OXFORD, Ohio – A short week of preparation is on tap as the Miami soccer team looks to make up some ground in the Mid-American Conference standings this week.
The RedHawks travel to Western Michigan for a Thursday afternoon (4 p.m.) showdown before opening up a three-match home stand against Northern Illinois on Sunday (1 p.m.).
Miami (2-8-1, 0-4 MAC) dropped a pair of road contests at Ohio and Kent State over the weekend.
Soph Spinell scored MU's lone goal of the weekend in Sunday's setback at KSU, the first of her career, while freshman
Lauren Parker was pressed into action in goal and made seven saves in relief of
Patricia Koutoulas.
The Broncos (9-3, 3-1 MAC) suffered their first conference loss of the year on Sunday, falling to Bowling Green 2-0. That snapped a four-match winning streak for Western Michigan. WMU is fourth in the MAC in both scoring (1.83 goals per match) and goals against average (1.08) and have three players with at least 10 points, led by Grace Labadie's 13 (3g, 7a). Alyssa Burke and Bailey Kohorn are tied for the team lead with four goals each. In goal, every second has been played by Hannah Sargent, who boasts a 1.08 goals against average, a .787 save percentage and five solo shutouts.
Northern Illinois (1-11, 0-4 MAC) has dropped its last five contests and is the league's lowest scoring team (0.5 goals per match) while its 3.03 goals against average is the highest in the conference. Trudy Quidzinski and Kyleigh Dominguez are tied for the NIU lead with two goals apiece while Megan Donnally has picked up the bulk of the time in net and holds a 2.51 goals against average with a .747 save percentage and a shutout.
Thursday's contest at Western Michigan will be carried on ESPN+ (subscription required). Live stats will be provided for both matches.
Free Kicks
All-Time Series: Miami is 15-7-2 all-time against Western Michigan and 15-5-3 against Northern Illinois. The RedHawks dropped one goal decisions to both last year, falling 1-0 to the Broncos and 2-1 (overtime) to the Huskies.
The Kids Can Play: Miami has spread out its scoring to this point while breaking in a freshman heavy lineup. Seven different players have scored Miami's nine goals this season, four of which have been freshmen. Nineteen of Miami's 30 points (6 goals, 7 assists) have been contributed by its freshman class.
Slow Starts: The RedHawks hope to get out of the gates a little faster as it has allowed the first goal in 10 of 11 contests. Miami has fought back to answer an opening score in three of those outings, including a 2-1 comeback win over Evansville on Sept. 2, but has been outscored 11-2 overall in the first half this season.
Search for Scoring: Offense has been hard to come by for the Red & White the last few seasons and last year saw them score just nine goals in their 18 contests, six fewer than their previous low mark for a season. A good amount of the freshmen were brought in to address the team's attack as it looks to reverse a trend.
Miami scoring by season (per match; record)
2012: 60 (2.50; 20-3-1)
2013: 36 (1.71; 11-6-4)
2014: 31 (1.63; 14-3-2)
2015: 21 (1.00; 11-8-2)
2016: 15 (0.79; 8-9-2)
2017: 9 (0.50; 2-15-1)
2018: 9 (0.82; 2-8-1)
