on Sunday against Ball State. The Broncos and Cardinals will hit the field at 1 PM.
