Central Michigan University Athletics
CMU Soccer Looks to Ride Momentum on the Road
10/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Sometimes, it takes only a small crack, and the floodgates open.
The Central Michigan women's soccer team registered 52 shots last weekend in earning a tie and a win in two Mid-American Conference matches.
This weekend, the Chippewas embark on their most difficult MAC road trip of the season, playing at Akron on Friday (7 p.m.) and at Buffalo (noon) on Sunday.
CMU collected 29 shots - far and away its season high - in Sunday's 1-0 overtime win over Bowling Green. In Friday's 0-0 tie with Eastern Michigan, the Chippewas took 23 shots, which was their season-high to that point.
"I wish I could tell you that we as a (coaching) staff could take credit of some sort with a magical fix, tinkering or those things," CMU coach Peter McGahey said. "I really think it's a credit to the players in terms of them being able to find ways to connect with each other in a different way and that's creating a much better rhythm for our attack.
"When that connection is good and players are playing with a good flow with each other, you're going to have outputs like you had last weekend. I would say, for me, it's not the shots, but that we connected more passes over those two games than pretty much we had all season. And when you connect passes, those offensive chances are the result."
The Chippewas are 4-7-2 overall, 3-2-1 MAC and their 10 points in league matches tie them with Buffalo for fourth overall in the conference standings. The top eight teams advance to the league tournament. The Bulls are 7-5-2, 3-2-1. Akron is 5-8-1, 2-4.
CMU has won or tied four of its last five matches. After this weekend, the Chippewas will have just three conference matches remaining.
The Chippewas entered last weekend last in the MAC in shots, but have moved up to sixth (12.38 per game).
CMU goalkeeper Zoie Reed, a freshman who was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Week after shutting out Eastern and Bowling Green, ranks third in the league in saves per game (5.0), fourth in save percentage (.833), and fifth in goals against average (0.95).
Buffalo is the defending MAC champion and features the reigning league defensive player of the year in Jackie Hall. Buffalo's Katie Roberts, who has graduated, was the MAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2014.
Personnel and matchups aside, McGahey is concerned about his relatively young team and how it will react to the road trip.
"We have tried to manage their sleep with start times of our training this week, and making sure that we are honing in on the intensity of training and the volume of training this week," he said. "You have to start your mindset preparation early in the week and I think we already started to lay that groundwork.
"I think we have another chance to put a good performance this Friday. We have an opportunity to go out and play better and continue to make the progress we want to make. And I think if we do that we will be in good shape."
