Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Upset Eastern Michigan, 2-1
October 31, 2000 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 31, 2000
YPSILANTI, Mich. - In a match played on Halloween, perhaps it was only fitting that the team wearing the orange uniforms came out on top.
Sophomore Jill Conover scored the match-winning goal and added an assist as the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team posted a 2-1 win at Eastern Michigan University. The Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal match was held at EMU's Scicluna Field.
Bowling Green, now 9-9-1 on the season, advances to the MAC Tournament semifinals Friday (Nov. 3). The seventh-seeded Falcons will take on sixth-seeded Western Michigan at 12:15 p.m. in Buffalo, N.Y.
The loss broke a seven-match winning streak for EMU, which ends the season at 11-7-2 overall. The Eagles had gone 8-3-0 in MAC regular-season play to earn the second seed for the tournament.
The Falcons got on the board with 11:51 left in the first half on a goal by senior Ashley Enser. Conover backheeled the ball to redshirt sophomore Tracy Gleixner on the left side of the field. Gleixner sent a cross toward the center, but the ball deflected off the head of an EMU defender and high into the air. From the right side of the penalty box, Enser charged in and headed the ball past Eastern goalkeeper Sarah Willis, just inside the left post.
The match remained 1-0 until just 1:31 remained in the second half. The Falcons had the ball deep in the Eastern end, and an Eagle defender, attempting to clear the ball, instead sent a slow roller through the penalty box. Conover took the ball and blasted a shot into the center of the net, just below the crossbar.
With a two-goal lead, the Falcons relaxed a bit, and EMU took advantage. Just 29 seconds after Conover's goal, Eastern's Jessica Hupe picked up a loose ball and beat BG 'keeper Erika Flanders.
The Eagles threatened, but could not score the equalizer in the final 1:02.
The win enabled the Falcons to improve upon the school record for victories in a season. Prior to this fall, the best record for the fourth-year Falcons was a 8-11-1 mark in 1998. That season marked the only other time the Brown and Orange qualified for the MAC Tournament, and BG (seeded sixth that year) went on the road to post a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over EMU.
Eastern Michigan, the 1999 MAC Tournament champions, lost at home to the Falcons for the second time this season. BGSU posted a 1-0 double-overtime win on a Gleixner goal on Sept. 24.
Since the MAC instituted the sport of women's soccer for the 1997 season, Eastern Michigan has posted a 19-3-3 home record against league schools (regular-season and tournament). All three losses have come at the hands of the Falcons.
Not surprisingly, first-year Falcon head coach Andy Richards was pleased with his team's play at Eastern.
"This was probably the best performance this season, because of the way we managed to put a competitive game together with some composure," said Richards.
"We scored two very good goals, and, frankly, were the better team today. When we beat them in the regular season, we basically were able to hang in there and put in an overtime goal. But, today, I felt like we were the better team.
"I have all the respect in the world for Eastern Michigan and (head coach) Scott Hall. They have a quality team, and that makes today's win all the more special. This was a major win for this program, and for it to be a tournament win against a team like EMU accentuates the level of our performance today.
"The quality of the goals by Ashley and Jill impressed me, as did the incredibly mature and composed performance by Erika in the goal.
"I think we made a statement within the MAC today, and I hope that people out there looking at BGSU might think that this is a good time to become a part of the program. We have beaten the very best -- we've now beaten Eastern twice on their own field -- and I think maybe today's win will make people take notice of our program."
EMU held a 21-11 advantage in shots, including an 8-6 edge in shots on goal. Flanders made seven saves en route to the win, while Willis made four stops on the day.
The Falcons have now played a total of four matches in 2000 against the teams seeded first (Buffalo), second (EMU) and third (Central Michigan), and BG has posted a 3-0-1 record in those matches.
Eastern Michigan is BGSU's most frequent opponent in women's soccer, as the teams have now met six times. Tuesday's BGSU win evened the BG-EMU all-time series at 3-3-0, and the Falcons are now 3-2 in matches held in Ypsilanti.
For Conover, the match-winning goal was her third of the season, tying the school record. Kerry McKee had three game winners in 1997, as did Gleixner in '98.
Conover's assist was her ninth of the season, setting a new BGSU single-season record in that category. She broke her own record of eight, set as a freshman last fall.
Ashley Enser was injured early in the second half, as she was struck in the face by a hard EMU shot attempt. She did not return to the match.
Other Tuesday quarterfinal action saw sixth-seeded WMU earn a 2-1 road win over third-seeded Central Michigan, while top-seeded Buffalo beat #8 seed Toledo, 2-0. Fourth-seeded Miami won over fifth-seeded Ohio by a 1-0 score.
Buffalo will take on Miami in a 5:00 p.m. match Friday. The semifinal winners will meet in Sunday's (Nov. 5) championship match in Buffalo.
