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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head To Western, Northern This Weekend
October 07, 2003 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 7, 2003
Complete Release (8 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after posting two big road wins last weekend, will look to continue that success in a pair of away matches this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards (5-6-1, 3-2-1 Mid-American Conference) will hit the road for a Friday (Oct. 10) match vs. Western Michigan University ... that contest is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. at the WMU Soccer Complex.
Then, the Falcons will head to DeKalb, Ill., for a Sunday (Oct. 12) match vs. Northern Illinois University, with kickoff scheduled for noon locally (1:00 p.m. Eastern Time) at the Huskie Soccer Field ... BGSU is in the midst of a stretch of five consecutive contests away from Cochrane Field to begin the month of October ... next week, the Falcons briefly step outside of the MAC to face Michigan State on Wednesday (Oct. 15) ... the Falcons' next home match is against Buffalo on Friday, Oct. 17.
HEAD COACH ANDY RICHARDS
Andy Richards is in his fourth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 34-34-6 ... he has led BGSU to the two finest seasons in school history to date ... last season, Richards performed one of the top coaching jobs in the MAC, if not the Midwest, guiding the Brown and Orange to a 12-8-2 record and a fourth-place MAC finish ... 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 fourth season with the Falcon program as well ... Orr was named the BGSU assistant coach in late August of 2000 ... Darin Karbler is in his second season as a volunteer assistant coach.
LAST TIME(S) OUT
The Falcons posted a pair of road victories over the MAC's first- and second-place teams from a year ago ... on Friday (Oct. 3), BGSU downed Ball State by a 2-0 score in Muncie, with junior Kristy Coppes and sophomore Samantha Meister scoring goals and redshirt sophomore Ali Shingler recording the shutout ... on Sunday (Oct. 5), the Brown and Orange rallied from a 2-0 deficit with less than 25 minutes remaining, posting a 3-2 win at Miami ... Coppes scored the first two Falcon goals, with sophomore Julie Trundle scoring the match winner ... Miami won the MAC's regular-season and league titles last year ... BSU finished second in the league regular-season standings a year ago, and the Cardinals were picked to win the 2003 MAC Tournament in the preseason coaches poll.
KRISTY COPPES NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
BGSU junior Kristy Coppes has been named the Mid-American Conference Women's Soccer Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday afternoon (Oct. 6) ... Coppes, now the BGSU career scoring leader, earns the honor for the first time this season and the second time in her Falcon career ... Coppes is only the second Falcon to earn league P-O-W honors twice, joining Jill Conover ... more information on Coppes can be found elsewhere in this release.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU returned 16 letterwinners, including a whopping 10 starters, from last year's team ... the Falcons have won four of the last five matches, and are 5-2-1 since beginning the 2003 season with four losses ... junior Kristy Coppes, the team's leading scorer in each of her first two seasons at BGSU, again paces the Brown and Orange with seven goals and 15 points ... sophomore Samantha Meister has three goals and seven points, while senior co-captain Carrie Richards has five points, including two goals ... a total of seven different Falcons each have two assists to share the team lead ... Ali Shingler has seen the bulk of the time in goal, and has lowered her goals-against average to 1.99 ... head coach Andy Richards has seven newcomers on the 26-player roster.
THE OPPONENTS
Western Michigan will check into Friday's BGSU match with an overall record of 4-7-1 on the season ... the Broncos are 3-4-0 in MAC play after a pair of tough road losses last weekend ... WMU lost to league-leading Kent State, 3-2 in overtime, on Friday (Oct. 3) ... then, Western suffered a 2-1 setback at Akron Sunday (Oct. 5) ... the Broncos have only played two home matches to date, posting a pair of wins (2-1 vs. Ohio, 3-1 over Marshall) in the final weekend of September ... individually, freshman Chantal Robinson leads the team with nine points ... she has two goals and a team-high five assists ... senior Jessica Pattison is second with eight points, including a Bronco-best four goals ... sophomore Kate Perz has played every minute in goal and has 47 saves and a 1.62 goals-against average ... WMU returned 13 letterwinners, including seven starters, from last year's team that went 7-10-1 overall ... the Broncos finished seventh in the MAC with a 5-5-1 league slate ... head coach Mike Haines has a record of 45-56-7 in his sixth season with the Broncos ... overall, he is 77-59-10 in his eighth season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.wmubroncos.com.
Northern Illinois has a record of 1-10-1 overall, and the Huskies are 0-6-1 in MAC play, heading into a Friday (Oct. 10) match vs. Toledo ... last weekend, NIU lost at both Akron and Kent State by 3-0 scores ... the Huskies will be looking to snap a three-match losing streak ... NIU's MAC tie came vs. Ohio (1-1 on Sept. 28), and the team's win came out of conference vs. Creighton (1-0 in OT on Sept. 12) ... NIU is 1-2-1 at home this year, with the losses coming to Wisconsin and Marshall ... senior Jill Heikkila leads the Huskies in scoring, with five points on a team-high two goals and an assist ... classmate Denise Papke has two assists to pace the team in that category ... in goal, sophomore Carrie Dvorak has made five starts and is 0-4-1 with a 2.29 GAA ... junior Leigh Steigerwald seven starts, a 1-6-0 record and a GAA of 3.03 ... each 'keeper has played 500-plus minutes this year, with Steigerwald having made 53 saves and Dvorak 43 to date ... last year, the Huskies went 6-12-0 overall, going 4-8-0 in the MAC to place 10th ... head coach Frank Horvat welcomed back 21 total letterwinners, including all 11 starters, from that squad ... Horvat has a record of 79-119-6 in his 11th year, all with the Huskies ... the school's athletics web site is www.niu.edu/athletics.
THE SERIES
The Falcons trail Western Michigan by a 5-2-0 margin in the all-time series between the teams ... last season, however, BGSU recorded a 7-0 win at Cochrane Field (Oct. 25, 2002), as Kristy Coppes scored a pair of goals and Nikki Pucillo, Samantha Meister, Britt Anderson and Carrie Richards each found the net as well ... the Broncos have won all three previous meetings in Kalamazoo, including a 1-0 win two years ago (Sept. 30, 2001) ... prior to last year's meeting, BGSU's other series win came in the semifinal round of the 2000 MAC Tournament in Buffalo, N.Y.
Northern Illinois also holds a 5-2-0 series lead over the Falcons, including a 3-2 victory at Cochrane Field last year (Oct. 27, 2002) ... Julie Trundle and Keeley Dayton scored for the Falcons in that match, but NIU scored three times in the final 18:25 of the second half ... BGSU holds a 2-0-0 advantage in matches played in DeKalb, including a 4-2 win two years ago (Sept. 28, 2001) ... Beth Rieman had two goals and an assist in that contest ... the home team has never won in the BGSU-NIU series, as the Huskies are 4-0-0 all-time at Cochrane ... one match was a neutral-site contest, a 2-1 NIU win in overtime in the 1998 MAC Tournament's semifinal round in Athens, Ohio.
THAT'S A MAC RECORD: BGSU'S LEAGUE ROAD UNBEATEN STREAK AT EIGHT
With the wins at Ball State and Miami over the weekend, BGSU extended its current MAC road unbeaten streak to eight regular-season matches, the school record by far ... in fact, the streak is believed to be the MAC record ... the Falcons went 5-0-1 in league road regular-season contests last year ... the last BGSU MAC road loss in regular-season play came at Ball State, 3-0, in the team's final match of the 2001 season (Nov. 1, 2001) ... that completed an 0-2 weekend which saw the Falcons lose to both Miami and BSU by identical scores ... prior to the current streak, BGSU's longest MAC regular-season road unbeaten streak was four, set at the start of the 2000 league schedule (Sept. 15-Oct. 20, 2000).
MAC ROAD WIN STREAKS (longest regular-season road streaks against conference foes) TEAM (STREAK [RECORD], SEASON[S]) 1-Bowling Green (8 [7-0-1], 2003) 2-Miami (6 [6-0-0], 2002) Central Michigan (6, [6-0-0], 2000-01) Ohio (6 [5-0-1], 1997-98) 5-Eastern Michigan (5 [5-0-0], 2001) Buffalo (5 [5-0-0], 1998-99)
COMING BACK FROM TWO GOALS DOWN
A team coming back from two goals down is relatively rare ... in fact, in 131 matches in the history of the BGSU women's soccer program, only five times has a team gone ahead by two goals and failed to win the match ... it has happened, however, in each of the last two meetings between BGSU and Northern Illinois ... two years ago, the Falcons got a pair of goals and an assist from Beth Rieman to erase a two-goal NIU lead en route to a 4-2 BG win ... then, last year, the Huskies spoiled BGSU's 'Senior Day' with a furious rally in the final 18:25 of the match ... this weekend's other opponent, Western Michigan, is the only other team to come back from a two-goal deficit to beat the Falcons, having done so in BGSU's inaugural season of 1997.
TWO-GOAL COMEBACKS
(one team led by two goals, but did not win)
OPPONENT (DATE) WHO LED FINAL SCORE
at Western Mich. (Oct. 5, 1997) BGSU, 2-0 WMU, 4-2
Falcons score twice in first six minutes, but WMU's
Jenna Schlee has a hat trick before halftime
at Marshall (Oct. 10, 1999) MU, 3-1 Tie, 3-3
With BGSU defender Beth Wechsler wearing GK jersey as
"11th attacker," Michelle Lisy scores twice in the final 3:18
of regulation
at Northern Ill. (Sept. 28, 2001) NIU, 2-0 BGSU, 4-2
NIU scores twice in first 17:10; Beth Rieman nets tying
and go-ahead goals as Falcons score next four
Northern Illinois (Oct. 27, 2002) BGSU, 2-0 NIU, 3-2
Falcons take 2-0 halftime lead; NIU scores three times
in final 18:25 of match (final goal with 2:13 left)
at Miami (Oct. 5, 2003) MU, 2-0 BGSU, 3-2
RedHawks go up, 2-0, with 24:55 remaining;
Kristy Coppes scores twice in 4:39 span before
Julie Trundle's corner kick finds the net with 5:26 left
COPPES SETS BGSU CAREER SCORING RECORD
Junior Kristy Coppes scored three goals last weekend, getting the winner at Ball State and scoring BGSU's first two tallies (in a span of just 4:39) in the comeback win at Miami ... Coppes' first goal at MU tied her with Jill Conover (65 points from 1999-2002) for the BGSU career points record, and her second goal vs. the RedHawks gave her sole possession of the record ... Conover was in attendance at the match in Oxford, by the way ... Coppes now has 31 goals in her career, extending her own school record ... and, she now has a career total of 67 points as a Falcon.
COPPES GETS THE WINNER, AND ANOTHER RECORD
As mentioned, junior Kristy Coppes had the match-winning goal vs. Ball State, her third of the season and the eighth of her career ... she has now moved past Jill Conover to assume sole possession of first place on that Falcon career list.
THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Last weekend, the Falcons won in Muncie and Oxford for the first time in program history ... BGSU did own a previous win over Ball State (that series is now tied, 2-2-1), but that victory came at BG's Cochrane Field ... then, the Falcons beat Miami for the first time in nine series meetings ... in fact, the Falcons became the first-ever team to rally from a two-goal deficit to beat MU on the RedHawks' home field.
SHUTOUT FOR SHINGLER
Redshirt sophomore goalie Ali Shingler made six saves to earn the shutout at Ball State Friday (Oct. 3) ... Shingler's shutout was her second complete-match shutout, both of the season and of her Falcon career ... it also marked her first shutout on the road, and her first in MAC play ... Shingler's other complete-match shutout came against Cincinnati at Cochrane Field on Sept. 14 ... she played the first half of BG's shutout win over Wright State on Sept. 21, as senior Jenifer Kernahan played the second half.
TRUNDLE, MEISTER ON CAREER LISTS
Sophomore Samantha Meister scored the Falcons' second goal in the win at BSU ... the goal was the ninth of her career, moving her into sole possession of seventh place on the BGSU list ... she now has 24 points, after just 26 career contests, to move into a tie for eighth on that school career list ... classmate Julie Trundle's match-winning goal at Miami was the sixth of her career, tying her for 11th ...Trundle now has 22 total points as a Falcon, a total that ranks her 10th in school history.
BIG WINS
In a three-day span, the Falcons downed the top-two teams from last year's MAC standings ... Miami has been the MAC Tournament champion and an NCAA Tournament qualifier in each of the last three years, as well as winning the 2002 regular-season title ... the Falcons' win over MU came two days after BG won at Ball State, last year's second-place team in the MAC regular-season race ... BSU was the league coaches' preseason pick to win the MAC Tournament in 2003.
ROAD SWEET ROAD?
As mentioned earlier, the Falcons are undefeated in the last eight MAC regular-season road contests, a league record ... in the history of the Falcon program, BGSU is now 14-14-5 in MAC regular-season road matches ... the Falcons are just 10-23-3 all-time in home MAC regular-season action, however.
SPREADING AROUND THE STARTS
A total of 18 different Falcons have started at least one match this season to date ... only four Falcons -- senior co-captain Kasey Freeman, junior Beth Rieman, redshirt sophomore Ali Shingler and true soph Samantha Meister -- have started all 12 matches in 2003.
NOTING THE FALCONS
Junior Kristy Coppes' multiple-goal match at Miami was the seventh of her career, and her second of the season ... she has recorded both of BGSU's two-goal matches to date in 2003 ... Coppes, who had 12 goals (tying the school single-season record) in each of her first two seasons as a Falcon, has seven goals and 15 points this fall, leading the Brown and Orange in both categories ... prior to Coppes' first goal at Miami, the Falcons had not scored a goal against the RedHawks since the team's regular-season match in 2000 ... the goal snapped a BG scoreless streak of 515:18 against MU ... Ashley Enser had been the last Falcon to score a goal vs. Miami ... in between Enser's goal (Oct. 2, 2000) and Coppes' first goal Sunday, Miami had scored 16 consecutive goals in the series ... Julie Trundle's goal at MU Sunday was very similar to the RedHawks' first goal in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament in Oxford last year (Nov. 8, 2002) ... in that match, MU's Danielle Berkemeier - like Trundle on Sunday - bent a corner kick into the net ... Berkemeier's goal was the first of the match as MU posted a 3-0 win en route to a MAC championship ... junior Katie Piening's two-assist match at Miami was the third of her career ... she had two assists in back-to-back wins over Youngstown State (Oct. 3, 2001) and Akron (Oct. 5, 2001) as a freshman ... Piening is now tied with four other players (including classmate Nikki Pucillo) for sixth place on the BGSU career assists list, with nine.
