The Falcons women’s soccer team defeated the Buffalo Bulls 3-1 on Sunday afternoon to take the quarterfinal round of the Mid-American Conference playoffs.
The first half saw both teams go scoreless until less than 10 minutes remaining, as Buffalo scored the opening goal at the 36:03 mark. They would hold the 1-0 advantage to the end of the half as the Falcons struggled offensively, as they were unable to get any shots on net in the first.
“I think the occasion got to us a little bit in the first half,” Falcons head coach Ryan Fannon said. “We weren’t playing like ourselves and all due respect to Buffalo, they came out and were fantastic, they did a really good job.”
However, the team rebounded well in the second half, as junior midfielder Erica Hubert scored at 55:02 on the team’s first shot on goal of the game to draw it back even. Just over five minutes later, however, senior defender Rachel Winters capitalized on another scoring chance to put the Falcons ahead for the first time on the afternoon 2-1. The team was able to hold onto the slim lead, however Hubert was able to put in an insurance goal with just over 10 minutes remaining, which the team would hold onto to claim the 3-1 victory, as well as punch their ticket to the semifinal round of the MAC playoffs.
“We asked the girls to change things a few things around in the second half,” Fannon said. “Honestly I think what changed it for us was getting the goal. We relaxed a little bit and that came from just an incredible pass from Maddie Schupbach and an unbelievable finish as well and I think that once that happened, we all relaxed a little bit and we were ready to play.”
The team also feels that the refocusing at halftime was what allowed the momentum to change.
“For us, we had to get our game and we had to get back to doing what our game plan was,” Sophomore goalkeeper Victoria Cope said. “Once we figured that out, we had success and as you can see the result worked out in our favor.”
The team is also looking to keep their momentum from the win going into the semifinal round.
“It’s really easy to do because this group is so easy to work with,” Fannon said. “They bring the energy every day and I think that we try to let them do that, we try to give them the chance to come out and be themselves and they do that every single day, so we’re very lucky as a staff.”
The team will next play on Friday night on the road against the Kent State Golden Flashes for the MAC semifinal round.
