Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons To Host Michigan State Sunday
August 28, 2002 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 28, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team is in the midst of preparations for the 2002 season. The Falcons of head coach Andy Richards, after playing the Alumnae Match Friday (Aug. 30) at 6:00 p.m., will open the sixth season in school history with a Sunday (Sept. 1) match vs. Michigan State University. That contest is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. at BGSU's Cochrane Field.
Following the MSU match, the Brown and Orange will remain at home to face the University of Detroit Mercy in a Wednesday (Sept. 4) contest, beginning at 4:00 p.m. Then, BGSU hits the road for a pair of matches, opening the Mid-American Conference portion of the slate with a Sept. 6 match at Toledo, and taking on Eastern Illinois in a Sept. 8 contest.
HEAD COACH ANDY RICHARDS
Andy Richards begins his third year as a head coach, and has an overall record of 17-20-3 heading into the season opener. Richards, who came to BGSU after five years as an assistant coach at Oregon State University, was hired in April of 2000.
Ashlee Orr embarks upon her third season with the Falcon program as well. Orr was named the BGSU assistant coach in late August of 2000.
FAST STARTS
BGSU has won the season-opening match in each of the team's first five seasons:
SEASON STARTS AT COCHRANE
BGSU has a 3-2-0 record in home-opening matches:
THE OPPONENT
Michigan State, like BGSU, opens the 2002 regular season with Sunday's contest. The Spartans played one exhibition match, a scoreless tie at Western Michigan Friday (Aug. 23). That contest was called after 70 minutes due to inclement weather. Head coach Tom Saxton welcomes back 10 starters from a squad that posted a 10-8-2 mark in 2001. Junior forwards Kristi Arrington (8 goals, 2 assists, 18 points) and Tiffany Laskowski (6-5=16) paces the offensive attack, while classmate Stacy Heller is back in goal after posting seven shutouts and a 1.20 goals-against average last fall. Saxton has a record of 102-98-17 in 11 years as a collegiate head coach, all in East Lansing.
THE SERIES
The Falcons trail the all-time series with Michigan State by a 3-1-1 count, and MSU is the lone non-conference school to have appeared on BGSU's schedule in each of the Falcons' first six seasons. Last year, the teams battled to a 1-1 tie in East Lansing, as Erika Flanders made a school-record 17 saves for the Brown and Orange (Sept. 2, 2001). Jill Conover scored BG's goal off a Nikki Pucillo assist in that match. The Spartans hold a 2-1 lead in matches played at Cochrane Field, including a 2-1 MSU win in the teams' first-ever meeting (Oct. 29, 1997). MSU won a 5-1 match with five goals in the final 20 minutes of the match the following year (Oct. 21, 1998) in East Lansing. The Falcons opened the 1999 campaign with a 3-2 overtime victory over MSU at Cochrane (Aug. 27, 1999), as Conover had a pair of assists. Two years ago, the Green and White came to BG and posted a 1-0 victory (Oct. 29, 2000).
CAPTAIN'S LOG
Senior goalkeeper Erika Flanders has been named BGSU's team captain for the 2002 season.
SUCCESS IN EVEN YEARS
In the five-year history of the BGSU women's soccer program, the Falcons have had most of their success in the even-numbered years ... the Brown and Orange failed to qualify for the MAC Tournament in 1997, 1999 and 2001 ... but, the Falcons advanced to the semifinals in 1998, losing in overtime to the eventual champion ... BGSU also made the tournament in 2000, and advanced all the way to the championship match before losing, again in OT.
SENIOR PRIDE
The Falcons welcome back 11 letterwinners from last year's squad, including eight starters ... coaches Andy Richards and Ashlee Orr will look to a small but solid group of seniors for leadership in 2002 ... the four seniors -- Jill Conover, Erika Flanders, Tracy Gleixner and Susan Wallace -- (along with junior Kasey Freeman) are the lone players not recruited by Richards ... but, they have experienced some success under the current coaching staff, and hold a number of school records ... Conover is the BGSU career scoring leader with 55 points, while Gleixner's total of 20 goals gives her the career lead in that category ... Flanders holds virtually every BGSU goalkeeping record.
COPPES NAMED MAC NEWCOMER OF YEAR
BGSU's Kristy Coppes was named the 2001 MAC Newcomer of the Year, becoming the first Falcon women's soccer player in the five-year history of the program to win a league specialty award ... Coppes, a native of Findlay, Ohio, had 12 goals in her initial collegiate season, tying the school single-season record originally set by Tracy Gleixner in 1998 ... she had 26 points, the second-highest total in BG annals, and just three points shy of that seasonal record (held by Gleixner) ... after just one season in the Brown and Orange, Coppes already ranks fourth on the BGSU career goals list, and seventh on the career points list.
NOTING THE FALCONS
BGSU finished the non-conference portion of the 2001 schedule with a record of 5-1-1, including a perfect 3-0 home mark vs. non-league foes ... the Falcons finished the home slate with a record of 4-4-1 at Cochrane Field last season ... the total of four victories matched the school mark for most home wins in a single season ... interestingly, the 2000 team, which set a school record with 10 overall wins, is the only squad in the five-year history of the program to win fewer than four contests at home (3-5-0) ... after getting shut out just once in the season's first 12 matches, BGSU was blanked five times in the last seven contests last fall ... the Falcons were victims of a shutout in each of the final four matches, the first time that has happened in school history ... BGSU was blanked in three consecutive contests early in the Falcons' first season, 1997 ... on the year, the Falcons were outshot by a 315-213 margin, and the opponents had a 153-101 advantage in shots on goal ... but, BGSU was outscored by just a 34-32 margin ... the Falcons' season goal total was higher than the opponents' total until the final match ... Erika Flanders made a school-record 127 saves on the year (and Ali Shingler had three), while opposing 'keepers had a total of 73 stops ... with eight saves in the Kent State match, Flanders broke her own record for saves in a season ... she had set the mark with 118 saves the prior year ... Flanders owns the school's career records for wins (22), saves (336), complete-match shutouts (10) and goals-against average (1.71) ... BGSU's 3-0-2 start to the 2001 season marked the first time in program history that the Falcons had been unbeaten to start the season ... in fact, that five-match unbeaten streak tied the school record, originally set in 1997-98 (last two matches of 1997, first three of 1998) ... the Falcons' win at Northern Illinois last year marked the first time in school history that BGSU had rallied from a two-goal deficit to post a victory ... that victory also extended the Falcons' road unbeaten streak to a school-record five matches (3-0-2) ... BG's 10-1 win over Youngstown State saw the Brown and Orange set or tie numerous school records ... BGSU set a new mark for goals in a match and margin of victory (nine) ... BG's five goals in each half tied the school mark ... the team also set marks for fastest four goals, fastest five goals, fastest seven goals and, of course, fastest 10 goals ... BGSU's 19 shots on goal in the match tied that school record ... Kristy Coppes had three goals vs. YSU to tie that mark, while Jill Conover matched Coppes' total of seven points in the match (tying that record) ... Conover and Nikki Pucillo each had three assists, again tying a BG record ... the win over Wright State gave the Falcons a 7-3-2 record at the time, putting BG four games over .500 for the first time in school history.
