Miami University women’s soccer coach Bobby Kramig, in his 30th season with the RedHawks, couldn’t have imagined his team winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship at the start of the season.

Young and inexperienced, but talented, it was going to take more than X’s and O’s for the RedHawks to capture their first conference tournament title since 2002.

“When we started talking about values, character, you know, not so much the things out on the field, but the type of team we wanted to have, the type of personality we wanted to have and the things that were important to us,” Kramig said after top-seeded host Miami’s 2-1 win over second-seed Central Michigan in the championship game Sunday afternoon. “When we put those things in place, the way the kids embraced that, it just went from there and took on a life of its own.”

Sunday’s victory extended Miami’s school-record unbeaten streak to 15 games and sent the RedHawks (19-2-1) to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.

“This whole season has been a dream come true,” senior forward Jess Kodiak said.

MU will find out its next opponent today when the NCAA announces the regional brackets at 4:30 p.m.

“I know teams won’t be expecting our speed and strength, so we want to go out and press some teams and keep going,” said Kodiak, who leads the team in points with 35 (12 goals, 11 assists).

The senior midfielder, who scored two goals with an assist in Miami’s 3-1 win against Kent State in the semifinals Friday, helped the RedHawks jump out to an early lead vs. Central.

Kodiak found Haley Walter streaking through the box and the freshman forward made it 1-0 with a sliding kick in front of the goalkeeper in the 4th minute.

Both Kodiak and Walter received MAC All-Tournament Team honors. Junior midfielder Kayla Zakrzewski and sophomore defender Courtney Zanotti also made the team.

The Chippewas (15-7-1) responded just before the half, tying the game on a shot from three yards out near the far post.

But Miami, which was outshot 9-7, took control in the second half after the most unlikely of players scored the game-winner.

A Walter pass from the right corner found Katy Dolesh deep in the box, who sent a ball into Hailey Pleshakov. The sophomore forward, who had seen only a handful of minutes throughout the season, headed the pass into the back of the net.

“(Pleshakov) hit it with her hamburger,” Kramig joked. “She absolutely hates heading the ball and she’s honesty not very good at it, she’ll be the first to tell you that. For her to score that goal at that time in that game was just absolutely remarkable.”