Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
AKRON
Two Late Goals Lift Falcons Past Akron, 2-0
October 05, 2008 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 5, 2008
Final Stats
BGSU-Akron Boxscore in PDF Format 
AKRON, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team got two late goals on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 5). And, in what is fast becoming the norm, the Falcon defense posted yet another shutout. It all added up to a 2-0 win over Akron in Mid-American Conference action at Lee Jackson Field.
With the victory, the Falcons improve to 7-3-3 overall and 2-1-1 in MAC action. The Zips drop to 7-4-0 and 2-2-0, respectively.
Fifth-year senior Gina Rossi broke a scoreless draw with just 12:19 left in regulation, and sophomore Alicia Almond doubled the Falcons' lead, beating UA goalkeeper Katie Davis with just 5:02 remaining.
"Today's win was an exceptional one, particularly as Akron have been so strong at home this year," said BGSU head coach Andy Richards. "They are a very well-organized and well-coached team, and they have a few players, particularly in forward positions, who can really hurt you.
"It was a keenly-fought contest. We asked the team at halftime to be patient, and to keep doing the right things. We felt that, if we did, the result would go our way, and that's exactly what happened."
The Zips outshot the Falcons by a 17-11 count, and UA had a narrow 6-5 advantage in shots on goal. Davis made three saves for the home team.
At the other end of the field, redshirt sophomore Alexa Arsenault and the Falcon defense kept yet another clean sheet. Arsenault made six saves as BG posted its ninth shutout of the year, and the seventh in the last eight games.
Included in Arsenault's save total was a stop of a penalty kick by Britni Back, UA's leading scorer, in the game's 35th minute.
"Credit must go to Alexa," said Richards. "She made a fantastic save in the first half, followed by a penalty save, which was really the game-turning event. Had that gone in, it would have been very tough for us to get the win. It was a fantastic save, and really changed the momentum."
The Zips also had a pair of shots bounce off the post, with Giavonna Ferraro hitting the woodwork in the first half and Jessica Fix in the second.
The Falcons, in the person of Rossi, found the back of the net late in the second half. She brought the ball into the left side of the box and put her shot into the right corner of the net to give the Falcons the only goal they would need.
Almond notched her first goal of the year to give BG some insurance. The Falcon soph fired a shot from the end line outside the left side of the box, and putting the ball just inside the right post.
"We got a great goal from Gina Rossi, a very composed finish after some tough play from her at the top of the 18(-yard box)," said Richards. "And then, we got a wonder-strike from Alicia Almond to win the game.
"We are very pleased with this performance. We felt that we would have to grind out the result today, and we did. It is great to get a shutout today; this made up for a little bit of the disappointment of not picking up three points on Friday at Ohio. But, we know how tough it can be to pick up points on the road in the MAC, and a win and a tie is good stuff. We are really looking forward to playing at home next weekend."
The Brown and Orange will play a home game for the first time in three weeks, hosting defending MAC regular-season champion Ball State University on Friday (Oct. 10). Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field.
FALCON FUTBOL NOTES
* The Falcons improve to 2-1-1 in MAC play with Sunday's win ... all four of BGSU's conference games have been on the road ... five of the Falcons' final seven regular-season games will be played at Cochrane Field.
* Overall, BGSU is now 4-2-3 in road games this season.
* Sunday's game was the ninth shutout of the year for the BGSU defense ... the school record is 10, by the 2006 team.
* The shutout was BG's seventh in the last eight games.
* Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Alexa Arsenault picked up her seventh complete-game shutout of the season, tying the school record for an individual ... Erika Flanders set the record, with seven shutouts in 2002, and Ali Shingler matched that total in 2005.
* Arsenault now has 13 career shutouts ... she ranks third on that school list, trailing only Flanders (17 from 1999-2002) and Shingler (16 from 2001-05).
* The Falcon defense entered Sunday's game on a school-record pace for fewest goals allowed in a season ... and, obviously, BGSU did nothing to hurt that cause ... BG has allowed nine goals in 13 games, an average of only 0.69 gpg ... the school-record low is 1.30 gpg allowed, by both the 2005 and 2006 teams.
* The Falcons saw a school record-tying streak of four consecutive shutouts come to an end with a 2-1 loss at Northern Illinois on Sept. 26 ... but, BGSU has bounced back with three-straight shutouts, at Western Michigan, Ohio and UA ... the Falcons, after seeing a shutout streak of 425:34 end at NIU, now have blanked opponents for 364:50 since that time ... those streaks rank second and fourth, respectively, on the school list for consecutive shutout minutes.
* Arsenault has been in goal for the entire 364:50 of the current shutout streak ... Arsenault allowed the goals at NIU, with the first one snapping her personal streak of 380:34 ... that streak was the longest of her career and the fourth-longest in school history ... now, however, she is riding the second-longest streak of her career, and the fifth-longest by an individual in BG annals.
* Arsenault's 13 shutouts have come in just 26 career starts ... she has lowered her goals-against average to 0.70 this season and 0.76 in her career.
* Arsenault has 65 saves this year to date, topping her total (63) for all of last season.
* Arsenault has a GAA of just 0.47 in the four MAC games to date ... Arsenault and the Falcon defense have three shutouts in those four matches.
* At the other end of the pitch, fifth-year senior Gina Rossi's goal at Akron was her team-leading fourth of the season ... Rossi also leads the Brown and Orange with 10 points on the year.
* Rossi's 10 points represents a new career high ... she scored nine points as a true freshman in 2004.
* Rossi had the game-winning goal on Sunday ... that marked her first GWG since the championship game of the 2004 MAC Tournament (Nov. 7, 2004) ... on that day, Rossi scored the opening goal in a 2-0 win over Central Michigan, giving the Falcons the first MAC title in program history.
* Sophomore Alicia Almond scored her first goal of the season and the second of her career ... she also scored in last season's Northern Illinois game.
* Almond became the 14th different Falcon to score a goal this year ... that ties a school record set by the 1998 BGSU club.
* Almond's goal came on her first shot attempt of the season.
* The Falcons now lead Akron, 7-1-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... BG is 3-1-0 in road games against the Zips.
