Bowling Green State University Athletics
Cardinals Eke Past Falcons, 2-1
September 22, 2002 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 22, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Dee Nocero's goal with just over 13 minutes remaining in the match lifted Ball State University to a 2-1 win over the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team Sunday afternoon (Sept. 22). The Mid-American Conference match was held at BGSU's Cochrane Field.
The win lifted the Cardinals' records to 6-2-0 overall and 3-1 in MAC play, while the Falcons dropped to 3-4-1 and 1-2-0, respectively.
The visitors started the scoring two-thirds of the way through the opening half. Brenda Skoczelas received a short pass from Lindsay Wiltshire at the 18-yard line, and had plenty of room to shoot. Skoczelas converted, putting the shot high into the net past BGSU senior Erika Flanders. Wiltshire drew the assist on the goal, which came at the 30:38 mark.
The teams combined for 11 shots in the first half, but only two of those shots -- both by BSU -- were on goal.
In the second half, the Falcons had the better of the play for the first 20 minutes. The ball was in the BSU defensive end of the field for nearly that entire stretch, and it finally paid off for the Brown and Orange at the 63:55 mark.
Freshman Leah Eggleton fed the ball to classmate Julie Trundle on the left side of the field, and Trundle lofted a cross to the near side of the goal. Sophomore Kristy Coppes ran toward the ball and redirected a header toward net. BSU goalie Megan Swafford got a piece of the ball, but it trickled past her into the net.
Trundle and Eggleton each drew assists on the goal.
BGSU continued to apply the pressure for the next 10-15 minutes, but on one of Ball State's few forays past midfield, the Cardinals found success. On a counterattack, Wiltshire found Nocero on the right side. Nocero took the ball toward goal, faked a cross and put the ball high into the net for what proved to be the winning goal. Wiltshire drew the lone assist, her second of the day, on the goal at 76:37.
The Falcons applied pressure until the bitter end, but could not get another ball past Swafford. Swafford made six saves, all in the second half, to earn the win.
At the other end, Flanders made five stops in net. The Falcons held a 20-12 advantage in shots, and each team had a total of seven shots on goal. BG outshot the visitors by a 15-6 margin in the second half.
"I was very proud of the team and the way they played today," said third-year BGSU head coach Andy Richards. "The way we played the game and the manner in which we competed has me very encouraged for the future.
"We talked to the team about a couple things this week in practice. One of them was being brave in the penalty area when crosses come in, and the other was being mentally tough. I feel we have all the tools, physically, to compete with anybody that we play this year. But, mentally, we need to be a little bit stronger. I thought we did a good job in both those areas today.
"Kristy Coppes' goal was very characteristic of somebody who is being brave in the six-yard box. That was as good a goal as I've seen Kristy Coppes score. It was a very courageous goal after a wonderful cross by Julie Trundle. To score off of a diving header at any time is pretty special, and for Kristy to do it today was awesome.
"We totally dominated the second half, and I thought we dominated much of the game. We kept coming and coming at them, we plugged away and we didn't let up. We really put them under a lot of pressure at their end. Even when they scored with 13 minutes to go, I thought we showed a lot of character to come back and try to get an equalizer. And, we very nearly did it.
"I feel that we're just one or two small steps away from being an exceptionally good team. If we can just improve in a few areas, namely finishing our chances, creating a few more opportunities and just cutting down on individual defensive errors, I think we're gonna be a good team.
"I feel that, in the near future, we're gonna take somebody apart, and really produce a good performance and a lot of goals. I don't think we're very far away from that at all. We've seen great progress this year. The leadership from our seniors and juniors has been excellent, and the incoming freshmen have done a wonderful class and have accentuated our first recruiting class, which is now our sophomores. Together we are producing a very good team.
"It was a fun game today. It was an exciting one. Despite the loss, it was a very entertaining game to watch, it had a little bit of everything. We really appreciate the people who came to watch. I noticed there were a lot of student-athletes in the stands, notably a lot of football players, and I wanted to go on record as registering our thanks to all the fans who came to the game today. The support of other student-athletes doesn't go unnoticed, and it really gives us a boost. We hope to see everyone back at future matches."
The Falcons now return to the road for a pair of matches next weekend. BGSU will face Akron in Friday (Sept. 27) action, before meeting Kent State two days later.
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