Toledo ends MAC losing streak, wins two at home

The Toledo women’s soccer team earned their first two Mid-American Conference wins over the weekend while at home; the first 2-0 against rival Bowling Green on Friday, and the second 1-0 versus Eastern Michigan on Sunday.

The Rockets (6-9-0, 2-4 MAC) put on a dominate display of offense against the Falcons on Friday in their 2-0 victory.

“It was a big game for us to win against Bowling Green,” said Head Coach T.J. Buchholz. “We still treat it like any other conference game, but anytime you can beat them its a little more special.”

UT fired a season-high 26 shots with 15 of those shots on goal and also won a season-high seven corners.

Freshman goalie Katie Wilson made her first start in goal as a Rocket and recorded a shutout, making three saves in the process.

“She’s [Katie] done really well,” Buchholz said. “She came in last week about halfway through one of our games in the conference and showed up ready to play so we made the decision to start her this weekend in both our conference games and she came up big.

“As a freshman, you never know how they’re going to respond to this opportunity.”

BGSU keeper Lauren Cadel did her best to contain the damage, coming up with 13 saves that day.

Sophomore Sophie Pohl would get the Rockets on the scoreboard first with her third goal of the season in the 53rd minute from a ball in by senior Geri Siudzinski. Siudzinski leads the team with five assists on the season.

Just three minutes later, sophomore Regan Price scored her second goal of the year on a shot from just inside the box, enough to ice the game for UT’s first conference win of the season.

On Sunday Toledo kept the momentum going against Eastern Michigan, recording their second consecutive shutout with a 1-0 victory.

Toledo’s offense was firing on all cylinders again with 15 shots and six on goal.

Junior Kiersten Johnson found the match winner in 70th minute off of an assist from junior Brooke Maletic. With the goal, Johnson now leads the team with four goals on the season.

“Kiersten is a great scorer,” Buchholz said. “She’s got unbelievable speed and I think she uses that to her advantage. She has had a lot of opportunities on the left wing to score and has put a lot of hard work into making sure that she gets those chances.”

The backline for the Rockets continued their solid play as they allowed just three shots on goal and gave up just a single corner in Sunday’s matchup.

“I think we’re doing fine,” Buchholz said. “We had a rough stretch in the beginning part of conference play where we were playing good enough to win games but we weren’t getting the goals.”

Toledo will try to continue their recent winning streak on Friday, Oct. 16, when they travel east to face the defending MAC champions Buffalo at 5 p.m. UT will then travel back to the buckeye state to take on the Akron Zips on Sunday, Oct. 18, at noon.