Freshman Delivers As Chippewas Top Western

Friday, October 12

Kalamazoo, Mich.

4:00 p.m. ET

Central Michigan University

6-9-0, 4-3-0MAC

Western Michigan

10-5-0, 4-3-0MAC

Central Michigan

Western Michigan

Photo by: Allissa Rusco

10/12/2018 7:46:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score

Wargo's goal in the 75th minute lifts CMU to road victory

By: Mitch Vosburg

Mitch Vosburg, CMUChippewas.com

KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Freshman midfielder Chesney Wargo made her first career start a memorable one on Friday for the Central Michigan soccer team.

Wargo scored in the 75^th minute to break a 2-2 tie and lift the Chippewas to a 3-2 Mid-American Conference victory over archrival Western Michigan at the WMU Soccer Complex.

The win lifted CMU to 6-9, 4-3 MAC. Western is 10-5, 4-3.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Lexi Pelafas and Natalie Belsito scored for CMU. Belsito's goal, which came in the 40^th minute, put the Chippewas up 2-1 at halftime. It was her second goal of the season, while Pelafas raised her goal-scoring total to seven.

Western's Bailey Korhorn scored at the 73:31 mark to tie it. Just 1 minute and 5 seconds later, Wargo beat the Bronco goalie after a cross from Shannon Magnan to put CMU back in front for good.

It was the first career goal for Wargo, who hails from Aurora, Ill.

CMU COACH PETER McGAHEY
"We competed and played some really good soccer," McGahey said. "I'm really proud of how they kept responding throughout the game. It was a game about continuing to respond and making a play when it needed to be made, I thought we did an excellent job of that tonight."

WHAT IT MEANS
The win snapped a two-game losing streak. CMU entered the weekend tied for seventh in the conference. The top eight teams earn a league-tournament berth.

"Every year the MAC is close, positioning is very tight, points matter, points on the road matter a lot in terms of beginning the third season in the MAC playoffs, but you can't fast forward to the playoffs," McGahey said. "We have one game to take care of, we took care of Western today and I thought we did a good job of that. We'll certainly enjoy it for a little bit and reload and shift our focus to Northern Illinois."

NEXT
The Chippewas go to DeKalb, Ill. to face Northern Illinois (1-13, 0-6) on Sunday (3 p.m.). The Huskies were scheduled to face Eastern Michigan at home on Friday night.