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Western Michigan
Women's Soccer Ties Western Michigan, 1-1, on Senior Night
October 19 | Women's Soccer
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AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron women's soccer team tied Western Michigan, 1-1 in double overtime, on Senior Night in a Mid-American Conference contest Friday night at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field. Prior to the match, the Zips honored seniors Ashley Hughes, Kirsten Schulte and Katie Wise for their contributions to the women's soccer program.
Sophomore midfielder Karina Atkinson scored her second goal of the season in the 41st minute for Akron off an assist from junior midfielder Kelly DeNiro. With her assist, DeNiro moved into a tie for first place in career assists in the Akron's women's soccer record book.
Akron's (5-10-1, 1-7-1 MAC) first opportunity of the night was created by Wise as her shot from the right side of the box deflected out of bounds for a corner in the 10th minute. Five minutes later, the Zips put together a nice build up, but the final pass from junior defender Gillian Gross just missed Hughes in the center of the box.
Western Michigan (5-7-4, 1-3-4 MAC) would strike first at 25:52 as Rachel Chaney found Diana Dedvukaj in the center of the park. Dedvukaj took a couple of touches and hit a low strike that snuck inside the post to give the Broncos the 1-0 lead.
Freshman forward Megan Waskowski put Akron's first shot on goal just one minute after the WMU goal, but Bronco goalie Michelle Watson made the save. In the 38th minute, redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Alex Luevano-Harden made a fine double save on shots from Megan Putnam and Nicole Hatcliffe.
Then at 40:32, the Zips grabbed the equalizer as DeNiro played a great through ball into the right side of the box to Atkinson who finished to the far post. The match remained tied 1-1 heading into the intermission.
In the second half, DeNiro forced saves out of Watson in the 62nd and 78th minutes with shots from outside the 18-yard box. WMU's Putnam had a lofted shot from 25 yards that hit the crossbar in the 80th and DeNiro's free kick in the 83rd just missed finding the foot of Wise on the far post and the game moved to overtime still knotted at 1-1.
Neither team would find the back of the net in overtime as Akron's best chance in extra session was early in the second 10-minute period when Atkinson's shot off a Hughes through ball went wide.
In goal, Luevano-Harden played the first half and made four saves. Freshman Klaire Adee kept the Broncos off the scoreboard over the final 65 minutes and had three saves.
The Zips play their final home match of the season on Sunday as they host Eastern Michigan at 1 p.m.
Zips Notebook: The Zips and Broncos tied for just the second time in the series history … DeNiro moved into a tie with Jeannie Stuckey (2001-03) and Jordan Baranowski (2007-10) for Akron's career assist lead with 11 … DeNiro is eighth in UA history career scoring with 23 points on 6 goals and 11 assists.
