KALAMAZOO -- The second-seeded Western Michigan women's soccer team secured its spot in the Mid-American Conference Tournament Semifinals after defeating Toledo, 3-0, at the WMU Soccer Complex in the Quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon.
WMU will host the MAC Tournament Semifinals and Finals after top-seeded Ball State was upset by Akron, 4-3, on penalty kicks. This will be the fourth trip for the Broncos to the MAC Semifinals in the past five years and third under head coach Nate Norman.
Alex Ruffer, Kylie Nylen, and Candice Uhl all scored goals and Stephanie Heber made five saves to earn her ninth shutout of the season to extend the Broncos' unbeaten streak to unbeaten streak to nine games. The win also improved WMU to 6-0-3 at home this season.
"Our girls did a fantastic job," said Norman. "Toledo is a great team, they gave us a great game earlier in the season and they were very tough today. I thought they were playing really good soccer at the end of the year too. I was really proud of our effort today."
Western Michigan jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on Ruffer's fifth of the season just 4:05 into the first half. Nylen crossed the ball from the right flank to the top of the box and Ruffer one-timed it into the right corner of the net.
While WMU controlled possession, Toledo found ways to pressure, specifically on the counter attack. Late in the first half Italia Biondi twice had chances on the counter attack and fired off two shots on goal to test Heber and the Broncos.
"I thought Toledo was effective on the counter in the first half," Norman added. "It was great to get that first goal but in fairness Toledo definitely caused us some issues in the first half. I thought we did a better job in the second half of dropping and reading body language and knowing when to step, when to drop, and not letting anyone behind us."
Western Michigan settled down the possession in the second half and dropped back more to handle to slow the counter attack. In the 68th minute Liz Abro hit the cross bar after her shot was deflected by a Rocket defender in the box, resulting in a corner kick. Olivia Vollmers stepped up and curled an in-swinging ball into the box that was headed down by Lindsey Lee to Nylen and the senior midfielder kicked it into the netto put the Broncos up 2-0.
"We knew we had to win," said Nylen. "The first 15 minutes we came out and had so much energy. After the goal I felt we weren't playing as well as we had been but we picked it up in the end."
Uhl made it 3-0 in the 79th minute on her second goal of the season. Emma Kahn chased down a ball in the far-left corner and dribbled it near the box. She fired a low cross to Uhl at the top of the box and the sophomore forward spun and fired it into the lower-left of the net to seal the game.
Western Michigan outshot Toledo 12-7 on the day and had a big advantage on corner kicks at 9-0.
The Broncos will take on Buffalo on Friday in the MAC Semifinals at the WMU Soccer Complex. The time is still to be determined.
