Toledo, Ohio - The Toledo women's soccer team (8-6-2, 4-3-1 MAC) is set for road matches against Buffalo (10-5-0, 4-4-0 MAC) and Akron (5-9-2, 2-5-1 MAC) in the penultimate week of Mid-American Conference regular-season action. The Rockets travel to Buffalo, N.Y. Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. contest before taking on the Zips at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.
 
The Rockets are coming off a tough home weekend that saw UT fall 1-0 to Ohio and tie Kent State, 0-0. Toledo and Ohio faced off on Friday in a close match where the Bobcats' Bryce Hueber scored off a free kick in the 49th minute to lift Ohio past UT for the first time since 2013.
 
Sunday's tie against the Golden Flashes was a grind for both sides. Kent State put up 11 shots to Toledo's 14 but both sides' defenses and goalkeepers worked diligently to keep the ball out of their respective nets. The match marked the first tie between the programs since 2004 (1-1 at KSU) and was UT's first tie since Aug. 19 when the Midnight Blue and Gold played to a 1-1 draw at Wright State.
 
Playoff Picture
This is the final full-weekend of conference action before the MAC postseason begins on Sunday, Oct. 28. The top eight programs in the conference enter into the quarterfinals, with the highest four seeds hosting. If the playoffs started today, defending MAC champion Toledo, whose record is dead even with Kent State and has 13 points in the MAC, would be the No. 5 seed ahead of Kent State, Buffalo (12 points) and Central Michigan (12 points; 6-10-0, 4-4-0 MAC), and would be playing No. 4 seed Ohio (14 points; 6-6-3, 4-2-2 MAC).
 
UT is currently sitting behind Bowling Green (24 points), Ball State (16 points), WMU (15 points) and Ohio. After this weekend, Toledo has one more match in the regular season, an Oct. 25 contest at BGSU.
 
Last year the Midnight Blue and Gold entered the 2017 postseason as the No. 3 seed. The Rockets won 2-1 over WMU in the quarterfinals before beating BSU 2-1 (2OT) and BGSU 2-1 (OT) to claim its first conference title since 2011.

Last time against Buffalo
UT fell 1-0 at home to the Bulls in last year's Oct. 15 meeting. Carissima Cutrona put Buffalo up in the 58th minute and the Rockets were unable to respond before the final whistle.
 
Scouting Buffalo
The Bulls are coming off a weekend split against Miami and Ball State. Buffalo grounded the RedHawks in a 1-0 road victory on Friday. Kaitlyn Walsh scored in the 12th minute with a header off a free kick to put UB up and give her side their first victory in October. Buffalo followed with a 1-0 loss to Ball State on Friday. The Cardinals earned a point in the 21st minute off a mishandled cross that rolled in for a UB own-goal.
 
Buffalo is 2-3 in its last five outings and comes to Toledo having won the last six meetings between the two programs. Cutrona leads her side with eight goals and eight assists on the year, and is assisted by Walsh and Marcy Barberic on the top line. Walsh has six goals and two assists this season to Barberic's five goals and seven assists.
 
UB's main goalkeeper has been Emily Kelly this year. Kelly is 10-2-0 with six shutouts and holds a 1.24 GAA and .783 save percentage.
 
Last time again Akron
The Rockets won 4-2 at home over Akron in October last season. The match was highlighted by UT's Sophia Lewis netting goals in the 40th and 67th minutes. Alena Sidwell and Isa Echeverri scored as well to launch Toledo past the Zips.
 
Scouting Akron
The Zips are coming off a split weekend as well, falling 1-0 to Ball State in double overtime on Friday and winning 2-1 over Miami on Sunday. Carly Pcholinsky and Angela Boyce earned the win for Akron, scoring in the 51st and 88th minutes respectively. Sunday's win was Akron's first victory since Sept. 23 when the Zips won 3-2 over Northern Illinois
 
Toledo leads the all-time series against the Zips, 13-2-2, and has not dropped a contest vs. Akron since October 2015. Sydney Worthy and Pcholinsky lead Akron with four goals and two assists each, followed by Ashley Amato who has three goals on the year.
 
The main presence between the sticks for the Zips has been Erin McKinney. She holds a 3-8-2 record with one shutout and holds a 1.32 GAA and .798 save percentage.