Central Michigan University
Toledo
Chippewas Tie, Miss Out on MAC Tournament
10/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Parker Scott, CMUchippewas.com
TOLEDO, Ohio - The Central Michigan women's soccer team went into its season finale Thursday at Toledo needing a win to earn a spot in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The Chippewas and Rockets played a 0-0 tie at the Rockets' Scott Park, ending CMU's season.
Both team finished 4-6-1 and with 13 points in conference play. The Rockets earned the eighth and final seed in the tournament by virtue of the tie-breaker, season-long points accumulated against the highest-seeded tournament teams.
The Chippewas finished 6-11-2 and closed the season with a four-game unbeaten streak and a four-game shutout streak.
"I thought we created a couple of pretty good chances, defended some real critical moments and unfortunately we weren't able to make the goal to push us through," second-year CMU coach Peter McGahey said. "So a good, hard-fought game, a good performance from us, but sometimes you don't move on because you don't win."
The Rockets (7-10-2), who will play top-seeded Buffalo Sunday to open the tournament, outshot the Chippewas, 20-8, and held a 9-2 edge in corner kicks.
Sophomore Heather Laeufer made four saves in goal for CMU, notching her fourth straight shutout. She finished the season 4-3-1 with five shutouts, surrendered six goals in eight appearances, made 39 saves, and had a 0.72 goals against average.
"I thought Heather was quite good today," McGahey said. "She did a really good job making a save at the end to keep us in it and managed some really critical corner-kick plays. I also thought Kaelyn Korte was really good today."
After a 2-9-1 start, the Chippewas went 4-2-1 in their final seven games. Laura Gosse led CMU with eight goals and 16 points, while Korte was the second-leading scorer with three goals. She was also second with seven points.
Six student-athletes -- Emily Cooksey, Jennifer Gassman, Samantha Maher, Christen Chiesa, Jamie Rademacher and Emily Basten - shared the team lead with two assists apiece. Gosse, Gassman and Cooksey are seniors.
Gosse's eight-goal season ties her with three others for sixth on CMU's single-season goal list, and she finishes her career with 21 goals, good for fifth in program history.
"I think the hard part is the season always ends a little short," McGahey said, "it was not the expectation that we had or will continue to have in terms of where we are heading, but I think that the lesson learned today is you don't want things to come down to tie-breakers.
"You want things to be decided on the field and it's difficult when you're never really sure which play within the season will become the critical one because the reason we are not going on is some of it is today's results, but it is the accumulation of the results over the season."
