Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Fall in Double OT, 1-0
9/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Lauren Koehl scored in the 105th minute Sunday as Illinois State handed the Central Michigan women's soccer team a 1-0 double-overtime loss in the inaugural event at the CMU Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium.
The loss, CMU's third straight, capped an emotion-filled day as the Chippewas honored seniors Maddy Bunnell and Kaelyn Korte along with the late Josie Seebeck in a touching pre-game ceremony.
Seebeck was a sophomore on the women's soccer team when she was killed in a car accident in August, 2013. She would have been a member of this year's senior class.
"On a special day in terms of honoring and paying tribute to some great people and opening an absolutely fantastic facility, I wish the end result had been better, but I'm really proud of the fight and the focus and the concentration that the team showed," third-year CMU coach Peter McGahey said.
The loss dropped CMU to 1-5-1. The Chippewas open Mid-American Conference play at Western Michigan (3-2-2) on Friday, Sept. 25, and play at Northern Illinois (1-6-0) on Sunday, Sept. 27.
"Losses like today are supposed to hurt," McGahey said. "It makes you come back and show grit and determination and resiliency that I know the team has shown over the last three years in terms of the difficulties and challenges that we've had. But to say that we're satisfied? Certainly not.
"We have grit and resiliency within the team and we'll respond in the right way."
The Cardinals (3-5-2) outshot the Chippewas, 22-18. CMU held a 5-4 edge in corners.
Bunnell made seven saves.
"I thought Maddie had a good day today as a lot of other players did as well," said McGahey, who added that it was somewhat of a challenge to keep his players focused on the match with the number of peripheral events, and emotions, surrounding it.
"We tried to focus on the adding soccer back into the game and playing a composed game without trying to let the emotion of the moment get away from us," he said, "and I thought we did those two things well. And had we taken our chances better in the first half, we might have found a better result today.
"I think days like today are hard. The idea that you find satisfaction in the result couldn't be further from the truth for the team or for me. I think the difficulty of the process is that we have a tendency to want success to come on our own timeline and unfortunately the reality is that success comes on its own timeline and you have to continue to have those difficulties and those struggles."
