Toledo, Ohio - The Toledo women's soccer team (6-5-1, 2-2-0 MAC) won 5-1 over Northern Illinois (1-11-0, 0-4-0 MAC) today to close out the weekend homestand. Senior captain Regan Price recorded her first goal of the year, and freshman Elbony Rodriguez tallied her second. Sophomore Sophia Lewis netted her second and third, and senior captain Hannah Scafaria continued her season of dominance, registering her 11th.

Scafaria's goal makes her the fourth Rocket in program history to score 11 goals in a season, and the first since Rachel MacLeod did it in 2011.
 
"I think we started strong with getting two goals early against a team that I thought came out hard," head coach TJ Buchholz said. "We were able to weather Northern Illinois' storm a little bit and then right away started to get behind them. Hannah starting off the scoring is just great, you need that, you need your senior leader to step in and score that first goal. I think once we got the first goal it just started to open up. Overall, I'm just happy with our total team performance. When you can get all of your key players into the game and are able to go deep into your bench, that's huge."
 
How it happened
The Rockets jumped on the Huskies early, with Scafaria opening scoring in the fifth minute of the match. Lewis opened up a breakaway opportunity and was able to play the ball to the left of the 18-yard box, allowing the captain to slot in her 11th of the season.
 
Toledo stayed on the attack and registered the second goal of the day in the 14th minute from Price. Price dribbled down the right sideline and sent in a bender that went bar down and rolled its way into the net, making things 2-0.
 
Six minutes later, an NIU counter attack led to a dangerous build up in UT's 18-yard box. The Huskies' Kyleigh Dominguez was fouled in the box and won a penalty kick. Her resulting chance beat sophomore goalkeeper Madison Perrin and brought NIU within one.
 
UT continued to throttle through the remainder of the second half, putting six shots up in a 20-minute time span.
 
Rodriguez, the freshman midfielder, netted her first of the season moments before the halftime whistle blew off. She sent in a rocket that rebounded off a defender and past NIU goalkeeper Megan Donnally. With the goal, Toledo entered the halftime break up 3-1.
 
The second half started exactly where the first left off. The Rockets quickly punched in another goal 36 seconds in thanks to Lewis finding space down low.
 
UT's final goal of the day came 10 minutes later when Scafaria returned Lewis' the favor and played Lewis a low ball that the sophomore lasered in.
 
Up Next
The Rockets return to action on Thursday, Oct. 4. UT travels up to Eastern Michigan for a 4:00 p.m. conference matchup in Ypsilanti, Mich.
 
 
 
Toledo 5, Northern Illinois 1
 
5' UT Scafaria,Hannah (11) Lewis,Sophia
14' UT Price,Regan (1) Lewis,Sophia
20' NIU DOMINGUEZ, Kyleigh (2) Penalty kick
44' UT Rodriguez,Elbony (2) Woodworth,Tatiana
45' UT Lewis,Sophia (2) Sidwell,Alena
55' UT Lewis,Sophia (3) Scafaria,Hannah
 
Cautions and ejections:
YC-NIU #24 (78:39)
 
Winning GK: Perrin, Madison (5-4-1)
Losing GK: DONNALLY, Megan (1-8-0).