Bowling Green State University Athletics
Women's Soccer Prepares For MAC Tournament Quarterfinal
October 30, 2000 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 30, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after completing the regular season with a pair of non-conference matches last weekend, begins the Mid-American Conference Tournament this week. The Falcons (8-9-1 overall, 5-5-1 MAC), seeded seventh for the MAC Tournament, will head to Ypsilanti, Mich., to face second-seeded Eastern Michigan University (11-6-2, 8-3-0 MAC) in the quarterfinal round Tuesday (Oct. 31). Kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at EMU's Scicluna Field.
The winner of the BGSU-EMU contest will advance to Friday's (Nov. 3) semifinal round, which will be held at the site of the highest remaining seed among the four quarterfinal-round survivors. The MAC Tournament championship match will be Sunday (Nov. 5) at the semifinal site. All start times for the semifinal and championship rounds are yet to be determined.
HEAD COACH ANDY RICHARDS: Andy Richards is in his first year as a head coach, and has a record of 8-9-1 heading into the EMU match. Richards, who came to BGSU after five years as an assistant coach at Oregon State University, was hired in April.
Ashlee Orr was named the BGSU assistant coach in late August.
THE OPPONENT: Eastern Michigan will bring an overall record of 11-6-2 into Tuesday's match, and the Eagles enter the MAC Tournament riding a seven-match win streak. EMU finished league play with a MAC record of 8-3-0, good for second place. Eastern won the last six MAC contests after starting conference play with a 2-3 mark. Last week, the Eagles played just once, posting a 1-0 win over visiting Detroit Wednesday (Oct. 25). EMU has gone 5-2-1 at home this season. Junior Amanda Kulikowski leads the team in goals (eight), assists (seven) and points (23) this season, while senior Sarah Willis has a goals-against average of 1.27 in the net. Head coach Scott Hall, in his second year, has a record of 28-10-5. Last season, in his first year as a collegiate head coach, Hall led the Eagles to the 1999 MAC Tournament title and an NCAA Tournament berth. More information on the team can be found at www.emich.edu/goeagles.
THE SERIES: The Falcons trail the all-time series with Eastern Michigan by a 3-2 count, and the teams are tied, 2-2, in matches played in Ypsilanti. Earlier this year (Sept. 24), Tracy Gleixner's goal at the 108:22 mark gave the Falcons a 1-0 double-overtime win. Erika Flanders made 10 saves, including a stop of an EMU penalty kick, en route to the shutout. Last year, in the teams' only meeting in BGSU, the Eagles recorded a 4-2 win (Oct. 15). The Falcons posted a 1-0 upset in the quarterfinal round of the 1998 MAC Tournament. Senior Michelle Lisy has scored two goals against EMU in her Falcon career, while classmate Ashley Enser also has scored vs. the Eagles.
LAST WEEKEND: The Falcons split a pair of home non-conference matches to end the regular season. BGSU posted a 3-1 win over Wisconsin-Green Bay Friday (Oct. 27), with sophomore Jill Conover involved in all of the scoring. She had the match-winning goal and added two assists in the win, while seniors Jamie Eshleman and Michelle Lisy also found the back of the net. Sophomore Erika Flanders made two saves in goal.
The Falcons dropped a 1-0 decision to Michigan State Sunday (Oct. 29), with the Spartans scoring the lone goal of the match late in the first half. Flanders again was credited with two saves.
BGSU'S MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The Falcons are appearing in the MAC Tournament for the second time in the team's four years. BGSU also qualified in 1998, as the sixth seed, and travelled to #3 EMU for the quarterfinal round.
In that contest, the Falcons posted a 1-0 victory, as Cari Combs scored the lone goal off an Autumn Harris through-ball at the 71:51 mark. Michelle Lisy made 10 saves in net to earn the shutout in the upset win.
The Falcons then faced second-seeded Northern Illinois in the semifinal round in Athens, Ohio. BGSU took the lead at the 28:19 mark on a Leah Rosner goal. But, the Huskies tied the match with just 8:22 left in regulation, then scored at the 117:58 mark of the second overtime stanza. The Falcons could not score in the remaining 2:02 (the overtime was not sudden death), and the Huskies captured the win en route to the MAC Tournament title. Lisy again made 10 saves in goal, and she was joined by Rosner on the all-tourney team.
NOTING THE FALCONS: BGSU's win over UW-Green Bay Friday enabled the team to tie the school record for victories in a season ... the 1998 team went 8-11-1 ... this year's team set a new record for regular-season wins, as the win total of the '98 team included one MAC Tournament triumph ... sophomore Jill Conover, after a four-point match vs. UWGB, leads the team in goals (five), assists (eight) and points (18) ... she has tied her own school record for assists in a season, and already ranks second on the BGSU career list with 16 ... interestingly, BGSU has tied the school record for overall wins despite posting the fewest home victories in a season in school history ... BG went 3-5-0 at Cochrane Field this year ... the previous three Falcon teams each won four matches at home ... the 2000 Falcons have won five matches away from home, going 3-3-1 in road contests and 2-1 in neutral-site matches ... BGSU's road record includes a 3-1-1 mark against MAC teams ... senior Michelle Lisy scored a goal in Friday's win over Green Bay, upping her school-record total to 18 career goals ... sophomore Erika Flanders made two saves in each of the weekend matches, moving her season total to 101 ... she has broken her own single-season mark of 91, set last year, and she holds the record with 192 career saves ... BGSU's seven seniors - Leslie Buse, Ashley Enser, Jamie Eshleman, Autumn Harris, Stephanie Heller, Lisy and Janice Mentrup - were honored prior to Sunday's match vs. Michigan State in "Senior Day" festivities ... BGSU's 5-5-1 MAC record is the school's best ever ... the previous best was a 4-5-1 mark in 1998 ... the Falcons went 2-0-1 this year vs. the teams seeded first through third for the MAC Tournament, but BG was 3-5-0 vs. the rest of the league ... as mentioned, Lisy holds the BGSU record with 18 career goals, while redshirt sophomore Tracy Gleixner has 16 ... Conover has 11 goals, while senior Stephanie Heller and Krista Shamblin each have 10 goals to tie for fourth on that career list ... Lisy is the career points leader with 47, followed by Gleixner (39), Conover (38), Mentrup (36) and Heller (29) ... Mentrup is the career assist leader with 22, followed by Conover (16), junior Beth Wechsler (13), Lisy (11) and Heller and Ashley Enser (9 apiece) ... four players - seniors Ashley Enser and Mentrup and juniors Leslie Hepfinger and Mandy Smith - have started every match this season ... Ashley Enser and Mentrup have started all 75 contests in the history of the program ... Conover, BGSU's leading scorer this year with 18 points, also led the Falcons in league play ... she had nine points in league action, followed by Mentrup with seven.
BGSU CAREER SCORING LEADERS
Goals Assists Michelle Lisy 18 Janice Mentrup 22 Tracy Gleixner 16 Jill Conover 16 Jill Conover 11 Beth Wechsler 13 Stephanie Heller 10 Michelle Lisy 11 Krista Shamblin 10 Ashley Enser 9 Janice Mentrup 7 Stephanie Heller 9 Autumn Harris 7 Four with 7 (Tracy Gleixner, Michelle Hoyng, Mandy Smith and Stefanie Sizemore each have/had seven career assists)
Points G- A=Pts. Michelle Lisy 18-11=47 Tracy Gleixner 16- 7=39 Jill Conover 11-16=38 Janice Mentrup 7-22=36 Stephanie Heller 10- 9=29 Krista Shamblin 10- 4=24 Beth Wechsler 5-13=23 Ashley Enser 5- 9=19 Autumn Harris 7- 4=18 Desiree Erb 5- 4=14
MAC STANDINGS
Team (Overall) MAC Pts. Buffalo (13-5-1) 8-2-1 25 Eastern Michigan (11-6-2) 8-3-0 24 Central Michigan (10-9-0) 7-4-0 21 Miami (10-8-0) 7-4-0 21 Ohio (10-8-0) 7-4-0 21 Western Michigan (9-8-2) 5-4-2 17 Bowling Green (8-9-1) 5-5-1 16 Toledo (5-11-1) 4-6-1 13 Kent State (8-8-1) 4-7-0 12 Marshall (8-10-1) 3-7-1 10 Northern Illinois (4-14-1) 2-8-1 7 Ball State (7-10-2) 2-8-1 7 (standings as of Monday morning, Oct. 30) (MAC records are final)
MAC TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALSTues., Oct. 31 #8 Toledo at #1 Buffalo, 4:00 p.m. #7 Bowling Green at #2 Eastern Michigan, 2:00 p.m. #6 Western Michigan at #3 Central Michigan, 2:00 p.m. #5 Ohio at #4 Miami, 2:00 p.m.
