Soccer settles for draw after leading Akron
After 90 minutes of regular time and two 10-minute overtime periods against Akron, a Mid-American Conference victory continues to elude the Central Michigan soccer team.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw, moving CMU to 5-4-2 on the season and 0-2-1 in the MAC.
Junior Lexi Pelafas found the back of the net for the eighth time this season, scoring the lone Chippewa goal with a header from a corner kick. The goal came just eight minutes into the first half, assisted by freshman Sarah Mitchell.
The lead remained until just under six minutes left to play when Akron sophomore Ashley Amato drove in the tying goal that would lead to following two overtime periods.
"It's fairly demoralizing," said head coach Peter McGahey. "You basically have led for what amounts to the better part of 80 minutes, sometimes revitalizing and re-finding that energy is quite difficult.
"You just have to keep playing, the game goes on now," McGahey said. "You've just got to keep grinding."
The game did go on, however neither team managed to score in the extra 20 minutes of play as the game ended in a draw.
Injuries plagued CMU throughout the game. Senior Lauren Sherry and freshman Sarah Mitchell left the game.
"Lauren's is something that is an ongoing thing," McGahey said. "(Referring to Mitchell,) I have not had an opportunity to talk to the trainers and the doctor about what that is. Coming off, it just didn't look good."
CMU will have another chance at home to earn their first conference game of the season as they take on Buffalo at noon on Sunday. The Bulls the game with a 4-5-1 record overall and a 2-1 conference record.
"The hard part is that it become sort of an elusive bouncing ball," McGahey said. "You've just got to take care of our details a bit little better, you've just got o focus on execution and I think we all have to do a better job at owning our performances."
