Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Advances To MAC Tourney Semifinals
November 05, 2003 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 5, 2003
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after a road win against the #1 seed to begin the Mid-American Conference Tournament, now advances to the semifinal round ... the Falcons of fourth-year head coach Andy Richards (8-11-2 [5-5-2 MAC]), seeded eighth for the eight-team tourney, will head to Kalamazoo, Mich., for a Friday (Nov. 7) semifinal vs. fifth-seeded Central Michigan University ... that contest, the first of the day, will begin at 11:00 a.m. at the WMU Soccer Complex.
The BGSU-CMU winner will advance to the championship match, which will be held Sunday (Nov. 9) ... the championship match is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. ... Friday's other semifinal match, which will begin at 2:00 p.m., will feature #7 Ohio University and third-seeded Western Michigan University.
2003 MAC TOURNAMENT
Quarterfinals -- Tuesday, November 4 (at campus sites) #8 Bowling Green 2, at #1 Eastern Michigan 1 #7 Ohio 1, at #2 Kent State 0 at #3 Western Michigan 3, #6 Buffalo 0 #5 Central Michigan 2, at #4 Ball State 0Semifinals -- Friday, November 7 (at Kalamazoo, Mich.) #8 Bowling Green vs. #5 Central Michigan, 11:00 a.m. #7 Ohio at #3 Western Michigan, 2:00 p.m.
Championship -- Sunday, November 9 (at Kalamazoo, Mich.) Semifinal winners, 1:00 p.m.
FALCONS NOW A PERFECT 4-0 IN TOURNEY QUARTERFINALS
The Falcons are participating in the MAC Tournament for the fourth time in the seven-year history of the program ... BGSU's 2-1 win over Eastern Michigan Tuesday (Nov. 4) gives the Falcons a perfect 4-0 record in league tourney quarterfinal matches ... the 2003 season marks the first time that BGSU has made back-to-back tournament appearances ... Falcon teams qualified for the league tourney in 1998, 2000 and 2002, prior to this season.
BGSU's win at Marshall on Oct. 26, combined with the Miami win over Akron that same afternoon, gave the Falcons the eighth and final berth in the 2003 tournament ... the Brown and Orange then went to #1-seeded EMU and won on Tuesday, setting up Friday's semifinal match vs. Central Michigan.
BGSU'S MAC TOURNAMENT FACTS
 Sophomore Leah Eggleton scored BG's first goal in the win at EMU Tuesday  |
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The 2003 season marks the Falcons' fourth MAC Tournament appearance in the seven-year history of the program ... in 1998, the sixth-seeded Falcons travelled to #3 Eastern Michigan for the quarterfinal round and posted a 1-0 victory ... Cari Combs scored the lone goal off an Autumn Harris through-ball at the 71:51 mark ... Michelle Lisy made 10 saves in net to earn the shutout in the upset win ... the Falcons then faced second-seeded Northern Illinois in the semifinal round in Athens, Ohio ... BGSU took the lead at the 28:19 mark on a Leah Rosner goal ... but, the Huskies tied the match with just 8:22 left in regulation, then scored at the 117:58 mark of the second overtime stanza ... the Falcons could not score in the remaining 2:02 (the overtime was not sudden death), and the Huskies captured the win en route to the MAC Tournament title ... Lisy again made 10 saves in goal, and she was joined by Rosner on the all-tourney team.
In 2000, the seventh-seeded Falcons again headed to Ypsilanti for the opening round ... BGSU posted a 2-1 victory over the #2-seeded Eagles ... Ashley Enser headed home a cross from Tracy Gleixner with 11:51 left in the first half, with Jill Conover also assisting on the goal ... then, with just 1:31 left in the match, Conover took an errant EMU pass and blasted a shot just below the crossbar ... Eastern would cut the lead in half just 29 seconds later, but the Falcons held the Eagles off the scoreboard for the final minute ... Erika Flanders made seven saves to earn the win ... in the semifinal round in Buffalo, N.Y., the Falcons topped #6 Western Michigan by a 2-1 count ... Gleixner started the scoring at the 33:36 mark ... WMU tied the score at 1-1 late in the first half, but Susan Wallace scored the winning goal, heading in a cross from Michelle Lisy with just under 15 minutes left in the second half ... a goal at the 111:57 mark gave Miami a 1-0, double-OT win in the championship match ... Flanders made 10 saves, several of the spectacular variety, in that contest ... Flanders, Stephanie Heller and Beth Wechsler all were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Last season, the Falcons earned the first-ever MAC Tournament home contest, with a fourth-place finish in the regular season ... the Brown and Orange defeated #5 Buffalo in the quarterfinal round, 2-1 in double overtime ... the teams played a scoreless first half, before UB took the lead at the 56:51 mark ... but BGSU rallied to equalize less than seven minutes later, as Samantha Meister's through-ball found Kristy Coppes for a breakaway goal at 62:17 ... the teams went to overtime, and after a UB foul in the penalty box in the second OT, Julie Trundle scored on a penalty kick to give the Falcons the win ... Flanders made seven saves in earning the victory ... the Falcons travelled to Miami and dropped a 3-0 decision to the top-seeded RedHawks ... MU's Danielle Berkemeier scored all three goals, the first on a corner kick that curved into the net late in the first half ... she scored two more goals in the final 10 minutes of the match, including an 'empty-net' goal when the Falcons, including GK Flanders, were pressing forward ... Flanders, who made eight saves, and Coppes were named to the all-tourney squad.
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 37-39-7 ... 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 ... he led his first Falcon team all the way to the championship match of the MAC Tournament ... the 2003 season marks the third time in Richards' four years that the Falcons have advanced to the semifinal round of the league tourney.
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 OUT
In MAC Tournament quarterfinal-round action, the Falcons travelled to Ypsilanti and pulled the upset over top-seeded Eastern Michigan, 2-1, Tuesday (Nov. 4) ... it marked the first time in MAC Tournament history that the lowest seed beat the highest seed in the first round ... EMU took a 1-0 lead just before halftime ... but, sophomore Leah Eggleton scored the equalizer early in the second half, off a nifty give-and-go with classmate Samantha Meister ... then, Meister got the winner, heading home a Julie Trundle free kick with just under 26 minutes left ... redshirt sophomore Ali Shingler and the Falcon defense kept the Eagles off the scoreboard for the remainder of the afternoon ... Shingler finished with eight saves in her first-ever MAC Tournament action.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU returned 16 letterwinners, including a whopping 10 starters, from last year's team ... the Falcons went to overtime in five of the last seven regular-season matches, and BGSU has played a school-record seven OT matches this season ... sophomore Samantha Meister, who set a single-match record with four goals at Northern Illinois (Oct. 12), leads the Falcons with 26 points ... Meister has 10 goals and six assists, leading the team in the former category and ranking second in the latter ... junior Kristy Coppes, the team's leading scorer in each of her first two seasons at BGSU, is second on the 2003 team with 19 points, including nine goals ... sophomore Julie Trundle is third with 13 points, including a BG-best seven assists, while sophomore Britt Anderson has nine points ... sophomores Leah Eggleton and Ashley Wentzel and junior Katie Piening each have seven points ... Ali Shingler has seen the bulk of the time in goal, and is 7-10-2 with a goals-against average of 2.06 ... senior Jenifer Kernahan has played in six matches, starting two, and is 1-1-0 with a 1.42 GAA ... head coach Andy Richards has seven newcomers on the 26-player roster, including Kernahan ... more information on the Falcons can be found elsewhere on the BGSU athletics web site, www.bgsufalcons.com.
THE OPPONENT
Central Michigan enters the MAC Tournament's semifinal round with an overall record of 9-8-2 ... the Chippewas finished fifth in the regular-season race with a league ledger of 6-5-1, and went on the road to defeat #4 Ball State, 2-0, Tuesday afternoon ... CMU had lost three of the final four regular-season contests before posting the road shutout vs. BSU ... CMU has a record of 6-4-2 away from home this season, but Friday will mark the Chippewas' first neutral-site match of the year ... individually, sophomore Stacy Downing leads the team in goals, assists and points ... she has 18 points on seven goals and four helpers ... another sophomore, Rachel Snyder, is second on the team with five goals and 12 points ... Snyder and freshman Alison Heydorn each had a goal in the win at BSU ... Heydorn and freshman Jacquie Lacek each have 10 points, including four goals, on the year ... in goal, freshman Anne Decker has played in 17 matches, and is 8-6-1 with a goals-against average of 1.11 ... CMU returned 10 letterwinners, including seven starters, from last year's team that went 5-9-5 overall and 4-5-3 in MAC play ... Mark Salisbury has a record of 56-52-10 in his sixth season with the Chippewas ... he is 114-97-18 in his 12th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.cmuchippewas.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Central Michigan by a 3-2-1 margin in the all-time series between the teams ... BGSU tied the Chippewas, 2-2, in the teams' regular-season meeting this year, on Sept. 12 at Cochrane Field ... senior Carrie Richards had a goal and an assist in that match, while sophomore Samantha Meister had the Falcons' other goal ... Friday will mark the first-ever MAC Tournament meeting between the teams, as well as the first time the Falcons and Chippewas have met on a neutral field ... BGSU won the 2002 meeting, 2-0, at Mount Pleasant (Oct. 11, 2002), with junior Kristy Coppes and Meister getting the goals.
SOME NOTES FROM THE EMU MATCH
The Falcons now trail Eastern Michigan by a 5-4-1 margin in that series, but BGSU now holds a 4-2-1 advantage in meetings in Ypsilanti ... BGSU has met the Eagles 10 times, more often than any other opponent ... EMU is now the Falcons' most-common MAC Tournament opponent, as the teams have met three times in the quarterfinal round, with BG winning three one-goal matches on the road ... the Falcons now have a five-match unbeaten streak on the road vs. Eastern, dating to the 1998 MAC Tournament.
CLOSE CALLS
The Falcons have now seen 14 matches this season, including each of the last eight contests, decided by one goal or fewer ... Eastern Michigan saw 16 of the Eagles' 21 contests this season end in either a tie or a one-goal match.
EGGLETON ANOTHER OFFENSIVE THREAT
Sophomore Leah Eggleton certainly has chosen a good time to provide some scoring punch ... Eggleton, slowed by injuries this season, did not score a goal in her first 13 matches of the year ... she found the back of the net vs. Ohio State in the final regular-season match (Oct. 31), and now has goals in back-to-back matches after netting BG's first goal at Eastern Michigan.
MIGHT WANNA MARK MEISTER
Sophomore Samantha Meister now has scored a goal in each of the last three matches, and has a total of eight points during that time ... Meister, who leads the Falcons with 10 goals and 26 points, has scored nine goals vs. MAC opposition this season ... the 2002 MAC Newcomer of the Year, Meister had 17 points in the Falcons' 12 MAC contests this fall, before adding three more points vs. Eastern Michigan Tuesday.
STREAKY
A trio of sophomores, Leah Eggleton, Samantha Meister and Julie Trundle, each have three-match scoring streaks heading into the Central Michigan match ... Meister has scored the winning goal in BG's two victories in that time, at Marshall (Oct. 26) and Eastern Michigan ... she had a goal and an assist vs. both Ohio State (Oct. 31) and EMU ... Eggleton assisted on Meister's winner at Marshall, and had goals vs. both the Buckeyes and Eagles ... Trundle scored one of BG's four goals vs. the Thundering Herd, and has had an assist in each of the last two matches ... her free kick set up Meister's header for the winning goal Tuesday at EMU ... Trundle now has a team-leading seven assists this season.
HAVE A YEAR
Sophomore Samantha Meister was injured in only her third career match, missing seven contests early last season with a broken nose ... upon her return, she scored her first collegiate goal in her fourth match back, at Central Michigan on Oct. 11, 2002 ... in 22 matches over the next calendar year (plus one day), Meister scored a total of 13 goals ... she has been at her best in MAC play, as - through the end of the 2003 regular season - she has scored 12 goals in her last 17 league regular-season matches ... this season, Meister's first eight goals came in MAC contests, prior to her finding the back of the net vs. Ohio State (Oct. 31) ... in the league tourney opener, she added a goal and an assist to help BGSU beat Eastern Michigan.
MIGHTY IN THE MAC
Sophomore Samantha Meister has had a solid season, but has been especially prolific in MAC play ... Meister has a team-leading 26 points this year, including 20 in the Falcons' 13 matches vs. MAC foes ... eight of her 10 goals came in league play, with another coming in the MAC Tournament quarterfinal ... likewise, classmate Julie Trundle has been successful in MAC action ... Trundle has scored 11 of her 13 points this year vs. conference foes, including all three goals ... Kristy Coppes finished third on the team with eight points (on four goals) in conference play.
COPPES EXTENDS BGSU CAREER RECORDS
Kristy Coppes scored the Falcons' lone goal in the match at Ohio (Oct. 24), extending two of her own school records in the process ... Coppes, just a junior, now has totals of 33 career goals and 71 points in the Brown and Orange ... this season, she currently has 19 points, including a team-high nine goals.
SOPHOMORES ALREADY ON CAREER LISTS
A trio of sophomores are moving up the BGSU career scoring lists ... Samantha Meister enters the Central Michigan match with a total of 43 career points, after just 36 career contests ... she has moved into fifth place on the school career points list ... Meister has 16 career goals to rank fifth on that BGSU list, and now has 11 assists, putting her into sole possession of sixth on that chart ... Julie Trundle now ranks eighth at BG with a career total of 31 points ... Trundle has eight career goals (T-eighth), and has 15 assists as a Falcon, a total that places her fourth in school history ... another soph, Britt Anderson, has seven career goals to tie for 10th on the school list ... Anderson has a total of 18 points as a Falcon, putting her into the top 15 ... classmate Ashley Wentzel's two assists vs. Marshall give her eight for her career, tying her for 12th in Falcon annals.
DON'T FORGET US JUNIORS
Three juniors also are on the school scoring lists ... Kristy Coppes, as mentioned, holds the BGSU records with 33 goals and 71 points ... Katie Piening found the net vs. Marshall, and now has six career goals to tie for 13th in school history ... she had an assist vs. Ohio State, and now is seventh on the BGSU chart with 10 assists ... Piening's 22 career points place her 11th in school annals ... junior Nikki Pucillo has nine career assists to tie for eighth in school history.
A FEW MORE MAC TOURNAMENT TIDBITS
Tuesday's (Nov. 4) BGSU win at Eastern Michigan marked the first time in MAC Tournament history that the #1 seed lost in the opening round ... obviously, the match also marked the first time the eighth seed won a first-round contest ... the 2003 league tourney will see a first-time champion crowned, as BGSU, CMU, Ohio and WMU never have won the title ... Northern Illinois won the first two MAC Tournaments, in 1997 and 1998, before Eastern Michigan beat Miami on penalty kicks to take the 1999 title ... Miami came back to win the MAC Tournament crown in each of the last three years.
SECOND-YEAR SCORERS
All of BGSU's points at Eastern Michigan were scored by sophomores ... Falcon sophs have combined for 20 of the team's 33 goals and 29 of BG's 42 assists this year to date.
SHINGLER'S SAVES, SHUTOUT SEND HER INTO SECOND
With seven saves vs. Kent State (Oct. 19), redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Ali Shingler moved past Kit Gazley (76 saves in 1997) into second place on the BGSU career saves list ... entering the Central Michigan match, Shingler now has a total of 101 career stops ... Erika Flanders (1999-2002) holds the school record, with a total of 473 career saves ... the KSU match also marked Shingler's third complete-match shutout, both of the season and of her career, moving her into second on that list ... Flanders had a school-record 17 shutouts in her Falcon tenure.
