Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Valpo, Buffalo
October 16, 2002 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 16, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after posting a win and a tie on the road in Mid-American Conference action last weekend, returns home for a non-league match. The Falcons (7-6-2, 5-3-1 MAC) of head coach Andy Richards will host Valparaiso University in a Friday (Oct. 18) match. Kickoff for that contest is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at BGSU's Cochrane Field.
Complete Release (8 pages) in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Following the Valpo tilt, the Brown and Orange will return to MAC play with a Sunday (Oct. 20) match at the University at Buffalo. That contest is scheduled for a starting time of 11:30 a.m. at UB's RAC Field. The Falcons enter the week ranked third in the MAC with 16 points.
HEAD COACH ANDY RICHARDS
Andy Richards is in his third year as a head coach, all at BGSU, and has an overall record of 24-26-5 heading into the Valparaiso match. Richards, who came to BG after five years as an assistant coach at Oregon State University, was hired in April of 2000.
Ashlee Orr is in her third season with the Falcon program as well. Orr was named the BGSU assistant coach in late August of 2000.
BGSU'S IN THIRD ... BUT IT'S A CLOSE RACE
With only a few weeks left in the regular season, the Falcons are embroiled in the thick of the MAC race ... BGSU, picked to finish ninth in the preseason coaches poll, currently sits in third place ... the Falcons have 16 points in league play, tying the school record set in 2000 (BG went 5-5-1 that year) ... BGSU is just two points behind second-place Ball State (teams earn three points for a win and one for a tie) ... the Falcons are two points ahead of Ohio, three points ahead of both Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan, and four points in front of Central Michigan ... the top-eight teams in the regular-season standings will qualify for the MAC Tournament, with the top-four teams earning home-field advantage for the quarterfinal round ... the Falcons have qualified for the MAC Tournament twice, in 1998 and 2000, but BGSU has never hosted a league tourney match.
LAST WEEKEND
The Falcons earned a win and a tie on the road in MAC play ... BGSU defeated Central Michigan on Friday (Oct. 11) by a 2-0 score ... sophomore Kristy Coppes scored the match-opening goal just 22 seconds into the second half, and freshman Samantha Meister also scored ... senior Erika Flanders made five saves to earn the shutout ... the Falcons posted a 2-2 tie at Eastern Michigan Sunday (Oct. 13) ... Meister scored BGSU's first goal, and freshman Julie Trundle scored the tying goal with just six seconds left in the second half.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons, as mentioned, are 7-6-2 overall and 5-3-1 in MAC play ... BGSU has scored 19 goals and allowed 19 through the first 15 contests ... sophomore Kristy Coppes has scored eight of the Falcons' goals this year, and leads the team with 16 points ... senior Jill Conover and freshmen Julie Trundle and Samantha Meister have seven points apiece ... Meister and fellow frosh Leslie Dawley and Leah Eggleton are tied for the team lead with three assists each ... senior Erika Flanders has played every minute (1392:45) in goal, and has 94 saves and a goals-against average of 1.23.
THE OPPONENTS
Valparaiso will enter the weekend with an overall record of 4-7-1, and the Crusaders are 3-1-0 in the Mid-Continent Conference ... last weekend, VU split a pair of conference home matches, downing Southern Utah (1-0, Oct. 11) before falling to Oral Roberts (2-0, Oct. 13) ... senior Lori Moore leads the team in goals (five) and points (12) ... she is tied with classmate Sarah Wittrock for the team assists lead, with two apiece ... junior Kristen Templin has played the bulk of the time in goal, and is 3-6-1 with a 2.33 GAA ... last year, Valpo set a school record for wins, going 10-9-0 overall and finishing second in the Mid-Con with a league mark of 4-1-0 ... Stephen Anthony has a record of 30-54-4 in his fifth year as a head coach, all with the Crusaders ... the team's web address is www.valpo.edu/athletics.
Buffalo brings a 4-6-4 overall record into the week, and the Bulls will take a 3-4-1 MAC mark into a Friday home match vs. Toledo ... UB split a pair of 2-1 league matches last weekend, losing at Akron before beating visiting Marshall ... senior Elizabeth Pfeffer leads the Bulls with three goals and seven points on the year ... redshirt freshman Anna-Lesa Calvert has a 3-3-3 record and a 1.24 GAA in goal, having played in nine of the team's 14 matches ... senior Emily Cox is 1-3-1 with a 2.38 GAA ... in 2001, UB finished 9-9-0 overall and placed sixth in the MAC with a 7-5-0 conference mark ... Jean-A. Tassy is in his eighth year with the Bulls, and has a record of 72-55-15 ... he has a record of 193-142-29 in his 23rd season as a collegiate head coach ... UB's athletic web site is www.buffalobulls.com.
THE SERIES
BGSU holds a 2-0 lead over Valparaiso in the all-time series between the schools ... the Falcons posted a 2-1 win on the road in the 1998 season opener (Sept. 1, 1998) ... then, BG downed the visiting Crusaders, 5-1, the next year (Aug. 29, 1999) ... Susan Wallace had two goals and an assist in that match, while Jill Conover had a goal and two assists.
BGSU and Buffalo are tied, 2-2-1, in that series ... just one of the five previous matches has been held in New York ... the Falcons won a pair of 2-1 home matches in the first two meetings (Oct. 24, 1997 and Sept. 25, 1998), with Tracy Gleixner scoring a goal in the latter match ... UB returned to Cochrane Field and posted a 3-0 win in 1999 (Sept. 26) ... two years ago, in the lone meeting at RAC Field, BG and UB battled to a 1-1 tie (Oct. 20, 2000) ... the Bulls posted a 2-1 OT win at Cochrane last season (Sept. 23, 2001).
COPPES TIES SCHOOL RECORD
Sophomore Kristy Coppes had the Falcons' first goal in Friday's (Oct. 11) 2-0 win at Central Michigan ... that goal moved her into a tie for the BGSU career goals lead ... she has matched senior Tracy Gleixner on that list, as each player has 20 goals as a Falcon ... Coppes scored her 20th career goal in just her 33rd match in the Brown and Orange.
CONOVER IS RIGHT BEHIND HER
Senior Jill Conover is in third place on the BGSU career goals list ... the native of Grand Island, N.Y., has 19 career goals, just one behind the co-leaders ... Conover holds the school career records for points (62), assists (24) and match-winning goals (7).
ROAD SWEET ROAD?
The Falcons posted a win at CMU and a tie at EMU over the weekend ... BGSU is now 4-1-2 in away matches, including a 4-0-1 mark in MAC play ... the four MAC road wins sets a new single-season record ... the old record was three road victories, set by the 2000 team (3-1-1) ... last year, BGSU went 1-5-0 in league road action.
ANOTHER SCHOOL RECORD FOR COPPES
Sophomore Kristy Coppes, in addition to matching Tracy Gleixner's career mark, tied another school record with her goal at Central Michigan ... her goal, just 22 seconds into the second half, matched the BGSU mark for fastest goal at the start of a half ... Jamie Eshleman also scored a goal just 22 seconds into the second half in the Falcons win over Kent on Oct. 17, 1997.
MEISTER ANOTHER OFFENSIVE THREAT
Freshman Samantha Meister was sidelined for seven matches with a broken nose, but has returned with a vengeance ... Meister assisted on the goal by Kristy Coppes at CMU, then scored her first collegiate goal later in that match ... then, she scored her second goal two days later, in the tie at EMU ... Meister has seven points in just eight matches this season.
FLANDERS FLAWLESS VS. CHIPPEWAS
Senior goalkeeper Erika Flanders made five saves to earn the shutout at Central Michigan ... for Flanders, the shutout was her fifth of the season, breaking her own school record ... she posted four shutouts in both 2000 and 2001 ... Flanders, who holds every BGSU goalkeeping record, now has 15 shutouts in her career ... she has two career shutouts against both Marshall and Kent State, and has blanked 11 other teams once each.
MORE ON FLANDERS
Erika Flanders moved past the 400-save mark for her career in the Marshall match ... through the EMU match, the senior now has a career total of 430 saves ... the second-place GK on the BGSU career list, Kit Gazley, had a total of 76 saves ... in fact, Flanders has more career saves than all of the other goalies in school history combined (280).
MAC WINS
BGSU's win at CMU marked the Falcons' fifth MAC win of the season, tying the school record ... the 2000 team also had five MAC victories, going 5-5-1 ... last year's Falcon squad went 2-9-1.
TRUNDLE'S TIMING TERRIFIC
Freshman Julie Trundle scored the match-tying goal in the very late going, heading home classmate Ashley Wentzel's crossing ball with just six seconds left in regulation at Eastern Michigan Sunday (Oct. 13) ... Trundle is tied for second on the team in scoring, with seven points ... all seven of her points have come in MAC play, including the winning goal at Toledo and a goal in the win at Akron.
THEY START YOUNG
All 10 freshman field players on the BGSU roster have started at least one match this season ... in fact, of the 21 players who have seen action for the Falcons this year, a total of 19 have made at least one start.
MEET THE NEW KIDS
The Falcons' starting lineup has featured at least three freshmen in each of this season's 15 matches, and at least four frosh in each of the last 14 matches ... head coach Andy Richards has started six freshmen in five matches (Detroit, Toledo, Ball State, Akron and KSU), five freshmen five times (Eastern Illinois, Missouri, Marshall, CMU and EMI) and four freshmen on four occasions (Pitt, Miami, Ohio and Cincinnati) ... as mentioned, a total of 10 different freshmen -- every frosh field player -- have started at least one match this year.
CAPTAIN'S LOG
Senior goalkeeper Erika Flanders is BGSU's team captain for the 2002 season.
NOTING THE FALCONS
The Falcons now hold a 3-2-0 lead over Central Michigan in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU is 2-0 in matches in Mount Pleasant ... the Brown and Orange won a 3-1 decision in 2000 at the CMU Soccer Field ... BG trails Eastern Michigan by a 4-3-1 count in that series, but the Falcons hold a 3-2-1 lead in matches in Ypsilanti ... the Falcons have a four-match unbeaten streak at Scicluna Field ... a total of 15 different players have registered at least one point on the season ... that total includes seven freshmen ... the frosh have combined for seven of BG's 19 goals and 14 of the team's 23 assists ... BG had two goals and two assists in each of last weekend's matches ... and, in both contests, one of the two goals and both of the assists came from substitutes ... only three players -- senior Erika Flanders, junior Kasey Freeman and freshman Julie Trundle -- have started all 15 matches ... sophomore Kristy Coppes, BG's leading scorer overall, also leads the team in scoring in MAC matches ... she has eight points in conference play, one ahead of Trundle and two ahead of Meister ... Meister has her six MAC points in just five conference matches ... as mentioned earlier, Flanders holds the school goalkeeping records in every career category, including wins (30), saves (430), shutouts (15) and goals-against average ... the EMU match marked the third consecutive MAC contest in which the Falcons and their foes played a scoreless first half ... BGSU has not allowed a first-half goal in the last five MAC matches ... BGSU now has an all-time record of 43-60-9 as a varsity program ... all-time, the Brown and Orange squads have posted records of 21-29-2 at home, 18-25-7 on the road and 4-6-0 in neutral-site contests ... also, in the Falcons have an all-time record of 5-8-9 in overtime matches ... BGSU is 2-0-7 in road OT matches, and the Falcons have a 3-1-2 mark in overtime contests with non-MAC opponents.
