Soccer Runs Win Streak To 3

Thursday, October 7

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

7 p.m.

Central Michigan University

6-5-0, 3-2-0

Akron

2-11-0, 0-5-0

Akron

Central Mich.

Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22

10/7/2021 9:58:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Rachel Bednarz, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Central Michigan soccer team turned up the heat in the second half on Thursday in posting a 3-1 Mid-American Conference victory over Akron at the CMU Soccer Complex.

It was CMU's third consecutive win as it improved to 6-5-0, 3-2-0 MAC. Akron is 2-11, 0-5.

All the scoring came during a 10-minute span of the second half. Laila Arab broke through in the 66th minute to put CMU in front, and then Samantha Kaye-Toral found the back of the net less than two minutes later.

"As soon as we hit that first one, we knew right away we had to get that second one," said CMU sophomore Jaelyn Dobrowolski, who assisted on both goals. "The intensity was really, really great and I think that getting those goals back to back was awesome."

The three goals matched CMU's season high, and it marked the first time that a CMU game has been decided by more than one goal this season.

"Moving forward into the rest of the conference (schedule) it will be great knowing that we're capable of not only just scoring one and ending the games 1-0," Dobrowolski said.

Akron drew to 2-1 with a goal in the 72nd minute, and then sophomore Elizabeth Chlystun scored her first goal as a Chippewa in the 76th minute.

CMU dominated play in the second half, outshooting the Zips 13-4 and collecting five corner kicks to none for Akron over the final 45 minutes. CMU finished with a 15-8 edge in shots and had six corner kicks to the Zips' three.

"The consistency which we demand in training every day, that's a big thing for me," CMU coach Jeremy Groves said. "If we can do it in training over and over and over, we're going to do it in games.

"Something we talked about was, can we step higher? Can we put them under pressure? Obviously, we did that in the second half and got a really good second-half performance."

The goals for Arab and Kaye-Toral were their second of the season. Dobrowolski now has a MAC-best six assists.

Allison LaPoint made three saves in goal for CMU. She leads the conference with an .836 saves percentage.

The Chippewas will be on the road this weekend to take on the University at Buffalo in New York at noon. The Bulls won, 2-1, at Eastern Michigan on Thursday, improving to 9-2-1, 3-1-1 and running their unbeaten streak to four games.