Chippewas Forge A Tie At Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Central Michigan soccer team tied Northwestern, 1-1, on Thursday in a nonconference game. It was the second tie of the season for the Chippewas, 0-0-2; Northwestern, which plays in the Big Ten, is 0-2-1.

"In the first half, we started off really well," first-year CMU coach Jeremy Groves said. "We got after (Northwestern) a little bit, we created some chances, we scored a goal. The first half was really positive.

"There was a huge wind (in Evanston), so in the first half, we had the wind, and in the second half, we were against the wind. Second half, we dropped a couple of players back deeper because we didn't want to get beat over the top. We defended really hard for the majority of the game, and we were disappointed to give up a late goal there.

"Overall, we're really happy to come to a Big Ten school, play well here, and came away with a 1-1 draw. It's a really good result for us with a young, growing team here."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Riley Mann got CMU on the board first with a goal at the 13:41 mark off a Cassidy Pettinger assist. It was the Chippewas' first regular-season goal. It was Mann's second career goal.

"Pettinger stepped in and won the ball on the right hand side," Groves said. "She dribbled the ball all the way to end line and cut the ball back to Mann. Mann spotted it in from 6 yards out, underneath the goalkeeper. It's a really good goal because we've been working on that all week. It's always good when something happens from the training ground, and they bring it into the game."

Northwestern tied the game at the 85:12 mark on a goal from Rowan Lapi.

CMU did put the ball in the net in the first overtime, however it came after the buzzer sounded.

CMU had three shots, two of them were on goal, with no corner kicks on the night. Northwestern finished with 15 shots, 10 of them on goal, and 10 corner kicks.

CMU's Zoie Reed had nine saves; Northwestern's Mackenzie Wood had one.

DEFENSE
Groves said his defense played well on the whole, despite surrendering 15 goals.

"It's probably one of our best games that we've seen from our back four from this group, which is crazy because they conceded a goal," he said. "They played really well. (Midfielders) Amanda Britain and Natalie Belsito played really well too."

NEXT
CMU will be back at home next weekend to play a pair of home games.

The first game is on Friday, Sept. 6 against Indiana State (7 p.m.). The Sycamores are 0-2 with losses to UMKC and Saint Louis. They will play Milwaukee and SIU Edwardsville before traveling to Mount Pleasant.

CMU is scheduled to play IUPUI on Sunday, Sept. 8 (1 p.m.) on Senior Day. IUPUI is 1-1 with a win over Toledo of the Mid-American Conference and a loss to Butler. The Jaguars are scheduled to play Western Illinois, Southern Illinois, and Eastern Kentucky before traveling to Mount Pleasant.

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Team Stats

Riley Mann

Cassidy Pettinger

Katie Coleman

Lauren DeBeau

Players Mentioned

Natalie Belsito

Amanda Britain

Riley Mann

Cassidy Pettinger

Zoie Reed

Players Mentioned

Natalie Belsito

Amanda Britain

Riley Mann

Cassidy Pettinger

Zoie Reed