Central Michigan University Athletics
In-the-Hunt Chippewas Face Tough Home-and-Away Weekend
10/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - With three games remaining, the Central Michigan soccer team is right in the thick of the race for a Mid-American Conference tournament berth.
The Chippewas could take a major step forward in their quest for the post-season bid and in their claim to be a legitimate contender this weekend when they play host to Kent State on Friday (5 p.m.) and go to Ohio on Sunday (1 p.m.).
The Chippewas, who close the regular season at home on Thursday, Oct. 29, with a MAC match against Toledo are 5-8-2 overall, 4-3-1 MAC. They were 4-1-1 in a six-game stretch before falling, 3-0, at Buffalo on Sunday.
"I think we have to respond from Buffalo, which I am very confident that we will do in a productive way," CMU coach Peter McGahey said, suggesting that the loss may ultimately work in the Chippewas' favor because of the lessons that it could bring.
"Sometimes you get into the season and you sort of feel like everything is going along and the bicycle is peddling great, then all of a sudden you realize you've had a low tire for the last six miles and bumps in the road really do cause a little, lets call it waves, conflict that can really be quite constructive for you," he said.
CMU has 13 points and sits sixth in the overall team standings. The top eight teams make the tournament. Kent State, which is 9-5-2, 5-3-0, has 15 points. If the Chippewas win on Friday, they would leap-frog the Golden Flashes in the standings.
It would also likely provide a confidence boost given that Kent State leads the MAC in goals (2.12) and ranks third in corners (4.81) per game.
Kent State's Donavan Capehart was named the MAC Offensive Player of the Week after posting her second hat trick of the season and capping a four-goal weekend in the Golden Flashes' 3-0 win over Eastern Michigan on Sunday. Capehart leads the league, and ranks 17th nationally, with 11 goals.
On Saturday morning, the Chippewas will depart on the six-plus-hour one-way trip to Athens, Ohio, to play the Bobcats on Sunday. Ohio is 5-10, 3-5, and last Sunday defeated Bowling Green, 4-2, to snap a four-game losing streak.
"It's an incredibly challenging weekend," McGahey said. "You want to play games of consequence. You want to have earned that opportunity to say this game could do this or this game could do that, because that's why we all play.
"It's the inherent value in sport and the student-athlete experience to earn opportunities to play in games that raise the stakes, raise the pressure. It helps teach those lessons of preparation, performance, valuing the team. I think that's what excites us as a group."
