Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewa Soccer Team Hits the Road
10/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Cullen Maksimowski, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — The Central Michigan soccer team has established itself as one the frontrunners in the Mid-American Conference. Now it's time to finish.
With just three regular-season games remaining in the league slate, the Chippewas (13-1-2 overall, 5-1-2 in the MAC) will hit the road this weekend for a Thursday (7 p.m.) matchup with Akron (3-9-4, 0-4-4) followed by a Sunday (1 p.m.) game with Buffalo (6-7-3, 3-4-1).
CMU plays its final regular-season game on Oct. 27 at Eastern Michigan (5-8-3, 3-4-1).
It's been far from an easy road to success this season for the Chippewas, who sit in second place in the MAC West standings behind Ball State (12-2-2, 7-0-1). CMU has gone to overtime in five of its last six contests, including a 1-1 double overtime stalemate with East-leading Kent State last Friday. The Chippewas are 3-0-2 in those extra-time games.
"There is always some things that you should be looking at when you get down towards the end of the season," CMU coach Peter McGahey said. "You start to manage things differently, in terms of what your training intensity should look like and the things you focus on.
"It sort of comes full circle to a lot of the things we've been talking about all year. Understanding your identity, who you are, means now that you can create processes in practice that allow you to bring out that identity."
Central Michigan enters Thursday's matchup with Akron leading the league in points (86) and assists (30), is tied for first in goals (28), and is third in goals against average (0.71).
Sophomore forward Alexis Pelafas earned the MAC Offensive Player of the Week Award for her two-goal performance against Ohio last Sunday, as she set the program record for goals in a season with 15.
Pelafas' goal total paces the MAC and ties her with BYU's Ashley Hatch and UConn's Stephanie Ribeiro for the No.1 spot nationally.
Jamie Rademacher leads CMU and ranks fourth in the league in assists with five. Chippewa goalkeeper Kristen Knutson, a senior, ranks first in the MAC in goals against average (0.67) and is second in save percentage (.845)
The Zips rank second in the conference in saves this season with 83. Chloe Allen leads the team with six goals.
"Akron is a diligent, growing and dangerous team (and we're) catching them at home on senior day," McGahey said. "This is about the time Akron started to peak last year going on a great run and knocked Ball State off so we have the ultimate respect for them."
CMU plays a Buffalo team on Sunday that is very tough to beat on its home turf, sporting a perfect 6-0 record at UB Stadium.
"Buffalo is a very hard place to play, we seem to go there every year," McGahey said. "You go and play in a big football stadium and you have to navigate the intangibles. The Buffalo team is tenacious and very good on the attack and is another team that has our highest respect."
The Bulls ranks fifth in the conference in shots (197) and goals allowed (14). Carissima Cutrona leads the Bulls and ranks third in the MAC in goals with nine.
