KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Jen Blitchok's first career hat trick helped the Western Michigan women's soccer team pick up a 6-0 victory over Miami on Sunday afternoon at the WMU Soccer Complex. The win pushed the Broncos' record to 4-1-4 overall and 1-0-1 in MAC play.
Along with Blitchok's three goals,
Maya Dean,
Madi Canada and
Abby Werthman each added a goal in the game. Goalkeeper
Lauren Boafo posted her second shutout of the season and first in conference play.
FIRST HALF
The Broncos took control of the game early, getting a goal from Dean off of some nice passing in the attacking zone. Werthman found a streaking
Abby Baldridge, and she eventually hit Dean with a pass. She handled the rest and gave WMU a 1-0 lead not even five minutes into the game.
From there, WMU kept up the offensive pressure. Werthman and
Emily Pagett had good looks saved by Miami as the game progressed to the middle portion of the first half. Not too long after that, Canada found a loose ball in the open field and buried a shot into the back of the net to increase the WMU lead to 2-0.
About five minutes after that goal, Canada played a beautiful pass into the box off of a corner kick and Blitchok was able to head it into the back of the net for a 3-0 lead. The Broncos carried that three-goal advantage into the final 45 minutes of play.
SECOND HALF
WMU didn't take its foot off the gas in the second half, getting a goal just over 10 minutes in to the second 45 minutes. After some nice passing, Werthman buried a shot by Miami's goalkeeper to extend the lead to 4-0.
About five minutes later, Blitchok was able to net her second goal of the game, thanks to some nice passing from Werthman and Baldridge. Just over a minute later, Blitchok secured her third goal of the match with an assist from
Drew Martin.
With the game now in hand, the Broncos pulled back and closed out a 6-0 victory. Western Michigan dominated in every category. On the afternoon, WMU had a lead in shots (22-9), shots on goal (14-3) and corner kicks (6-1).
UP NEXT
Western Michigan will remain home for another MAC contest against Buffalo. The Bulls and Broncos will square off on Sept. 26 at 4 PM at the WMU Soccer Complex.
