As the women’s soccer season winds down, things became more clear on which teams are going to stick around for the rest of November for Mid-American Conference Tournament play.
Eight of the 12 teams in the MAC will earn a bid. For some teams, that bid is without question. But for others, the struggle has been picked up to a new level of intensity as some teams vie for the remaining playoff spots.
As it stands, two teams – Ball State (4-11-0) and Northern Illinois (4-10-2) – have a slim chance of making the playoffs.
Then there are three teams all within about the same range, Western Michigan, Buffalo and BG. The Falcons are the worst of the three with a 5-9-3 (1-4-3 MAC) record. BG has three remaining games left to play, and all on the road.
‘We’ve got three games left,’ said coach Andy Richards. ‘If we win all three, we should be in. If we win two there’s still a chance.’
They still have to travel to the top three MAC teams – Central Michigan, Toledo and Eastern Michigan. That stretch won’t be easy for the team, but Richards is optimistic for the best outcome.
‘We’ve still got a very good chance of making it, which is where we want to be,’ Richards said.
Buffalo is right above the Falcons in the standings with a 3-12-1 (2-5-1 MAC) record, but since Bulls are coming off a 1-0 loss to BG, the Falcons would hold the tiebreaker if it came to that.
Western Michigan would currently earn the last playoff bid with a 5-7-3 (2-4-2 MAC) record. The Broncos have defeated BG this season, but did lose to Buffalo. Despite not picking up a win in their past weekend of games, the Broncos played very well against Eastern Michigan (0-0 draw) Central Michigan (1-0 loss).
The next tier of teams in the MAC standings is comprised of Kent State, Akron, Miami and Ohio. Kent State (7-6-2, 3-3-2 MAC) is coming off a tie with BG. That game helped the Falcons limit how many points KSU got, which is big for BG since Kent is only a few spots above them right now.
Akron (6-6-2, 4-3-1 MAC), Miami (8-6-1, 4-3-1 MAC) and Ohio is (7-6-2, 4-2-2 MAC) round out the middle section of the standings.
Eastern Michigan (8-3-5, 4-1-3 MAC) is third best in the conference. The Eagles did beat Michigan State, but they still have to play Central Michigan and Toledo. The Eagles also have the most ties by any team in the MAC.
Last year’s MAC champion, the Toledo Rockets, finds themselves second in the standings this year. Contributing to their success is that most of their starters have returned from last year’s championship team. The Rockets (9-5-2, 5-2-1 MAC) only trail Central Michigan, who they haven’t yet faced this season.
Central Michigan is the only double-digit win team right now in the MAC with a 13-3-0 (8-0 MAC) record.
Their three losses have all been to Big Ten teams, in Michigan, Michigan State, and Indiana. Besides that they have shut out the rest of their opponents. The Chippewas still have to play Toledo and Eastern Michigan though.
As the season and the semester both wind down things are getting pretty interesting. The top of the standings is clearly defined in the MAC, but the bottom provides an intense race to capture the last couple of playoff spots.