Eagles Continue MAC Tournament Run Against Ohio

Soccer vs. Ohio - MAC Tournament
Date	Friday, Nov. 8 - 7 p.m.
Venue	Cochrane Stadium - Bowling Green, Ohio
Match Notes	EMU Notes
Live Stream and Live Stats	Y ouTube Stream \| EMUEagles.com
Twitter	@EMU Soccer \| @EMUAthletics

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – After defeating the second-seed Ball State University, 2-1, Nov. 3, the Eastern Michigan University soccer team continues its Mid-American Conference run Friday, Nov. 8 against Ohio University at 7 p.m. The match will be played at Bowling Green State University, the top overall seed and highest remaining seed in the tournament.
   The match will be streamed via YouTube live stream and also have live stats available. Those links can be found on the schedule page of EMUEagles.com. Additionally, the action on the pitch will be live-tweeted from the team's account, @EMUSoccer.

SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Michigan holds a 13-10-4 advantage over the Bobcats in all-time meetings. In their lone meeting this season in Athens, the Bobcats came away with the 1-0 win on a goal by Sydney Leckie.

MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY: This will be the fifth meeting between the two programs in the MAC Tournament, but the first in the semifinal round. The Eagles and Bobcats are tied, 2-2, in the tournament. Eastern Michigan won 1-0 in 1999 and 3-0 in 2013, while Ohio won 1-0 in 2002 and 3-1 in 2004.

RE-SCOUTING THE BOBCATS: The Bobcats finished the regular season with a 10-8-1 record and 5-5-1 mark in conference play. Ohio earned the sixth seed in the tournament, and defeated Western Michigan, 2-0 in the opening round of the MAC Tournament to improve to 11-8-1.
   The Bobcats' offense is led by Alivia Milesky, who has a team-leading eight goals and 22 points on the season. Junior Sydney Malham has been the consistent presence in between the pipes for Ohio, racking up 78 saves in 18 games played.

DUO OF THE WEEK: Redshirt junior Sabrina McNeill (Whitby, Ontario-Henry Street) and junior Haley Tausend (Barrington, Ill.-Barrington) were named the MAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, the final week of the regular season, Nov. 3. The honor marks the first time an Eagle has been named the conference Player of the Week since Kaylin Williams, Oct. 24 of the 2017 season. Additionally, this is the first time Eastern Michigan has swept the honors since Nov. 4, 2013, when Angela Vultaggio and Marisa Kozikowski were named Players of the Week.

SHE GON' BE BACK: McNeill's sixth-minute goal at Miami, Sept. 27, pushed her past the 40 career points mark. Adding a goal against Northern Illinois, Oct. 4, a brace Oct. 18 at Kent State, and goals Oct. 31 at Central Michigan and Nov. 3 at Ball State, McNeill became the 11th Eagle to eclipse the 50 career point mark with 20 goals and 11 assists over ger career.

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS: Redshirt senior Kristin Hullibarger (Brooklin, Ontario-Donald A. Wilson) became the 10th Eagle in program history to record 50 career points, Oct. 31 at Central Michigan. An assist to McNeill locked point number 50, and a later assist to freshman Amanda Cripps (Bradford, Ontario-Trinity Catholic) led her to 51. The Brooklin, Ontario native has recorded 20 goals and 11 assists over her career so far.
   Oct. 24 against Akron, junior Lindsey Shira (New Baltimore, Mich.-Anchor Bay) scored her sixth career goal to reach 20 career points. Adding a goal and an assist Oct. 26 against Buffalo, Shira sits at 23 career points.

LEADING THE OFFENSE: During Eastern Michigan's 2-1 win over Buffalo on Oct. 27 at Scicluna Field, Hullibarger and Shira each recorded one goal and one assist to win the game for the Eagles. The last time EMU had the same duo each score a goal and be the assist for the other person was Oct. 27, 2013 at Scicluna Field. The Green and White defeated Akron, 4-1, led by Cara Cutaia and Vultaggio's goals and assists. Both goals occured in the second half like Hullibarger's and Shira's.
   The event occured two more times that season: Aug. 23, 2013 and Sept. 22, 2013. In a 3-2 win over Detroit Mercy in August, Vultaggio and Cutaia were once again the offensive leaders for the Eagles. In a 4-0 win over Illinois State, Bianca Rossi scored from Cutaia, followed by Cutaia from Rossi. Both wins took place at Scicluna Field.

    Aug. 23, 2013 Sept. 22, 2013 Oct. 27, 2013
Goal:   Vultaggio/Cutaia        Rossi/Cutaia            Cutaia/Vultaggio
Assist:  Cutaia/Vultaggio        Cutaia/Rossi            Vultaggio/Cutaia

GAME-WINNERS: Shira has recorded three game-winning goals this season for the Eagles. Oct. 4 against Northern Illinois, Shira scored in the 62nd minute to seal the win. Oct. 6 against Western Michigan, Shira scored the momentum-changing first goal in the 70th minute and found the back of the net for the go-ahead goal in the 83rd minute. Oct. 27 against Buffalo, Shira recorded the helper on Hullibarger's goal to tie the game as well as scored her own goal to give the Eagles the win.

2 IN 1: Eastern Michigan has had two Eagles record a brace so far this season. First, Shira became the first Eagle to score two goals in a game, Oct. 6 vs. Western Michigan, since Hullibarger scored both goals in Eastern's 2-0 win over Kent State Sept. 21, 2018. McNeill followed, scoring a pair of goals Oct. 18 at Kent State.

2 DOWN, BUT NOT OUT: Eastern Michigan, down by two goals to Western Michigan, came back to score two goals the span of a minute to tie, and eventually complete the 3-2 comeback win, marking the first time in program history the Eagles have come back from two goals down to win. The Eagles came back from down two goals to tie Oakland, 3-3, Aug. 19, 2012.

DEFENDER ON OFFENSE: Shira recorded her first brace of her college career Oct. 6, 2019 against Western Michigan. The pair of goals pushed her to nine points on the season, exceeding her previous career-high of six points in a season. Oct. 27 against Buffalo, Shira had another offensively productive weekend as a defender, recording a goal and an assist to lead the Eagles to victory.

FIRST CAREER...: The first conference weekend of the season contained a couple milestones for Eastern Michigan soccer players. At Miami, Sept. 27, senior Aubrey Martin (Toronto, Ontario-Father John Redmond) recorded her first career point on an assist to junior Tessa Osborne's (Mentor, Ohio-Lake Catholic) 80th-minute goal.
At Ball State Sept. 29, sophomore Sarah Ash (South Lyon, Mich.-South Lyon) recorded her first career goal, assist, and points. Her first goal came on her first career shot, as well. Ash assisted on McNeill's goal in the sixth minute and scored in the 50th minute at Ball State for her first three points.

ROAD WARRIORS: Eastern Michigan played six consecutive road games for the third time in the team's 25-year history. After first completing the road swing in 2001, the Eagles repeated the feat a decade later in 2011.
The longest road swing the Green and White have taken occurred in 2008 for a seven-game non-conference road slate.

110 MINUTES WITHOUT A GOAL: Eastern Michigan and Youngstown State ended in a 0-0 tie after two overtime periods Sept. 13, 2019. This is the first scoreless draw for the Eagles since October 16, 2016 against Kent State. This was the 19th time in 25 seasons that Eastern has ended in a scoreless tie.

GOAL SCORING DEBUT: Cripps became the first freshman to score for Eastern Michigan in her collegiate debut since Vultaggio Aug. 19, 2011 in a 2-2 2OT draw with Pittsburgh.

OH, CANADA!: The 2019 Eastern Michigan roster features 11 Canadian players. The 11 members tie the 2018 roster record for most Canadian members of the team.

SUPER SENIORS: Returning for their redshirt senior seasons, Kristin Hullibarger and Peyton Davis look to leave their mark on EMU soccer. Hullibarger led the Eagles with eight goals and 21 points during the 2018 season and grabbed Second Team All-MAC honors. Hullibarger's 18 career goals to date ranks ninth all-time in program history.
Davis returns for her final season after sitting out the 2018 season due to injury. In the season prior, she led the team with five goals and 12 points while earning Second Team All-MAC and Academic All-MAC honors.

OFFENSIVE POWER: Of the 27 goals scored by Eastern Michigan in 2018, 26 were scored by returning members to the 2019 roster (Hullibarger (8), McNeill (7), Olson (3), Kerr (2), Frantz (1), Osborne (1), Cobetto (1), Frederick (1), Tausend (1), Chatzis (1)).

IRONMAN OF THE MAC: Scott Hall enters his 21st season at the helm of Eastern Michigan's soccer program. Hall is the longest tenured coach in the MAC, and his three MAC Regular Season titles are tied for the most in conference history. Hall has compiled a 197-176-53 career record and 123-85-27 mark in MAC play.

MAC PRESEASON POLL: The Eagles were selected to finish seventh in the Mid-American Conference in 2019 after finishing the 2018 campaign with an overall record of 10-11, 5-6 in the MAC. The Eagles return 23 of 26 members from the 2018 squad.

2019 MAC Preseason Poll
1. Bowling Green
2. Ball State
3. Kent State
4. Buffalo
5. Ohio
6. Western Michigan
7. Eastern Michigan
8. Central Michigan
9. Akron
10. Toldeo
11. Miami
12. Northern Illinois

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Stay connected with the Eagles all season long by following @EMUSoccer and @EMUAthletics on Twitter for all of the latest EMU soccer updates. Be sure to use the hashtag #EMUEagles.

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Players Mentioned

Sarah Ash

Amanda Cripps

Peyton Davis

Kristin Hullibarger

Marisa Kozikowski

Aubrey Martin

Sabrina McNeill

Tessa Osborne

Bianca Rossi

Lindsey Shira

Haley Tausend

Angela Vultaggio

Kaylin Williams

Eastern Michigan Athletics