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Courtesy Photo | Western Michigan University Athletics
Western Michigan University's women's soccer team downed the University of Buffalo 5-0 Sunday afternoon to claim the school's first Mid-American Conference Tournament championship since 2015 and fourth overall.
BY DAN STICKRADT
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR | DIRECTOR OF NEWS
MICHIGAN SOCCER NETWORK | NATIONAL SOCCER NETWORK | PREMIER MEDIA GROUP
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KALAMAZOO, Mich. – This time around, there was a celebration.
A big one.
A year after being upset by Kent State University in the Mid-American Conference women’s soccer tournament semifinals and having its heartbeat halted, Western Michigan University atoned for that early exit last season with a resounding 5-0 victory Sunday over the University of Buffalo to claim the 2024 MAC Tournament championship for the first time since 2015.
Western Michigan (13-1-6, 8-0-3) will wait for its opponent in the 2024 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer College Cup Tournament on Monday at 4 p.m. when the NCAA releases its pairings.
The Bronchos have now outscored the opposition 47-14 this season, good for a 2.35 goals-per-game-average, and put up a five-spot on Buffalo – a team that had not conceded more than two goals in a game for the entire season. WMU did not lose a single game this season against MAC competition this season.
This marked the third time this season that the Bronchos have scored five or more goals in a single game. WMU scored a season-high six goals in a 6-0 home shutout on Sept. 22 of Miami-Ohio University and a 5-4 home win over Ball State University on Oct. 27.
This was also the second time that WMU defeated Buffalo this season, the other coming in a much closer style (1-0 victory) on Sept. 26 in Kalamazoo. The Bronchos finished 10-0-1 at home this season.
This time around, Western Michigan left no doubt on the pitch in ending its nine-year MAC Tournament and NCAA Division I tournament drought. Abby Werthman, Jen Blitchok, Jaden Peck and Brielle Gomez were all named to the All-MAC Tournament Team with Werthman getting the nod for MAC Tournament MVP.
After the Bronchos defeated Kent State 4-1 on Nov. 7 in the conference semifinals, exacting some revenge on last year’s semifinals loss, WMU continued the offensive juggernaut against Buffalo on Sunday to help finish off a conference tournament where Western Michigan outscored the opposition 9-1.
Werthman netted the hattrick in the finals to lead the way, while several others chipped in during the semifinals and finals victories to help secure the Bronchos’ fourth all-time NCAA Division I berth.
WMU came out in attack mode, peppering the Bulls’ backline and goal throughout the contest. The hard work finally paid off when Werthman struck first 37:04 into the contest with an unassisted tally.
That proved to be the game-winner and subsequently opened the floodgates for a rare offensive explosion in the MAC Tournament finals.
Peck made it 2-0 at the 54:48 mark of the second half with her third goal of the season coming off passes from Blitchok and Werthman.
It was the foot of Werthman who struck again less than two minutes later, this time lacing a shot into the back of the net at the 56:05 mark for a 3-0 advantage. Blitchok and Madi Canada drew assists on the play.
Werthman capped off her magical postseason tournament with her third goal of the game and 12th overall this season when she booted home her shot at the 81:13 mark off passes from Peck and Blitchok.
The Bronchos were not done just yet, as Blitchok reached the scoring column with her team-leading and national top-10-ranked 17th goal of the season courtesy of a Canada helper to cap off the scoring outburst for WMU.
Western Michigan ended with an 18-13 total shots edge in the contest, including 8-4 with shots on goal. Buffalo (11-2-7, 5-1-5) held a narrow 4-3 edge off cornerkicks in the contest.
Lauren Boafo made four saves for the team’s 11th shutout of the campaign, lowering the Bronchos’ team goals-against-average down to 0.70 on the season. Boafo has played in 17 games with 16 starts and has conceded just 11 goals all season. Her individual goals-against-average dropped to 0.67 with 42 saves in 53 chances and a sterling .792 save percentage and nine clean sheets.
Western Michigan is now on a six-game win streak entering the NCAA Tournament and are 11-0-5 in its last 16 games. The Bronchos have not lost since a 3-0 road setback to Creighton University back on Aug. 29.
(Have a story suggestion for the Premier Media Group and the Michigan Soccer Network regarding club soccer, high school varsity, amateur soccer, collegiate soccer or professional soccer involving teams, players or coaches with Michigan ties, contact Communications Specialist/Web and Content Editor/Director of News Dan Stickradt via email at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com or dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com, or call 248-884-1051 or 248-525-2349. Dan Stickradt is a 31-year veteran of the Michigan Media circles and recently joined the staff full time in March of 2024. Want to schedule a broadcast game or live show, contact PMG/MSN Director of Broadcasting Jonathan Turner for availability and pricing at jonathan@michigansoccernetwork.com and jonathan@thepremiermediagrp.com.)
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(MSN will compile a random sampling of game results from around the state each day. To send in results from high school varsity, club, amateur, pre-pro, semi-pro or professional soccer, email all pertinent details to Communications Specialist / Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com and dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com or submit information right on the correct link on the MSN website at https://www.michigansoccernetwork.com/reportascore. Please submit the competing teams, location and date of game, final score, overall and league records, goals, assists, goalkeepers and saves, standout defenders, players of the match, and any other pertinent details of the game. If there are courtesy action photos available, feel free to submit them at the above-listed emails.)
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