Bowling Green State University Athletics
Women's Soccer Heads To MAC Semifinals
November 02, 2000 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 2, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after posting an upset win on the road in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament, now readies for the semifinal round. The Falcons (9-9-1 overall [5-5-1 MAC]), the tourney's seventh seed, will head to Buffalo, N.Y., to face sixth-seeded Western Michigan University (10-8-2 [5-4-2 MAC]) in the first semifinal match Friday (Nov. 3). Kickoff is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. at Buffalo's RAC Field.
The winner of the BGSU-WMU contest will advance to Sunday's (Nov. 5) championship match at UB. Friday's other semifinal match will pit the top-seeded University at Buffalo against fourth-seeded Miami University. The UB-MU match will begin at 5:00 p.m.
Kickoff for Sunday's championship match is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
HEAD COACH ANDY RICHARDS: Andy Richards is in his first year as a head coach, and has a record of 9-9-1 heading into the WMU 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: Western Michigan will bring an overall record of 10-8-2 into Friday's match, and the Broncos finished league play in sixth place with a 5-4-2 mark. On Tuesday (Oct. 31), WMU upset third-seeded Central Michigan by a 2-1 score in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament. Freshman Abi Morrell, who scored the first goal in that match, leads the Broncos with six goals and 14 points. Sophomore Mary Gignac is second on the team with nine points, including four goals. Junior Megan Ramey has played all but 90 minutes in goal this year, and has a 1.29 goals-against average and four shutouts. Mike Haines is 26-27-5 in his third year with the Broncos. He has an overall head-coaching record of 58-30-8 in his fifth season. The Broncos have qualified for the MAC Tournament in all four years of its existence, but Tuesday's win marked the team's first-ever tourney victory. More information on the team can be found at www.wmubroncos.com.
THE SERIES: The Falcons trail the all-time series with Western Michigan by a 4-0 count, and Friday's match will mark the first neutral-site meeting between the teams. Earlier this year (Oct. 1), Mandy Smith gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead, but the Broncos rallied for a 2-1 win. WMU captured a pair of 4-2 wins in the first two series matches, in 1997 in Kalamazoo and in 1998 at Cochrane Field. Last year, the host Broncos scored a 4-1 win. Smith also scored for the Falcons in last year's meeting, while current team members Tracy Gleixner, Autumn Harris, Stephanie Heller and Janice Mentrup have found the back of the net vs. the Broncos. Mentrup also has three career assists vs. WMU.
LAST TIME OUT: The Falcons posted an upset victory in the MAC Tournament's quarterfinal round Tuesday (Oct. 31), with a 2-1 road win over second-seeded Eastern Michigan. The loss broke a seven-match EMU win streak. Senior Ashley Enser got the Falcons on the board with 11:51 left in the first half, as she headed home a cross from sophomore Tracy Gleixner. Sophomore Jill Conover also assisted on the goal. The score remained 1-0 until the late stages. With just 1:31 left, Conover took an errant EMU pass and blasted a shot just below the crossbar. EMU would cut the lead in half just 29 seconds later, but the Falcons held the Eagles off the scoreboard for the final minute to preserve the win. Sophomore Erika Flanders made seven saves to earn the win.
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.
MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY (2-1):
1997 did not qualify
1998 QF - def. Eastern Michigan, 1-0
SF - lost to Northern Illinois, 2-1 (OT)
1999 did not qualify
2000 QF - def. Eastern Michigan, 2-1
SF - vs. Western Michigan
NOTING THE FALCONS: BGSU's win over Eastern Michigan Tuesday enabled the team to break the school record for victories in a season ... the 1998 team went 8-11-1 ... sophomore Jill Conover, after a four-point match vs. UW-Green Bay last Friday (Oct. 27) and a three-point contest at EMU, leads the team in goals (six), assists (nine) and points (21) ... she has broken her own school record for assists in a season (she had eight as a freshman last year), and already ranks second on the BGSU career list with 17 ... interestingly, BGSU has set a school record for overall wins despite posting the fewest home victories in a season in 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 six matches away from home, going 4-3-1 in road contests and 2-1 in neutral-site matches ... BGSU's road record includes a 4-1-1 mark against MAC teams (counting the tourney win Tuesday) ... 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 ... 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 ... senior Ashley Enser was injured early in the second half of the EMU match, when she was struck in the face by a shot attempt ... she missed the rest of that match, and will miss this weekend's action ... entering Friday, she has started every match in program history ... senior Michelle Lisy scored a goal in the win over UWGB, upping her school-record total to 18 career goals ... sophomore Erika Flanders made seven saves at EMU, moving her season total to 108 ... she has broken her own single-season mark of 91, set last year, and she holds the record with 199 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 ... 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 76 contests in the history of the program ... for Ashley Enser, as mentioned, those streaks are in jeopardy due to the injury suffered at EMU ... Conover, BGSU's leading scorer this year with 21 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 17 Jill Conover 12 Beth Wechsler 13 Stephanie Heller 10 Michelle Lisy 11 Krista Shamblin 10 Ashley Enser 9 Janice Mentrup 7 Stephanie Heller 9 Autumn Harris 7 Tracy Gleixner 8
Points G- A=Pts. Michelle Lisy 18-11=47 Jill Conover 12-17=41 Tracy Gleixner 16- 8=40 Janice Mentrup 7-22=36 Stephanie Heller 10- 9=29 Krista Shamblin 10- 4=24 Beth Wechsler 5-13=23 Ashley Enser 6- 9=21 Autumn Harris 7- 4=18 Desiree Erb 5- 4=14
MAC STANDINGS
Team (Overall) MAC Pts. Buffalo (14-5-1) 8-2-1 25 Eastern Michigan (11-7-2) 8-3-0 24 Central Michigan (10-10-0) 7-4-0 21 Miami (11-8-0) 7-4-0 21 Ohio (10-9-0) 7-4-0 21 Western Michigan (10-8-2) 5-4-2 17 Bowling Green (9-9-1) 5-5-1 16 Toledo (5-12-1) 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 Friday morning, Nov. 3)
MAC TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS Tues., Oct. 31 at campus sitesat 1-Buffalo 2, 8-Toledo 0 7-Bowling Green 2, at 2-Eastern Michigan 1 6-Western Michigan 2, at 3-Central Michigan 1 at 4-Miami 1, 5-Ohio 0
MAC TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS Fri., Nov. 3 at Buffalo, N.Y.7-Bowling Green vs. 6-Western Michigan, 12:15 p.m. 4-Miami at 1-Buffalo, 5:00 p.m.
MAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP Sun., Nov. 5 at Buffalo, N.Y.BGSU-WMU winner vs. MU-UB winner, 11:00 a.m.
