Fayette, Mo. - Behind three second half goals, including a brace from Nerea Munoz, the Central Methodist Women's Soccer team punched its ticket to the Heart Tournament title match with a 4-2 win over Benedictine College in the semifinals Saturday afternoon at Davis Field. 

The Eagles advance to the tournament championship for the eighth straight season, improving their overall record to 16-1-2. Benedictine falls to 13-5-2 and will wait to see if they earn an at-large bid into this year's national tournament.

Additionally, the win marked the 250th career victory for Dan Schmidlin as Head Coach of the women's program. It was also his 300th overall as a soccer coach at CMU, as he previously coached the men from 2008-2013 where he recorded an additional 50 wins.

Central struck first with a goal in just the fourth minute of play, as Jenna Brouwer found Sara Garcia up field, who then dished off a nice pass to Mariana Barreto for the score, her 24th of the year. 

Benedictine responded with back-to-back goals in the 22nd and 25th minutes to take a 2-1 lead over Central. The Eagles did not find the equalizer in the latter stages of the half, as they went into the locker room trailing by a goal. 

CMU would adjust in the second half and quickly tied the game following a freekick goal from Nerea Munoz from 20 yards out. The junior defender curled the ball into the upper left corner of the goal for the equalizer in the 48th minute. 

Less than four minutes later, Moka Ishii got in on the scoring, sending a shot that hit off the left post and snuck into the net for the go ahead goal. It marks the first goal for Ishii in a CMU uniform. 

Munoz put the game out of reach with her second goal of the match on a free kick that found the upper right corner in the 61st minute. 

The Eagles controlled possession for most of the second half, finishing the final 45 with eight shots taken. For the match, Central tallied 16 shots, including 11 on goal. 

Goalkeeper Brooke Assur got the start in goal for the first 45, before Abigail Hunt came in relief for the final 45 to earn her first win of the year. 

Central will face a familiar foe in No. 2 seeded Missouri Valley College for the tournament title Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 7:00 p.m. at Davis Field. 

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