Women's Soccer Clinches Regular Season MAC Championship In 2-0 Win Over Miami

Sunday, October 26

12 pm

12-2-3 (8-0-2MAC)

Miami (OH)

13-3-1 (7-2-1MAC)

MIAMI

Buffalo

Women's Soccer Clinches Regular Season MAC Championship In 2-0 Win Over Miami

10/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

BUFFALO, NY – The State University of New York, Buffalo women's soccer team (12-2-3, 8-0-2 MAC) claimed their second Mid-American Conference regular season championship in program history on Sunday afternoon in front of the home fans at UB Stadium. The Bulls dominated second place Miami (OH), defeating them by the score of 2-0 to earn their first regular season MAC championship since 2000.

When asked about winning the program's second-ever MAC regular season championship this afternoon, first-year head coach Shawn Burke said "What a tremendous accomplishment for the girls. I am so proud of their effort and to clinch against one of the top teams in the MAC says a lot about our team. Miami is a tremendous team and we still have our work cut out for us as we enter the MAC tournament."

With the win, the Bulls clinched the one seed and will host the eighth-seeded team in the MAC Championships at UB Stadium on Sunday, November 2. The win for the Bulls extended their program record unbeaten streak in the MAC to nine matches. Currently UB has an unbeaten streak of nine matches, which is their longest streak since the 1999 season.

The Bulls opened up the scoring almost midway through the opening 45 minutes as the UB attack earned a corner kick. On the ensuing corner, Kassidy Kidd sent a perfect ball into the box, where sophomore Angel Hart fought through the mess and buried her first goal of the season in the right corner of the net. The goal for Hart was the second of her career and her first game-winner.

Early on in the second half, UB leading scorer Katie Roberts took the match into her own hands as she buried a rocket of a shot into the top left corner of the net to ice the game for the Bulls. Roberts took a nice feed from Celina Carrero and then took a blast from 15-yards out that snuck in the top corner of the net for her 10^th on the season. The assist for Carrero was her team-leading fifth of the season as she now has 17 points in her sophomore campaign.

Down the stretch, freshman goalkeeper Laura Dougall was asked to make a couple of big saves as the Miami attack began to press for their first goal of the contest. In the 70^th minute, Dougall made a nice save on a dangerous shot by Kelsey Dinges, the conference's second leading scorer. In the final five minutes, Dougall cut off a couple dangerous crosses to preserve her MAC-leading 11^th clean sheet of the season.

Dougall improved to 12-1-3 on the season and is now tied for first place in program history in wins in a season with Jamie Adams. Dougall also earned her 11^th clean sheet of the season, breaking the program record for shutouts in a season. On the year, Dougall has accumulated a goals-against average of 0.36 and a save percentage of .915.

Roberts kept her hopes alive for MAC Player of the Year honors on Sunday as she netted another highlight reel goal and now ranks first in the MAC with 10 goals on the season. The two-time MAC Player of the Week now has three goals in her last two matches.

The outstanding team defending that won the Bulls multiple games this season was at it once again on Sunday afternoon as the best backline in the conference, Sophie Therien, Jackie Hall, Kristin Markiewicz and Hart, preserved the Bulls 12^th shutout of the season, tying the program record for clean sheets in a season.

Offensively, Roberts and Kidd led the team with four shots while freshman Julia Benati finished off her afternoon with three shots. Dougall finished the game with four saves in the victory while her counterpart Vic Maniaci made two saves in the loss.

Following the match, Roberts was awarded the "Player of the Match" award by the UB coaching staff after another dominant offensive effort as she netted her third goal in two games for UB. Roberts and Hall have each won the award three times on the season.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH (Through 17 games)
St. Bonaventure – Jackie Hall
Canisius - Angel Hart
Duquesne – Sophie Therien
Drexel – Courtney Mann
Niagara – Jackie Hall
#3 Virginia Tech – Ashley Evans and Courtney Mann
Cornell - Julia Benati
Kent State - Katie Roberts
Ohio – Alex Lambert
Bowling Green – Kassidy Kidd
Eastern Michigan – Celina Carrero
Northern Illinois – Kassidy Kidd
Western Michigan - Andrea Niper
Central Michigan – Courtney Mann
Toledo – Jackie Hall
Ball State – Katie Roberts
Miami (OH) - Katie Roberts

The Bulls will close out their 2014 regular season on Thursday afternoon at UB Stadium as they play host to Akron at 3:00 pm. UB will be aiming for their first-ever unbeaten MAC season in program history.

Prior to the match, the Bulls honored their eight player senior class as part of senior day. The eight players that were recognized were Roberts, Hall, Mann, Megan Giesen, Therien, McKenzie White, Sarah Moore and Megan Abman.