Togba's Late Goal Lifts Falcons Past Kent State, 1-0

Sunday, September 26

Bowling Green, Ohio

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

4-6-1, 2-0-0MAC

Kent State

1-5-3, 0-2-0MAC

Kent State

Bowling Green

Tracy Togba's first collegiate goal proved to be the winner on Sunday vs Kent State (photo by Julie Alley)

September 26, 2010 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Arsenault makes season-high nine saves in shutout win.

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Freshman Tracy Togba scored her first collegiate goal with just 8:27 remaining in the second half, lifting the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team to a 1-0 win over Kent State Sunday afternoon (Sept. 26). The Mid-American Conference match was held at BGSU's Cochrane Field.

FINAL STATS - HTML | BOXSCORE - PDF
Scroll down for postgame interviews with Arsenault & Richards

With the win, the Falcons improve to 4-6-1 overall and 2-0-0 in MAC play. BGSU has won three-straight games, and head coach Andy Richards' club has begun MAC action with two wins for the first time since 2006. Additionally, BG is unbeaten in the last eight matches against Kent State.

The Golden Flashes drop to 1-5-3 overall and 0-2-0 in the league.

Junior Alyssa Zuccaro, who had her first collegiate hat trick in Friday's (Sept. 24) 4-0 win over Buffalo, assisted on Togba's winner vs. KSU. Zuccaro had seven points on the weekend, and has 12 points over the last three games, all wins.

Fifth-year senior Alexa Arsenault's season-high total of nine saves includes several spectacular stops when the match was still scoreless.

Zuccaro very nearly got the Falcons on the scoreboard with just five minutes gone. She worked a give-and-go with freshman Madeline Wideman, taking the return pass as she entered the penalty area. Zuccaro hit a slow roller that was out of the reach of KSU goalkeeper Kelly Sherwood, but the ball hit the far (right) post and bounced past sophomore Sarah VonderBrink, who was charging toward goal.

VonderBrink tracked the ball down, and played a short cross into the box, but Sherwood was able to grab junior Megan Amann's shot.

With 15 minutes gone, KSU's Kellyn Flanagan crossed the ball to Kelly Heaton in the danger area, but Falcon freshman Alyssa Carmack eliminated any chance of a shot by blocking the ball away from Heaton before she could get a boot on it.

Midway through the half, some hard work by Zuccaro led to the junior getting free for a shot from the right side of the six-yard box. Despite having a bad angle for the shot, Zuccaro hit it hard enough that Sherwood could only block it out of bounds for a corner kick.

Seventeen minutes remained in the first half when Arsenault made a spectacular save on KSU's Jessacca Gironda. The Flashes played a cross into the box from the left side of the pitch. A BGSU defender poked at the ball, but was only able to get a piece of the ball, which popped up into the air. Gironda, from just a few yards out, headed the ball toward the lower left-hand corner of the net, but Arsenault anticipated the shot and made a stellar diving stop, and BGSU cleared the ball out of harm's way.

Arsenault made saves on Annie Messer and Sara Henderson less than two minutes apart late in the period. Then, with under two minutes remaining before halftime, Falcon sophomore Keely Chandler got a head on freshman Ivi Casagrande's diagonal ball off of a free kick. But, the shot went directly to Sherwood. After playing to a 0-0 tie in their 2009 meeting, the teams went to halftime locked in a nil-nil draw in their 2010 match.

In the second half, neither team generated many quality scoring chances over the first 30 minutes. Midway through the period, a corner kick by Amann hit the leg of a KSU defender and headed toward the goal line, but Sherwood pounced on the ball in plenty of time.

BGSU built the attack as the clock moved under 15 minutes. Togba and Zuccaro brought the ball upfield, and Zuccaro's pass found Amann along the left side of the pitch. Amann cut back, moved along the end lline and slid a pass to Katie Stephenson. But, the senior co-captain's shot rolled to Sherwood, who made the stop.

Stephenson had a far more dangerous chance with 10 minutes remaining. Her hard shot, seemingly out of nowhere, glanced off of a defender and whizzed just wide of the right post. Only 90 seconds later, however, the Falcons would get on the board.

The winning goal came after sophomore Emily Rothwell played the ball forward to Zuccaro. The junior hit Togba with a cross at the top of the penalty box.

For an instant, it looked as if Togba might lose the bal to a pair of KSU defenders. But, the Falcon freshman fought to gain possession and took a few dribbles to the right, fending off the two defenders all the way. She calmly shot the ball across her body, past Sherwood and into the left corner of the goal for what would prove to be the winning score.

KSU had three shot attempts in the game's final three minutes, with Flanagan firing two of those shots. One such shot, with 2:40 remaining, was struck with tremendous force, but went just high of the target.

The visitors' last chance came with under 30 seconds left, but Arsenault grabbed a shot by Jenni Stapleton, and BGSU closed out the win.

Each team was credited with 12 shots, with KSU putting nine on goal to the Falcons' seven. Arsenault, as mentioned, made nine saves on Sunday, while Sherwood had a total of six stops.

The Falcons hit the road for the first time in MAC play on Friday (Oct. 1), taking on Eastern Michigan. Then, next Sunday (Oct. 3), the Brown and Orange will return to Cochrane Field to host reigning MAC champion Central Michigan.

FALCON NOTES
* The Falcons, as mentioned, are off to a 2-0-0 start in MAC play for the first time since 2006 ... BG has won the first two conference games for only the fourth time in program history ... the Falcons began the MAC schedule with three-straight wins in 2000, Andy Richards' first year in BG ... and, the Brown and Orange won the first two league contests of both the 1999 and that '06 season.

* BGSU has won three consecutive games for the first time in two years ... the Brown and Orange had a three-game winning streak from Oct. 5-12, 2008, against Akron, Ball State and Miami.

* BGSU now leads Kent State, 10-3-4, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons are unbeaten in the last eight meetings with the Flashes ... BG is 6-0-2 since KSU's last win in 2004.

* Believe it or not, the Falcons have posted seven consecutive shutouts vs. Kent State ... BGSU has not surrendered a goal against the Golden Flashes in the last 746:42 ... KSU's last goal from scrimmage vs. the Brown and Orange came on Nov. 2, 2004, late in the first half of a MAC Tournament quarterfinal-round match in Kent.

* Senior goalkeeper Alexa Arsenault has been in between the posts for the last four matches vs. the Flashes, and has gone a total of 380 minutes without allowing a goal in the series.

* Arsenault's complete-match shutout on Sunday was her second of the season and the 22nd of her career, extending her own school record in the latter category.

* Freshman Tracy Togba's goal was the first of her collegiate career ... it was also her first career game-winning goal.

* Junior Alyssa Zuccaro, who had a hat trick in Friday's win over Buffalo, assisted on Togba's goal on Sunday vs. KSU ... Zuccaro has a team-leading 15 points this season, including 12 in the last three games.

* The Falcons seem to be making a habit of providing 11th-hour heroics in Sunday matches ... over the last three weeks, BGSU has won three one-goal games on Sunday, scoring in the last 12 minutes of each match ... two weeks ago (Sept. 12), sophomore Sarah VonderBrink scored with just 6:26 left in the second half to give BG a 2-1 win over Cleveland State ... VonderBrink struck again last Sunday (Sept. 19), with a goal with 11:54 remaining in what turned out to be a 3-2 win at Indiana State ... Togba's goal vs. Kent State, as mentioned, came with just 8:27 left.

* BGSU has posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time this season, with Friday's 4-0 win over Buffalo and Sunday's 1-0 victory vs. Kent State ... the last time the Falcons picked up two shutouts in a row came last season, when BG beat those same two teams at the same venue ... last fall, the Falcons tied KSU, 0-0, in double overtime (Oct. 16, 2009), then downed Buffalo by a 1-0 count (Oct. 18, 2008).