Women’s Soccer Release Sept. 30, 2012

CONTACT: Brian DeBenedictis (419-530-4919)

AKRON, OH - Toledo wrapped up a fantastic weekend with a 2-1 triumph against Akron on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium - Cub Cabet Field. The Rockets also claimed a 3-0 shutout victory at Buffalo on Friday to improve to 4-7-1 overall, 2-1-1 in the Mid-American Conference.

"This was an important weekend for us in a lot of ways," said two-time reigning MAC Coach of the Year Brad Evans, whose squad won back-to-back matches for the first time this season. "We were able to show ourselves that we could discover different ways to claim points on the road. It doesn’t get any bigger than having two seniors step up on the road on a Sunday and deliver such valuable goals."

Seniors Megan Blake and Kristen Mattei each found the back of the net for the first time in 2012 to help the two-time reigning MAC regular-season champions move to 10-1-1 all time against the Zips.

The cross-division rivals exchanged shots in the first half before Blake gave the Midnight Blue & Gold a 1-0 advantage on a header off a corner kick from sophomore Kirsten Catloth at 44:03. Last fall, Blake scored one of her three goals on the season against Akron at Scott Park.

Akron (4-7-0, 0-4-0 MAC) knotted the score at 1-1 on Ashley Hughes’ team-high fourth tally of the season at the 62:33 mark. The goal was setup on helpers from Amber Kern and Katie Wise to draw the teams even.

Mattei then delivered her second match-winning score versus the Zips when she knocked home a free ball in the UA goal box following a corner kick. Two years ago on this same pitch, Mattei tallied her first collegiate score in the 106th minute to give UT a 1-0 double-overtime shutout win. Sophomore Alexis Tice was credited with the assist.

Between the posts, sophomore Kelsey Borowitz went the distance for the second time this weekend and was credited with two stops to record the important road victory.

For the match, UA finished with a slight 9-7 edge in shots, including Kelly DeNiro’s game-high three shots. Freshman Megan Connor led the Rockets’ attack with two shots.

"Today we challenged ourselves to work through this contest mentally," Borowitz said. "We came off Friday’s first MAC win and had to prove to ourselves that we could perform since we’ve struggled in Sunday matches so far this season. Today was an important milestone for our team to mentally push through and finish with a win."

The Rockets will look to continue their recent momentum when they open a season-long four-match home stand against MAC West Division rival Central Michigan on Friday, Oct. 5. The opening whistle is slated for 4:00 p.m. at Scott Park.

TOLEDO 2, Akron 1

UT: Megan Blake (Kirsten Catloth), 44:03
UA: Ashley Hughes (Katie Wise, Amber Kern), 62:33
UT: Kristen Mattei (Alexis Tice), 73:24

SHOTS: UT 7, UA 9
CORNER KICKS: UT 4, UA 2
SAVES: UT 2, UA 2
FOULS: UT 14, UA 7

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