.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Eastern And Eastern This Week
September 02, 2003 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 2, 2003
Complete Release (6 pages) in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after making the longest road trip in school history, will begin the home portion of the 2003 season this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards (0-2-0) will face Eastern Illinois University in a Friday (Sept. 5) match, with kickoff scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at BGSU's Cochrane Field.
Then, the Brown and Orange will begin Mid-American Conference play with a Sunday (Sept. 7) match vs. Eastern Michigan University ... that match will begin at noon at Cochrane Field.
This weekend's two matches mark the beginning of a four-contest homestand for the Falcons.
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 29-30-5 ... 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 OUT
The Falcons began the 2003 season with a pair of matches vs. strong opponents in the OHANA Hotels & Resorts No Ka Oi Tournament ... on Saturday night (Aug. 30), BGSU dropped a 5-1 decision to #11 Arizona State ... junior Kristy Coppes scored the lone goal for the Falcons, with an assist from sophomore Ashley Wentzel ... the next night (Aug. 31), host Hawai'i downed BGSU by a 4-0 score ... redshirt sophomore Ali Shingler played all 180 minutes in goal, making five saves vs. the Sun Devils and seven stops against the host Rainbow Wahine.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU returns 16 letterwinners, including a whopping 10 starters, from last year's team ... the list of returnees includes junior Kristy Coppes, the team's leading scorer in each of her first two seasons at BGSU, as well as sophomores Julie Trundle and Samantha Meister, who finished second and third, respectively, in scoring a year ago ... the Falcons return the entire corps of midfielders and defenders from last season ... Coppes is one of four returning forwards ... the coaching staff has four goalkeepers on the roster, vying to replace All-MAC First-Team pick Erika Flanders in the net ... Flanders, who set every BGSU goalkeeping record during her four years, is the lone starter not returning ... redshirt sophomore Ali Shingler started each of the first two matches in goal ... head coach Andy Richards has seven newcomers on the 26-player roster ... more information, as well as a complete season outlook, can be found on the BGSU athletics web site, www.bgsufalcons.com.
THE OPPONENTS
Eastern Illinois opened the 2003 season with a 6-0 win over Western Illinois Friday (Aug. 29) ... in that match, senior Beth Liesen broke the school record for career goals ... she now has 44 in her career ... the Panthers return 16 letterwinners, including eight starters, from last year's team that went 12-8-2 overall and advanced to the NCAA Tournament ... EIU went 4-1-1 in Ohio Valley Conference play to finish second, but won the league tournament to advance to the NCAA tourney ... head coach Steve Ballard's club saw Monday's (Sept. 1) match vs. Illinois State postponed due to inclement weather ... the match was rescheduled for Tuesday (Sept. 2) ... Ballard is 101-56-6 in his eighth season at EIU ... he has a 139-98-7 record in his 13th season as a collegiate head coach ... Liesen, a three-time All-OVC pick, led the team with nine goals and 26 points last year ... the school's athletics web site is www.eiu.edu/panthers.
Eastern Michigan will take a record of 0-1-1 into this weekend's action ... the Eagles will host Michigan State Friday (Sept. 5) before heading to BGSU two days later ... EMU began the season with a 2-0 loss to Drake Saturday (Aug. 30), but bounced back to tie #25 Purdue, 2-2, the next day at the Boilermaker Challenge Cup ... head coach Scott Hall returns 17 letterwinners, including nine starters, from the 2002 club that went 9-10-2 overall and 5-5-2 in MAC play ... senior forward Jessica Hupe, who led the Eagles with 17 goals and 39 points a year ago, scored her 86th career goal in the Purdue match ... goalkeepers Nikki Allen, a junior, and freshman Courtney Ward split time in each of last weekend's two matches ... Hall has a coaching record of 52-28-8 in his fifth season, all with the Eagles ... the school's athletics web site is www.emich.edu/goeagles.
THE SERIES
BGSU and Eastern Illinois are tied, 0-0-1, in the all-time series between the teams ... the lone meeting came last Sept. 8 in Charleston, Ill., and resulted in a 1-1 deadlock ... Kristy Coppes scored the Falcons' goal in the match, off a Nikki Pucillo assist.
The Falcons trail Eastern Michigan, 4-3-1, in that series, and the Eagles have won the two previous meetings at Cochrane Field ... last year, Julie Trundle's goal with just six seconds remaining in regulation gave the Brown and Orange a 2-2 tie in Ypsilanti, Mich. (Oct. 13, 2002) ... Ashley Wentzel assisted on Trundle's goal, while Samantha Meister scored the other BG goal in the match ... Eastern posted a 3-0 win in the last meeting in BG (Oct. 12, 2001).
ANDERSON, FREEMAN NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Sophomore forward Britt Anderson and senior defender Kasey Freeman represented the Falcons on the all-tournament team in Hawai'i ... they were joined by Arizona State's Kelly Fitzgerald, Amy LePeilbet, Stephanie Ebner and Elizabeth Bogus and UH's Krystalynn Ontai, Jessica Uecker, Robyn deHay, Mia Moe and Natasha Kai ... Arizona State, ranked as high as #11 in the polls, won the tournament with a 2-0 record that included a 4-0 win over Hawai'i.
A RARE SEASON-OPENING LOSS
The Falcons' loss to Arizona State marks only the second time in the seven-year history of the program that BGSU has started the season at 0-1 ... the other time came last year, when the Brown and Orange also lost a four-goal decision to start the year (4-0 to Michigan State), before rebounding to post the most successful season in school history ... the Falcons now have an all-time record of 5-2 in season-opening matches ... 2003 marks the first time in school history that BG has started the year with a record of 0-2.
SHINGLER HAS SOLID START
Redshirt sophomore Ali Shingler started each of the season's first two matches in goal, and received praise from head coach Andy Richards for her play ... Shingler, who played a total of 87:27 over four matches as a freshman in 2001, made her first collegiate start in the ASU match, and saw her most extensive playing time since coming to BGSU ... her longest stint prior to Saturday's match was 45 minutes (vs. Youngstown State in 2001), and she had made three career saves prior to playing all 90 minutes and making five stops vs. the Sun Devils ... the next night, Shingler had seven saves vs. Hawai'i, setting another career best ... Shingler did not see match action in 2002, as First-Team All-MAC pick Erika Flanders played every minute of every contest.
THE CAPTAINS
The Falcons' two veteran seniors, Kasey Freeman and Carrie Richards, are the 2003 team co-captains ... Freeman, the lone fourth-year Falcon, is the only current team member to have been a part of the two most successful teams in school history ... Freeman was a freshman on the 2000 squad that posted 10 wins and advanced all the way to the championship match of the MAC Tournament ... and, of course, she was a junior on last fall's team, when the Brown and Orange went 12-8-2, finished fourth in the MAC and advanced to the tourney semifinals ... Richards, after playing in just two matches in 2001, her first season at BG, played in every match last fall, making seven starts ... she had a goal and two assists.
COPPES SCORES HER 25TH
Junior Kristy Coppes found the back of the net against Arizona State ... Coppes now has career totals of 25 goals and 54 points in 43 matches ... she extended her own BGSU career record for goals, and now stands 11 points behind first-place Jill Conover (1999-2002) on that school career list.
FREEMAN A FAMILIAR FACE IN FALCON STARTING LINEUP
Senior co-captain Kasey Freeman started each of the two matches in Hawai'i ... she has now played in 54 contests in her career, the most of any current Falcon ... Freeman now has 49 career starts, also the most of any player on the 2003 team, and she has started 43 consecutive matches.
