WHAC QUARTERFINAL PREVIEW: Women's Soccer set to travel to top-seeded Northwestern Ohio on Saturday

(Rochester Hills, MI) - The Rochester Christian women's soccer team begins the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament on Saturday afternoon, when they head down to Lima, Ohio, to face off against the Racers from Northwestern Ohio. RCU is making its fourth straight appearance in the WHAC Quarterfinals. 

GAME INFORMATION

#8 Rochester Christian Warriors at #1 Northwestern Ohio Racers

November 1 | 12 PM | Racer Field | Lima, OH

Live Video | Live Stats

ABOUT THE RACERS

The Racers are led by Head Coach Elisha Fry, who is in her third season in charge at UNOH. Fry has recorded a record of 42-13-7 in her three seasons. The Racers won their first regular-season WHAC Championship since 2019 this season. 

UNOH has the top offense in the WHAC and the ninth-highest in the NAIA this season, tallying 185 points on 63 goals and 59 assists. That offense is paced by Mathilda Berg Karlsson, who scored a WHAC-leading 13 goals this season and tallied 11 assists. The Racers saw eight more players record double-digit points, with Vivian Purmonen (20 points, 8 goals, 4 assists) and Risa Nishida (18 points, 7 goals, 4 assists) being second and third on the team. 

THE UNOH defense is also top in the country, as they are 13th in the NAIA and top in the WHAC in goals against average at 0.66. Sophia Eisner was the top goalkeeper on the team, making 16 starts in net, playing over 1,300 minutes. Eisner allowed a goal against average of 0.66 while making saves on 78.8% of the shots she faced with 26 total saves. 

ABOUT THE WARRIORS

The Warriors are led by Head Coach Skipper Mukhtar, who is in his third season leading the Warriors. Mukhtar has an overall record of 25-21-10 in his three seasons. 

Senior Olivia Howes paces the Warriors' offense, scoring 11 goals on the season, including becoming the all-time goal leader in program history. Senior Jenna Schodowski (14 points, 5 goals, 4 assists) and sophomores Makenna Kennedy (12 points, 3 goals, 6 assists) and Aliana Perez (12 points, 3 goals, 6 assists) all have aided the offense this season as well. 

The goalkeeping is led by freshman Brooklyn Perron with 16 starts in the net. Perron has recorded over 1,400 minutes in net, allowing 1.16 goals per 90 minutes, while making saves at an 82.2% clip with 83 saves. Perron has a 6-7-3 record on the season. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT (PREVIOUS MATCHUP)

The Warriors and Racers faced off a week and a half ago in a match that saw the Racers come out on top in a tightly contested 2-1 match. 

Brooklyn Perron started in goal for the Warriors, making four saves against the six shots she faced, while Sophia Eisner began in net for UNOH and made a pair of saves. 

All three goals were scored in the first half, with UNOH putting up the first two off the feet of Mathilda Berg Karlsson and Rhiannon O'Looney in the 12th and 26th minutes, respectively. RCU's lone goal of the match came off the foot of Mya Freeland, who scored off of Aliana Perez's corner kick. 

The shots in the match were fairly equal, with UNOH holding a slight advantage, 9-7, while RCU had the edge in corner kicks, 6-1. 

STAT COMPARISON

WHAC TOURNAMENT

The top eight teams in the final regular-season standings qualify.

Higher seeds host each round

Quarterfinals - Saturday, Nov. 1

Game 1: #1 UNOH vs. #8 Rochester Christian - 12 p.m.

Game 2: #4 Madonna vs. #5 Siena Heights - 12:30 p.m.

Game 3: #3 Aquinas vs. #6 Cornerstone - 12 p.m.

Game 4: #2 Lourdes vs. #7 Lawrence Tech - 12 p.m.

Semifinals - Saturday, Nov. 8

Game 5: #1/#8 winner vs. #4/#5 winner

Game 6: #2/#7 winners vs. #3/#6 winner

Championship - Wednesday, Nov. 12

Game 7: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6