Niper's Double OT Winner Sends Women's Soccer To First-Ever MAC Championship Game

Friday, November 7

4 pm

15-2-3

Ball State

11-7-2

OT 3

OT 4

Ball State

Buffalo

Niper's Double OT Winner Sends Women's Soccer To First-Ever MAC Championship Game

11/7/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

JACKIE HALL'S GOAL
ANDREA NIPER'S GAME-WINNING GOAL
SHAWN BURKE POST MATCH INTERVIEW
ANDREA NIPER POST MATCH INTERVIEW

BUFFALO, NY – With time winding down in the second overtime in the Mid-American Conference semifinals, sophomore Andrea Niper made the stadium erupt as she buried her first career game-winning goal in the 108^th minute from 30-yards away to down Ball State, 2-1. Niper's goal moved the Bulls on into the MAC Championship match for the first time in program history.

"What a tremendous finish to cap off a hard fought semifinal matchup," said MAC Coach of the Year Shawn Burke. "The girls have taken care of the details from day one and are now just one game from earning a place in the NCAA Tournament. I'm so proud of the girls for their resilience and ability to always find a way to win. Should be an exciting final between us and a great Western Michigan team."

With the win, the State University of New York, Buffalo women's soccer team improved to 15-2-3 on the season, breaking the program record for wins in a season, and improving UB's home record to 10-0-1 on the season. The Bulls are now unbeaten in 13 straight contests, breaking another program record for longest unbeaten streak for a season.

In arguably the biggest game in program history, Niper came up with the biggest goal of her UB career. The Princeton, NJ native turned her defender inside out to get some space and her right-footed blast from 25-yards out beat the goalkeeper to the top left corner to send the UB fans home happy after 108^th minutes of riveting action. The play was started by senior captain Courtney Mann, who kept the ball in the attacking third with a nice play as she then fed Niper, who buried the game-winner for the Bulls.

After a back-and-forth first half that saw each side record six shots, the Bulls came out of the locker room with some serious energy and it paid off with a goal in the third minute of play in the second half.

Senior captain Megan Giesen started the play with a perfect free kick into the box where Jackie Hall had her first header attempt ricochet off the cross bar but the rebound came right back to Hall who headed in her third marker of the season. Hall has now scored in two of the last three games for UB and has recorded all three of her goals off set pieces.

However, the UB lead did not last too long as the Ball State Cardinals responded with the tying goal just 12 minutes later. After Laura Dougall made the original save on a Ball State shot, the rebound found the foot of Elaina Musleh who scored the game-tying goal in the wide open UB net.

After the tying goal was put on the board, both sides began to play solid defensively, forcing overtime to decide the outcome of the match.

As the first overtime period hit, the Bulls began to prove why they were the regular season champions, controlling most of the play in the first 10 minutes and outshooting Ball State 2-1.

The second overtime period began and the Bulls looked right at home playing late into the game. After dominating play throughout, the Bulls were finally rewarded for their hard play with the game-winner off the foot of Niper. The double overtime victory for UB was their third double OT win on the season.

The UB defense was tremendous once again as Hall, Sophie Therien, Angel Hart and Kristin Markiewicz limited Ball State to just five shots on goal for the match. The Bulls have now allowed five shots on goal or less in 15 of 20 matches including six straight.

For the match, UB held an 18-12 advantage in shots and an 8-0 edge in corner kicks. Celina Carrero and Katie Roberts led the Bulls with three shots apiece while Musleh led the Cardinals with a match-high five shots.

In goal, Dougall finished off her program record 15^th victory of the season with four saves while her counterpart Alyssa Heintschel finished with seven saves in the losing effort.

Following the match, Niper and Hall were awarded the "Player of the Match" award by the UB coaching staff after their outstanding play in the semifinal victory. Hall was not only stout defensively all night long, as usual, but she also scored her third goal of the season. Niper earned her second straight Player of the Match recognition following her game-winning marker in the 108^th minute.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH (Through 20 matches)
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
Ball State – Andrea Niper and Jackie Hall

The Bulls will take on sixth seeded Western Michigan in the MAC Championship match on Sunday, November 9 at 12:00 pm. Tickets for the Championship match will be $10 for adults 17 years old and up, $7 for youth between the ages of 6-16 and free for all children five years old and under. All participating MAC school students with valid ID will also have free admission to the match.