Bowling Green State University Athletics
Samantha Meister Named to Soccer America National Team of the Week
October 16, 2003 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 16, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Bowling Green State University sophomore Samantha Meister, honored on Monday as the Mid-American Conference Women's Soccer Player of the Week, received a national honor late Wednesday (Oct. 15). The Falcon forward/midfielder was named to the Soccer America National Team of the Week, the publication announced.
(Click here to read the Soccer America site's story.)
Meister becomes only the third player in the seven-year history of the BGSU women's soccer program, but the second in as many weeks, to earn national team-of-the-week honors. Erika Flanders was named to a pair of national teams of the week (Soccer America and Soccer Buzz) in the opening week of the 2001 season, and junior Kristy Coppes was named to the SA team last week.
The Soccer America National Team of the Week is comprised of 11 players from around the country, chosen on the basis of their play the previous week.
Meister, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, scored a school-record four goals as the Falcons rallied from a two-goal deficit with less than 22 minutes left for a 4-3 overtime win at Northern Illinois Sunday (Oct. 12). Meister scored her second goal of the match with 21:53 remaining in the second half, then scored the tying goal with just 6:18 left. In overtime, just as she had on the tying goal, Meister headed home a Julie Trundle corner kick, giving BGSU the win with 9:14 gone in the extra session.
Meister's total of four goals not only set a school single-match record, but also set a MAC record for goals in a league match (since the inception of MAC women's soccer in 1997, three other players have scored four goals in a match, but all did so in non-conference contests). She also set a school record for points in a match, with eight.
Prior to Wednesday's (Oct. 15) match at Michigan State, Meister had scored a total of 13 goals in 22 matches over the last calendar year (plus one day). She has been at her best in MAC play, with 11 goals in her last 13 conference regular-season contests.
Meister did not score in the Falcons' 3-2 loss at MSU, but she had the primary assist on both Falcon goals. She is now tied with Coppes for the team lead in points (17). Meister has seven goals on the year, one behind Coppes, with all seven of Meister's goals having come in BG's eight conference matches.
Meister is joined on the Soccer America team by forwards Leah Gallegos (Florida State), Natasha Kai (Hawai'i), Kelly McDonald (Texas) and Iris Mora (UCLA), midfielders Ali Christoph (Tennessee) and Kristen Strutz (Texas A&M), defenders Amy LePeilbet (Arizona State), Asia Simons (Tulane) and Melissa Tancredi (Notre Dame) and goalkeeper Heather Hinton (Hartford).
The Falcons (6-8-1, 4-3-1 MAC) of head coach Andy Richards return home, and return to MAC action, with a pair of weekend matches. BGSU will host Buffalo in Friday (Oct. 17) action, beginning at 4:00 p.m., before entertaining league-leading Kent State for a 2:30 p.m. match Sunday (Oct. 19) at Cochrane Field.
