Bowling Green State University Athletics
Women's Soccer Ready For The MAC
September 14, 2000 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 14, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, continuing a lengthy season-opening road sojourn, will begin Mid-American Conference play with a Friday (Sept. 15) contest at Central Michigan University. The Falcons (2-3-0) and Chippewas (2-4-0) will do battle in a 4:00 p.m. match at The Soccer Field Inside Bennett Track in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
Following the CMU contest, the Falcons of first-year head coach Andy Richards are idle for a full week, until a Sept. 22 road contest at arch-rival Toledo.
The Falcons will play eight matches away from home to open the 2000 schedule. BGSU's home opener will be Sept. 29 against Northern Illinois.
HEAD COACH ANDY RICHARDS Andy Richards is in his first year as a head coach, and has a 2-3-0 record heading into the CMU 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 Central Michigan enters the BGSU contest with a record of 2-4, after splitting a pair of 3-2 overtime matches last weekend. The Chippewas lost to Wright State in OT before beating Wisconsin-Milwaukee in double overtime, with both matches being part of the Chippewa Fall Classic. CMU is 1-2 at home this season. Three Chippewa players - Allison Campbell, Emilie Villemonte and Jamie Tekotte - have two goals apiece on the season. Head coach Mark Salisbury is in his third season with the Chippewas, and has a record of 22-20-2. He is 80-65-10 in his ninth year as a collegiate head coach. Last year, CMU went 14-6-1 overall and finished 8-3-0 in the MAC. More information on the team can be found at http://www.cmuchippewas.com.
THE SERIES The Falcons and Central Michigan are tied, 1-1-0, in the all-time series, and Friday's match will be the first time the teams have met in Mount Pleasant. Last year, the visiting Chippewas recorded a 2-1 win at Cochrane Field. BGSU had captured the first meeting, a 4-3 decision at Cochrane in 1998.
LAST TIME OUT The Falcons lost a pair of matches in Las Vegas, Nev., over the weekend. BGSU fell to Idaho on Saturday (Sept. 9), 2-0, before losing to host UNLV, 2-1, two days later. The Falcons lost a 6-3 decision at Detroit (Sept. 6) prior to heading west. Redshirt sophomore Tracy Gleixner scored a pair of goals in last week's action, one at UDM and one vs. UNLV.
QUOTING RICHARDS "We were very disappointed with the Idaho result, but encouraged by our performance against UNLV. In that UNLV contest, we were more passionate, more intense and more productive.
"Had we beaten Idaho, we would be relatively happy with our season right now. We would be 3-2-0 and feeling pretty good about ourselves.
"Central Michigan will be a good test for us. They have a very good head coach in Mark Salisbury. He is very well regarded, and I respect him as a coach and a motivator.
"They were picked to finish second in the MAC preseason poll, and we've been picked eighth. We are also on their home field, coming off three losses. With that against us, I still feel good about this team. I think we have the potential to shock some people in the MAC, and we would love to start with Central Michigan.
"We have been getting some good performances from a number of people. Beth Wechsler is just phenomenal right now. She started off great, and has gotten better.
"Lindsay Enser has established herself as a starter after not even making the season-opening trip, and her sister, Ashley, has been doing a great job of keeping the team together.
"Meredith Davis has filled in well for the injured Autumn Harris, and has shown that she deserves a chance at a starting spot. And, Leslie Hepfinger has done a phenomenal job for us as well, even when we played her out of position in the UNLV match.
"Mandy Smith, Janice Mentrup and Jill Conover also have done well. Really, every single person has done well. We have people that didn't make the 18-person travel party, but are playing well and are not far off.
"I think the UNLV match was a big step for our program. We probably played our worst match of the season on the trip (Idaho), but followed it with probably our best performance of the season. Hopefully, that could be a turning point for us."
NOTING THE FALCONS Beginning with the Central Michigan match, 11 of the Falcons' next 12 contests are against MAC foes ... senior Michelle Lisy has three career goals vs. the Chippewas, having scored twice in the 1998 meeting, and tallying BGSU's only goal in last year's match ... Ashley Enser and Tracy Gleixner also scored goals in the '98 CMU match ... Gleixner, playing for the first time since that 1998 season, scored a goal at Detroit ... Gleixner, who played the second half of that contest, scored with one minute remaining in the contest ... she also scored against UNLV in just 10 minutes of action ... Gleixner now has four career goals vs. UDM, in two matches ... she has 14 career goals in just 21 matches as a Falcon ... along with Gleixner, four other players made their season debuts at UDM ... freshmen Ashley Beel and Lindsay Enser made their first collegiate appearances, while sophomore Amy McIlwain and junior Stephanie Heller played for the first time this season.
MAC STANDINGS
Buffalo (4-2-0) 1-0 Eastern Michigan (2-1-2) 1-0 Ball State (4-2-0) 0-0 Bowling Green (2-3-0) 0-0 Central Michigan (2-4-0) 0-0 Marshall (4-1-0) 0-0 Miami (2-2-0) 0-0 Northern Illinois (1-4-0) 0-0 Ohio (2-3-0) 0-0 Western Michigan (2-3-0) 0-0 Kent State (4-2-1) 0-1 Toledo (1-3-0) 0-1 (standings as of Thursday morning, Sept. 14)
