Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons To Play Three Times In Five Days
September 10, 2001 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 10, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, still unbeaten after four matches, faces a busy stretch of non-conference action vs. Ohio schools this week. The Falcons (2-0-2) of head coach Andy Richards will conclude a three-match homestand with a Wednesday (Sept. 12) contest against Youngstown State University. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at BGSU's Cochrane Field.
Following the YSU contest, the Brown and Orange will venture to Columbus for a Friday (Sept. 14) night match vs. Ohio State University. That match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Then, BGSU returns home to face Wright State University in a Sunday match, set to start at 2:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field. That contest will conclude a stretch that sees the Falcons play five times in 10 days.
The Falcons, after a win (2-0 vs. Samford, Sept. 7) and a tie (2-2 vs. Toledo, Sept. 9) last weekend, are undefeated through four matches for the first time in school history. The previous mark was held by the 1998 squad, which began the year with three wins.
HEAD COACH ANDY RICHARDS: Andy Richards is in his second year as a head coach, and has a record of 12-10-3 heading into the YSU match. Richards, who came to BGSU after five years as an assistant coach at Oregon State University, was hired in April of 2000.
Ashlee Orr was named the BGSU assistant coach in late August of 2000.
THE OPPONENTS: Youngstown State enters Wednesday's match at BGSU with a record of 1-3-0 on the year. Last weekend, the Penguins dropped a pair of matches at the Bengal Classic Tournament, losing to host Idaho State, 5-0, Friday (Sept. 7) and to Weber State by a 9-1 count Sunday (Sept. 9). Sophomore Jennifer Jacobs has a team-high two goals to date. A year ago, YSU finished 0-19 overall and 0-5 in Mid-Continent Conference play. The Penguins now compete in the Horizon League (formerly Midwestern Collegiate Conference). Head coach Liz Bartley, 7-33-1 in her third year in Youngstown, has a 38-55-2 mark in her sixth year as a collegiate head coach. The school's athletic web site is www.ysu.edu/sports.
Ohio State will enter the BGSU contest with a 3-1-0 record. Last weekend, the Buckeyes split a pair of matches at Storrs, Conn. OSU upset ninth-ranked Connecticut by a 2-1 score Friday, but fell from the ranks of the unbeaten, 3-1 to Boston College two days later. Freshman Lisa Grubb has seven points to lead the Buckeyes, while junior Lindsay Eckles has three goals to tie Grubb for the team lead. Freshman Jen Heaney is 2-1 with a 1.43 GAA in goal. Already, OSU is halfway to matching last year's win total, as the team went 6-13-0 overall and 1-9-0 in Big Ten Conference competition in 2000. Head coach Lori Walker is 43-37-4 in her fifth year with the Buckeyes, and has a record of 56-60-5 in her seventh season overall. The OSU athletic web site is www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
Wright State will take a 2-2-0 record into a Friday (Sept. 14) home match vs. Dayton. The Raiders lost to Miami, 3-0, Friday (Sept. 7) and beat Samford by a 2-0 score two days later. Senior Sharon Roscoe has four goals and 12 points through four matches, while freshman Kim Chianese has 11 points, including a team-high five goals. Senior Randi Freeman is 2-2 with a 2.49 GAA in the net. WSU is looking to win a fourth consecutive Horizon League (formerly MCC) championship, having gone 12-8-1 overall and 2-2-1 in league play last year. The Raiders have won the league tournament and advanced to the NCAA tourney in each of the last three seasons. Head coach Scott Rodgers has a record of 41-42-5 in his fifth year, all at WSU. The school's athletic web site is www.wsuraiders.com.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead the all-time series with Youngstown State by a 1-0 margin. BGSU closed the team's inaugural season, 1997, with a 7-2 home win over the Penguins at Cochrane Field (Nov. 2, 1997).
BGSU trails Ohio State by a 2-0 count in the series. The Buckeyes won a 3-0 contest in the state's capital in that 1997 season (Sept. 6, 1997), and OSU came to Cochrane Field and posted a 1-0 win two years later (Oct. 27, 1999).
The Falcons and Wright State are deadlocked, 0-0, but the teams actually have met before. Last Oct. 4, the squads played nearly 17 scoreless minutes of a scheduled match in Dayton, before the contest was called due to an electrical storm.
RECAPPING LAST WEEK: The Falcons went 1-0-1 last weekend, with a Friday win and a Sunday tie for the second consecutive week ... junior Jill Conover and freshman Kristy Coppes scored goals, and junior Erika Flanders posted her second shutout of the season, as BGSU posted a 2-0 win over Samford in Friday's (Sept. 7) home opener ... Conover also had an assist in the match, while Flanders made six saves in net ... on Sunday (Sept. 9), BGSU tied Toledo, 2-2 ... Coppes and senior Beth Wechsler scored the Falcon goals ... Wechsler, who converted a penalty kick, also had an assist on the Coppes score ... Flanders made 10 saves ... the contest was delayed for 40 minutes in the second half due to lightning.
THIS TEAM LOOKS FAMILIAR: Falcon assistant coach Ashlee Orr is a graduate of BGSU's Friday foe, Ohio State ... Orr, who began her collegiate tenure at the U.S. Naval Academy, transferred to OSU and earned a letter as a junior in 1997 ... she played in 21 matches that year, making 20 starts for head coach Lori Walker ... one start, incidentally, came in the Buckeyes' 3-0 win over BGSU (Sept. 6, 1997) ... she was elected a team captain in 1998, but was forced to sit out the season as a redshirt, then was unable to play in 1999 due to a recurring injury.
CAPTAIN'S LOG: Seniors Leslie Hepfinger, Mandy Smith and Beth Wechsler are BGSU's tri-captains for the 2001 season.
FLANDERS IS FIRST (AND SECOND, AND ...): Toledo's first goal Sunday (Sept. 9) ended a shutout streak of 242:08 for BGSU junior goalie Erika Flanders ... that streak, the second-longest in school history, was less than four minutes shy of the BGSU record ... Flanders owns that record, and now has the four longest scoreless streaks in BGSU annals.
CONSECUTIVE SHUTOUT MINUTES
245:55 Erika Flanders, 10/1-15/00 242:08 Erika Flanders, 9/2-9/00 216:22 Erika Flanders, 9/5-18/99 213:28 Erika Flanders, 9/22-29/00 171:38 Michelle Lisy, 11/3-6/98
FLANDERS EARNS NATIONAL HONORS: Erika Flanders earned several national honors last week, for her play during the season's opening weekend ... on Wednesday (Sept. 5), Flanders was named to the Soccer America Team of the Week, and also was chosen to the Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the Week ... each team is comprised of 11 players from around the country, chosen on the basis of their play during the previous week's action ... Flanders, who had been named the MAC Player of the Week (Sept. 3), became the first player in the five-year history of the BGSU women's soccer program to earn national team-of-the-week honors.
CHRISTENSEN'S COMEBACK: Senior Libby Christensen played the final 48-plus minutes of Friday's (Sept. 7) win over Samford ... for Christensen, the game action was her first in nearly three years ... she played the 1997 and 1998 seasons at Oregon State University, and transferred to BGSU prior to the 2000 campaign ... Christensen missed all of last season, however, due to an injury ... she made her first start as a Falcon vs. Toledo Sunday (Sept. 9).
FAST STARTS BY FRESHMEN: The Falcon freshman corps has been responsible for four of the team's seven goals this season ... BG frosh have accounted for 10 of the 21 points in the first four matches ... one of the newcomers, Kristy Coppes, leads the team with three goals and six points ... five freshmen started the season-opening contest, and every Falcon starting lineup this year has included at least three frosh.
CONOVER MOVES UP SCORING LIST: Junior Jill Conover had a goal and an assist vs. Samford ... in just over two years at BGSU, Conover now has 14 career goals and 46 career points ... she is second on the school career points list, and third in career goals ... Michelle Lisy (1997-2000) , who had 18 goals and 48 points during her tenure, tops each list ... seven of Conover's 14 goals have been match-winning goals, a BG career record ... Conover is second on the BGSU career list for assists as well ... all three lists follow:
BGSU CAREER SCORING LEADERS (as of Sept. 10, 2001)
Points G- A=Pts. Michelle Lisy 18-12=48 Jill Conover * 14-18=46 Tracy Gleixner * 17- 8=42 Janice Mentrup 7-23=37 Stephanie Heller 10- 9=29 Beth Wechsler * 6-15=27 Krista Shamblin 10- 4=24 Ashley Enser 6- 9=21 Autumn Harris 7- 4=18 Mandy Smith * 3- 9=15 Desiree Erb 5- 4=14Goals Assists Michelle Lisy 18 Janice Mentrup 23 Tracy Gleixner * 17 Jill Conover * 18 Jill Conover * 14 Beth Wechsler * 15 Stephanie Heller 10 Michelle Lisy 12 Krista Shamblin 10 Ashley Enser 9 Janice Mentrup 7 Stephanie Heller 9 Autumn Harris 7 Mandy Smith * 9 Tracy Gleixner * 8 * current team member
NOTING THE FALCONS: Freshman Beth Rieman picked up her first career point with an assist vs. Samford ... Sunday's tie vs. Toledo gives the Falcons an all-time record of 5-5-5 in overtime matches, including a 2-3-1 mark at Cochrane Field ... the Falcons have been outshot by a 79-47 margin through four contests this year ... the opponents have a 45-20 advantage in shots on goal ... but, BGSU has outscored opponents, 7-3, in the four matches ... junior Erika Flanders has made 42 saves on the year, while opposing 'keepers have a total of 13 stops ... already, Flanders is over a third of the way toward breaking her own record for saves in a season ... she set the mark with 118 saves last year ... Flanders owns the school's career records for wins (17), saves (251), complete-match shutouts (eight) and goals-against average (1.58).
