Women's Soccer Advances To MAC Semifinals; Downs Eighth-Seeded Toledo, 2-0

Sunday, November 2

1 pm

14-2-3 (9-0-2MAC)

Toledo

7-11-2 (4-6-1MAC)

Toledo

Buffalo

Women's Soccer Advances To MAC Semifinals; Downs Eighth-Seeded Toledo, 2-0

11/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

KATIE ROBERTS GOAL VIDEO
ANDREA NIPER GOAL VIDEO
UPDATED MAC WOMEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET

BUFFALO, NY – The State University of New York, Buffalo women's soccer team (14-2-3, 9-0-2 MAC) advanced onto the Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals with a dominant 2-0 victory over eighth-seeded Toledo on Sunday afternoon at a windy UB Stadium. The Bulls advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2011 and will host for the first time since 2000.

"We did enough to win today and I am excited for the girls to be hosting the semifinals and the finals at UB Stadium," said first-year head coach Shawn Burke. "Toledo gave us all we can handle and the difference today was we finished our chances. We will have to be better next weekend but getting a result is the most important thing."

With the win, UB improved to 14-2-3 overall and will move onto the MAC semifinals to take on the Ball State Cardinals at UB Stadium. With the win today, the Bulls tie a program record for wins in a season with the 2000 squad. The Bulls are now unbeaten in 12 straight contests, tying another program record for longest unbeaten streak in a season. The last time UB was unbeaten in 12 straight contests was in 1999.

After a first half that didn't lend too many great scoring chances for either side, the Bulls seemed energized coming out of the locker room at halftime.

In the 63^rd minute, Katie Roberts got UB on the board first with her MAC-leading 11^th goal of the season after a great effort play and pass by Celina Carrero. Carrero worked hard to steal the ball away from the Toledo defender and then found Roberts who drilled a right-footed shot over the keeper and into the right corner of the net. The dynamic duo of Roberts and Carrero, have combined for 17 goals on the season for the Bulls and Carrero leads the squad with seven assists.

Less than a minute after the Roberts marker, Kassidy Kidd saw her blast of a shot from 20-yards out deflect off the keepers hand, off the inside of the goal post and across the goal line and out. The near miss denied Kidd of her third goal of the season.

After entering off the bench late in the second half, freshman Alex Lambert made an impact on the game right away for UB as she forced an errant pass by the goalkeeper that went right to Megan Giesen, who fired a shot just over the cross bar.

Less than a minute later, Lambert came roaring into the offensive third of the field and found a streaking Andrea Niper who buried the high hard shot into the top right corner to extend the UB lead to 2-0. On the play, Niper recorded her first-career goal while Lambert also collected her first-career point with the assist.

"Both goals today were fantastic and Niper stood out as the player of the game for us today with her outstanding play in the midfield and her first career goal," Stated Burke.

Down the stretch of the contest, it was the defense that stood up and preserved their program record 13^th clean sheet of the season. In the 80^th minute, Kristin Markiewicz came up with what proved to be the play of the game for the Bulls. After a UB turnover, Kiersten Johnson had nothing but net to shoot at but her right-footed attempt was blocked by a sprinting Markiewicz and cleared out of harms way, preserving the clean sheet.

With the Toledo pressing for their first goal of the contest, freshman goalkeeper Laura Dougall made her best save of the afternoon with just six minutes remaining in the contest. The Rockets crossed a dangerous ball into the box where leading scorer Geri Siudzinski had a point blank shot that was turned away by Dougall to preserve her program record 12^th clean sheet.

In goal, Dougall made three saves en route to her 14^th win of the season. The Pickering, Ontario native now has 12 clean sheets to go along with a goals-against average of 0.37 and a save percentage of .911.

The For the 14^th time this season, the stingy UB defense held their opponents to five shots on goal or less for the game, most in the MAC. UB has held their last six opponents to five shots or less. Markiewicz, Jackie Hall, Sophie Therien and Angel Hart took the Toledo forwards out of the game as only three Rockets earned a shot in the contest.

For the match, UB held the 17-5 advantage in shots and the 5-2 edge in corner kicks. The Bulls had six players record at least two shots, led by Julia Benati who finished with three shots on the afternoon. Off the bench Niper had two shots while Courtney Mann, Megan Giesen, Kidd and Roberts all record two shots for UB.

Following the match, Niper was awarded the "Player of the Match" award by the UB coaching staff after coming off the bench and scoring her first career goal for the Bulls. Niper had another solid game in the midfield to lead the UB reserves in the victory.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH (Through 19 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
Akron – Celina Carrero
Toledo – Andrea Niper

UB will host both semifinal games on Friday, November 7. Buffalo will take on fourth-seeded Ball State at 4:00 pm while sixth-seeded Western Michigan will take on seventh-seeded Northern Illinois at 7:00 pm at UB Stadium.