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Bowling Green State University Athletics
A Conversation With Andy Richards
August 06, 2003 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 6, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Last fall, BGSU head coach Andy Richards guided the Falcons to the best season in school history. Now, he and his staff will welcome back 16 returning letterwinners in an attempt to continue that success in the 2003 season. Richards recently sat down to discuss the state of the program and the team's prospects for 2003.
BGSUFalcons.com: Give us your initial thoughts on the upcoming season.
Andy Richards: I think several things stand out for us this year. One has to be the strength of our schedule, and the reason behind the strength of our schedule. The coaching staff made a conscious decision to upgrade our schedule because we feel that the squad is talented enough and deep enough to match up with the quality of opposition we've scheduled. Plus, it is a preparation for the NCAA Tournament, which is a goal of ours this year. We not only want to do well in the MAC and win the regular season, we also want to go postseason and take part in the NCAA Tournament. That (strength of schedule) is something we wanted to do to challenge our program. After the success of last year, our first winning season, and having brought in another strong recruiting class, we feel we're ready for the challenge.
Another thing that stands out to me is the fact that all of last year's kids have made a name for themselves. We brought in a huge recruiting class, and virtually all of those kids either started or earned a good amount of playing time. So, with a season under their belts, that experience will hopefully put us in good stead throughout the season.
Plus, we have excellent leadership from our two seniors, Carrie (Richards) and Kasey (Freeman), and we have a very strong junior class, which was really our first recruiting class, with (Kristy) Coppes, (Beth) Rieman, (Jenny) Berlovan, (Nikki) Pucillo and (Katie) Piening. And, we feel we're bringing in six freshmen that can add to that talent as well. So, we are looking toward having a big year.
BGSUFalcons.com: You lost a solid senior class from a year ago, including one of the top goalkeepers in MAC history in Erika Flanders. How do you go about replacing her?
Richards: Yes, we lost a very strong group, and I think the biggest loss has to be Erika, as a four-year starter, a captain and the MAC's goalkeeper of the year. From one perspective, Erika has left some big shoes to fill. But, we do have four goalkeepers on the roster in (Allie) Failor, (Ali) Shingler, (Jenifer) Kernahan and (Samantha) Martinez who could challenge for that spot. That healthy competition is exciting for the program.
The other part of it is we have two very good senior leaders who expect to get a lot of playing time this year. Certainly, Kasey (Freeman) has played a lot in her first three years, and Carrie (Richards) has become an integral part of the team. We will miss them at the end of this year, but it is a very small senior class. We feel that, with their leadership this season, we can really start to make some waves over the next two seasons, both in the MAC and, hopefully, outside the MAC as well.
BGSUFalcons.com: This program has had some very successful seasons, having advanced to at least the MAC Tournament's semifinals three times in the last five seasons. Is it a goal of the program to establish yourselves as perennial MAC contenders?
Richards: Yes. I think you go into every season wanting to win every game and win the championship, but you have to be somewhat realistic. In my first year (2000), we were very successful, getting to the championship game. And, in some ways, we suffered a backlash the next year. Even though we were still talented and brought in some good kids, the expectations were high, not only from ourselves but from other teams as well. When things started to go wrong toward the end of the season, it was hard for us to recover. Part of that was a lack of depth, which I think we've solved. But, you're right. We need to do well this season, just to reestablish ourselves as a force. It is important that we don't become complacent. Even though we have some lofty goals, our basic goals must be to have a winning season and go to the (MAC) postseason tournament. Those are the basics, and we need to start there and build upon those goals.
BGSUFalcons.com: You have said that, in your first few seasons, the players were uncomfortable with being the favorite. Do you feel that that feeling no longer exists, and your players like being the favored team?
Richards: I think the team has just changed its personality. Not to say that it was bad. The first year, we had unbelievable success, and that team will always hold a special place in our hearts. But, the personality of the team is changing, and having a winning season does awfully good things for you. Now, you get used to winning. We have traditionally been the kind of team that would do well against better teams -- particularly on the road, when all the odds were stacked against us -- but, I think that's now beginning to change. We did have some notable wins at home last year, which has given us confidence.
This year, we have plenty of opportunities to do that again. We play 21 games, with 10 at home, so we have a pretty even split there.
BGSUFalcons.com: Tell us a little bit about the goalkeeping situation for 2003.
Richards: We've mentioned the goalkeepers a little bit already. But, it's an exciting time for us. We're going to miss Erika Flanders. She was a superb goalkeeper, who obviously was the top goalie in the MAC last year, as she got voted to the All-MAC First Team. We don't expect to have another Erika Flanders, but we hope to have someone who can come in, fill her shoes and do a strong job. And, we have four great candidates.
Sam Martinez, from Michigan, unfortunately tore her ACL. But, she is progressing fairly well, and should get clearance (to begin practicing) by late September. So, even if she doesn't see the whole of the season, she should be ready to go for the latter half.
Ali Shingler has patiently bided her time. She has practiced alongside Erika for the last two years, and has seen what it takes to be a top goalkeeper in the MAC. We're looking at her to step up and make that place her own. She has seniority and experience on her side.
In addition, Allie Failor now has a year of experience under her belt. She saw some time in the spring, and I don't see any reason why she shouldn't be able to push for that starting spot as well. And, Jen Kernahan is a softball player who we've added. We wanted her partly to give us three fit goalkeepers at the beginning of the season. But we also wanted her because she is a great competitor who is excited by the challenge of playing soccer again. She was recruited by Bowling Green (for soccer) out of high school, but elected to concentrate on softball. So, she has a pedigree; what she doesn't have is time between the posts. But, that's what preseason is all about, and she'll get some experience then.
We are excited about all four of them. We're very fortunate to have the four of them vying for one spot, and we'll just wait and see who wins the job by the end of preseason.
BGSUFalcons.com: The goalkeeper, whomever that may turn out to be, should benefit from a bevy of returning defenders, right?
Richards: Yes, we will look very similar to last season in the back, as we did not lose any defenders. Megan Rapp and Natalie Sampiller, a pair of freshmen, shared the starting sweeper spot last season, which was pretty amazing. That's such an integral part of the team, and we had a freshman playing there for every minute of every game last fall. Both Megan and Natalie have done tremendously well. It was very tough to choose between them at times last year, and we look forward to having another tough decision. The great thing about both players is that they each can play as marking backs as well. But, there will be a lot of competition there.
At marking back, we've got a senior captain in Kasey Freeman who has an awful lot of experience and has established herself as a left-sided defender. And, Jenny Berlovan, a junior this year, has pretty much tied down the right side. In addition, we have Beth Rieman, who has played nearly every minute since she's been at Bowling Green, and has really held down the stopper position. Plus, we have Kylene Newell, who has progressed incredibly well since she came to us as a walk-on two years ago. She had a good showing in the spring, and should be in contention for playing time as well. So, we have great strength there.
Our lone recruit in the back is Kristen Grove, who can play a variety of positions. We've mainly seen her as a left-sided defender, so we're looking for her to provide competition for our marking backs, Jenny and Kasey. But, we also feel confident that Kristen could play in the midfield as well, if needed.
So, we don't lose anything in the back. What we gain is the experience of six returnees, plus a fresh face in Kristen Grove. It's very important, particularly for defenders, to feel comfortable with each other, know what each teammate is going to do and work as a cohesive unit.
BGSUFalcons.com: You seem to have a similar situation in the midfield.
Richards: Again in the midfield, we did not lose any players to graduation. We feel the whole midfield is strong, but particularly the central midfield. We always have a hard time choosing starters out of the four players there -- Sammi Meister, Nikki Pucillo, Molly Bremen and Leah Eggleton. We have great strength.
All four are very good players, and it makes life difficult to choose just two. We are incredibly loaded there. Sam, of course, was the MAC Newcomer of the Year last year, so she's someone the opponents certainly know about. But, we have some other players there who have not gotten the recognition they deserve.
The other great thing about those four players is that they have very different styles. Sammi is very good at going forward, and excellent in the air. Leah is probably one of the toughest players in the MAC, and she can get forward and get back. Nikki Pucillo will work all day, and is a great passer of the ball, and Molly Bremen is a tremendous on-the-field personality who can do a very good defensive job. We have great variety in those positions, which will help us according to whom we're playing on a particular day.
On the left-hand side of midfield, Julie Trundle comes back for her sophomore year. She did incredibly well in that position last year, and scored some excellent goals for us. She scored five goals, and each one was very important. She had two game winners, and also scored the tying goal at Eastern Michigan, just six seconds from time. We look for her to have another good season now that she has that experience.
Sara Moore, a freshman from Michigan, will come in and provide some competition to Julie in that spot, and share some time there as well. Obviously, Sara is untried as a freshman, but she is coming into a good program and will do well in our environment.
The right side of midfield is another exciting spot for us. Carrie Richards played a lot of time there last year, and, as a senior captain, will be looking to tie down that spot for herself. I have no doubts that she will do a very good job, both as a defender and going forward. But, she is facing a lot of competition there.
Ashley Wentzel had a tremendous spring, and may have been the best player of the spring season. She did a good job of getting herself into great shape, became an attacking forward, provided some great crosses for our forwards and did her share of defending as well. She pushed herself in contention for that spot.
Our other recruit there is Lindsay Carter, a Columbus-area product who played with the Ohio Premier team. She is similar in style to Julie Trundle in that she can run all day. She is very fast, tenacious, a good passer of the ball and a great crosser. So, again, we have some difficult decisions to make at that spot, but we do have that depth that we didn't really have a few years ago.
BGSUFalcons.com: You lost the majority of your graduated seniors from the forward spots, including the school's career points leader in Jill Conover.
Richards: Between Tracy (Gleixner), Susan (Wallace) and Jill, we lost three players who played a lot of minutes and scored a lot of goals. Tracy scored a lot of goals in her early years before being slowed by injuries. Susan scored some important goals in her four years, and Jill was a consistent scoring threat over her entire career. We will miss those three, and that's an area where we will need some people to step up.
Having said that, the situation is not quite the same as at goalkeeper. We return Kristy Coppes, the MAC Newcomer of the Year two years ago who has scored 12 goals a season. She gives us a great leader up front. Add to that Britt Anderson, who did a good job last year and is now a full-time soccer player. Like Julie Trundle, Britt seemed to score game-winning goals, or at least score goals that came at important times.
Keeley Dayton is a very exciting player to watch. She stuggled at the beginning of last season with injuries, but really came on toward the end of the season. She scored a couple of goals late in the year, and had a very good spring. She is someone that we'll look to for more minutes and more scoring production, now that she's got that experience and recovered from those injuries.
Katie Piening is our other returning striker. She has tremendous pace up front, a strong shot, and is good in the air. She has the ability to have an impact on the game. She suffered an injury in the spring and is looking to come back after a lengthy layoff, but can offer us some dynamic play up front.
The two new faces up front our Karen Brown and Jenny Matson. They are untested at the college level, but they both have good pace. Both also have the ability to hold the ball and link with the midfield players, and both have the ability to score some goals. We know that they'll both do a good job.
We have a lot of bodies up there -- six people for two positions -- but that gives us the option to change our formation and play three people up front. Or, it gives us the ability to rotate fresh players into the game.
BGSUFalcons.com: It seems like there are no easy games in the MAC. And, you have set up a tough non-conference schedule. Will the rigorous non-league games make the MAC games any easier?
Richards: I don't know if a MAC game will ever be easy. In fact, every game this season will be very tough, MAC game or otherwise. There is an incredible amount of parity in the MAC. Look at last year's standings. Miami won the league, and we lost to them, and Ball State and Ohio were second and third, and we lost to each of them.
Then, you look at the bottom of the standings. We also lost to Northern Illinois at home, and they finished 10th. And, we barely beat Akron, who finished last.
One of the reasons we did so well is that we had good results against the teams around us (in the standings). We beat Western Michigan, we tied at EMU, we beat Central Michigan, Toledo and Buffalo. Basically, we beat the teams we needed to beat, and we struggled against the bottom teams. If ever there was an argument that there is parity in the MAC, there it is.
It will be the same again this year. You can never predict what will happen. A lot of people will think Miami will not be the same team, because they lost so many players. But, believe that at your peril. They will be very tough to beat.
In fact, there isn't a team out there that I can look at and say, "That's a win." We will just take each game as it comes, and hopefully come out on top. We haven't beaten Miami or Ohio since I got here (NOTE: BGSU has never beaten either team), so those are two games that, if we could win, would really help us feel like we've made some progress. But, in the meantime, we can't relax against anyone else.
I think, overall, the non-conference schedule is set up to be very strong. But, we know that the MAC schedule is the bread and butter. It doesn't matter how we do outside the conference -- if we don't win our MAC games, we won't go to the (conference) postseason. If we don't go postseason, we can't advance to the NCAAs. So, the MAC is the be-all and end-all.
BGSUFalcons.com: Do you have any final thoughts on the upcoming season?
Richards: I'm excited to have (assistant coach) Ashlee Orr on board for another year, and we're glad to have Darin Karbler helping us out again this season. Darin will have a lot to do with the goalkeepers, which will really help us out, as that position is up for grabs. With Ashlee and I going into our fourth year, we feel like we're headed in the right direction. We really want to continue building the program and ensure that the BGSU team continues the winning tradition that we've started.
