Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Meister's School-Record Day Leads Falcons To 4-3 OT Win
October 12, 2003 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 12, 2003
DeKALB, Ill. - Sophomore Samantha Meister scored a school-record four goals, the last in overtime, as the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 4-3 win at Northern Illinois University Sunday (Oct. 12). The Mid-American Conference match was held at the Huskie Soccer Field.
With the victory, the Falcons improve to 6-7-1 overall and 4-3-1 in MAC play, while host NIU drops to 2-11-1 and 1-7-1, respectively.
Meister out-jumped two Huskie defenders to knock classmate Julie Trundle's corner kick into the net at the 99:14 mark. The goal was nearly a carbon copy of her third goal of the day, which forced overtime. Meister had redirected another Trundle corner past NIU goalkeeper Leigh Steigerwald with only 6:18 remaining in regulation.
The hosts took a 2-0 lead on first-half goals by Audra Gordon and Katie Klaas. The two-goal margin was the Huskies' first in the 2003 season. Gordon scored her first collegiate goal in an eight-yard shot from the left side with 26:07 gone. A little over 10 minutes later, Klaas scored her first of the season, taking a pass from Megan Kolkay and putting a shot off the far post and into the net.
Meister got the Brown and Orange on the board with 4:51 to go in the first half, heading home a pass from sophomore Megan Rapp. But, the Huskies restored the two-goal margin just 4:43 into the second stanza. Elaine Eliadis took a free kick from the midfield stripe, which bounced in front of a group of players and over the outstretched fingers of redshirt sophomore Ali Shingler.
The Falcons' comeback began with 21:53 left in regulation, as Meister headed home a pass from freshman Lindsay Carter. For Meister, last season's MAC Newcomer of the Year, it marked her first career multiple-goal match. But, she was far from finished.
Trundle and Meister hooked up for the tying and winning goals, giving the Falcons an overtime win for the first time in three tries this season.
The Falcons outshot the hosts by a 33-18 margin for the match, including a 19-6 second-half advantage. BGSU had a school-record 20 shots on goal to the Huskies' nine.
Falcon senior Jenifer Kernahan played 47:15 of shutout ball in net, making two saves, to earn her first collegiate win. NIU's Steigerwald made a career-high 16 saves in a losing effort.
BGSU will conclude a five-match road swing with a Wednesday (Oct. 15) non-conference match at Michigan State. Then, the Falcons will return home, and return to MAC play, with matches vs. Buffalo Friday (Oct. 17) and league-leading Kent State Sunday (Oct. 19).
NOTES
SUNDAY'S MAC RESULTS
Bowling Green 4, at Northern Illinois 3 (OT) at Buffalo 3, Miami 1 Marshall 3, at Central Michigan 2 at Eastern Michigan 2, Ohio 1 (OT) at Kent State 1, Ball State 0 Western Michigan 2, at Toledo 0
MAC STANDINGS (through matches of Sunday, Oct. 12)
Team (Overall Record) MAC Pts. Kent State (11-1-2) 8-0-1 25 Eastern Mich. (7-5-3) 6-0-2 20 Ball State (7-5-2) 5-3-1 16 Western Michigan (6-7-1) 5-4-0 15 Bowling Green (6-7-1) 4-3-1 13 Buffalo (8-6-1) 4-4-1 13 Central Mich. (6-5-2) 4-4-1 13 Akron (5-6-1) 4-4-0 12 Miami (4-7-2) 3-5-1 10 Toledo (5-9-0) 3-6-0 9 Ohio (4-9-1) 2-5-1 7 Marshall (2-11-1) 2-6-0 6 Northern Ill. (2-11-1) 1-7-1 4
QUOTING BGSU COACH ANDY RICHARDS
"It was an awesome display of finishing by Samantha Meister today. In all the games I have seen in my life, I am struggling to think of a competitive game in which I've witnessed a player score four goals. It will be a long time before someone matches that -- not only scoring four goals, but scoring the only four goals, including the winner in overtime."
"Obviously, this is a huge win for us, especially after being down by two goals yet again. But, we can't keep putting ourselves into this position, forcing ourselves to dig deep both physically and emotionally. It just takes too much out of us."
"I'm disappointed with some of the goals we conceded, both because of some individual mistakes we made, and because we let them (NIU) get excited. We had talked about not letting them get any kind of momentum, and we twice let them go ahead by two goals and generate some excitement."
"Megan Rapp had a great cross on Sam's first goal, and Sammy finished it with a nice diving header. Then, Lindsay (Carter) did a terrific job to keep the ball in play and find Sammy for our second goal."
"Julie Trundle had four of the best corner kicks you'll ever see, putting the ball into the danger area each time. The second one in each series led to a goal by Sammy. We made some personnel and tactical changes in this game, including moving Sammy up front from the midfield to give us three strikers. Sometimes, those moves don't work, but obviously, they worked for us today."
"This was a very exciting game. The BGSU-NIU games always are very unusual. At halftime, I told the kids that, if we fell behind by two goals, not to panic. And, equally, we said that if we scored, we shouldn't relax. With 12 minutes left, though, we were wondering if maybe we should start to panic."
"It was very pleasing to see some players, kids that haven't played a lot lately, get in the game and contribute to the victory. Certainly, Jenifer Kernahan did a nice job, shutting them out for over 47 minutes to put us in the position to come back. She took her chance and made the most of it. Also, Megan Rapp did a very good job today, as did Jenny Berlovan. Nikki Pucillo had a very good game. Molly Bremen had a terrific game and was very proactive for us. We used all 20 players (on the travel squad) this weekend, and all 20 played a role. They worked hard and gave us great minutes. It gives me great confidence, for games down the road, that I can use any of them and that we have the depth and talent to come through."
"This game was very exciting, giving me no end of gray hairs to the hundreds I already have."
