Rockets Top BGSU In OT, 1-0

Sunday, September 28

Bowling Green, Ohio

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

TOLEDO

September 28, 2003 | Women's Soccer

Sept. 28, 2003

Final Stats| Photo Gallery

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Robin Davidson's goal with just under six minutes gone in overtime gave the University of Toledo a 1-0 win over the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team Sunday afternoon (Sept. 28). The Mid-American Conference match was held at BGSU's Cochrane Field.

With the victory, the visiting Rockets improve to 5-5-0 overall and 3-2 in MAC play. The Falcons drop to 3-6-1 and 1-2-1, respectively.

UT held a 15-7 advantage in shot attempts, including a 4-1 margin in the OT period. For the match, Toledo had a 6-3 edge over the Falcons in shots on goal.

On a breezy day at Cochrane Field, the match began under partly cloudy skies, but a cold rain fell off and on during the contest.

The Rockets just missed on a scoring chance late in the first half. UT's Kelly Langenbeck took a shot from the right side of the penalty area, and the curving shot eluded BG goalkeeper Ali Shingler, but rang off the near (right) post with just under 12 minutes left in the half.

UT held a 7-2 edge in shot attempts in the first 45 minutes, but the teams each got off four shots in the second half. In that second stanza, the Falcons' best chance came with approximately 16:23 left in regulation. Sophomores Julie Trundle and Britt Anderson combined to win the ball in the corner flag, and Anderson's left-side cross found the head of classmate Ashley Wentzel. Wentzel's floating shot beat UT 'keeper Jen Whipple, but struck the crossbar.

UT's leading scorer, Melissa Lesage, misfired on a grade-A chance with 3:25 left. She freed herself from Falcon defenders and brought the ball along the end line, to the left of the Falcon goal. As she came across the six-yard box, she attempted to put the ball in the far (right) corner of the net, but her shot was high and wide.

In the extra session, as mentioned, UT held a 4-1 shots advantage. Lesage fired back-to-back shots during one flurry with three-and-a-half minutes elapsed, but her initial shot was blocked, and her second shot was stopped by Shingler. The rebound eventually went to Sarah Hazenfield, whose shot was off the mark.

The winning play began just over two minutes later. Williams won the ball and broke down the right side of the field. As she entered the penalty area, she crossed the ball to Davidson, whose shot found the mark and sparked a wild UT on-field celebration.

Shingler made five saves in her complete-match effort, while UT's Whipple made three stops to earn the shutout. Toledo had six corner kicks to BG's four, and the visitors committed 15 fouls to the Falcons' six.

BGSU now prepares for a five-match road swing, beginning with a Friday (Oct. 3) match at Ball State. Two days later, the Falcons will head to Miami for a match with the RedHawks.

NOTES

The match snapped the Falcons' home winning streak at three matches, and stopped BGSU's home unbeaten streak at four matches ... the school record for consecutive home wins is four, set at the start of the 1999 season (Aug. 27-Sept. 15) ... the four-match home unbeaten streak had tied the school record.

In the all-time series between the Falcons and the Rockets, the home team has won only one of the seven series meetings ... in fact, the home squad has not won a match since the teams' initial meeting in 1997 ... BGSU is 3-1-0 in road matches vs. UT, including a 3-0 mark at Scott Park, while the Rockets hold a 2-0-1 advantage in contests at Cochrane Field.

The all-time series between BG and UT is now tied, 3-3-1 ... each team has scored a total of 10 goals in the seven matches.

All three meetings between BGSU and UT at Cochrane Field have required overtime ... UT won the first-ever meeting at BGSU, 2-1 in OT, on Oct. 30, 1999 (the final Falcon match before Andy Richards became head coach) ... two years ago (Sept. 9, 2001), the teams battled through a pair of scoreless overtimes in a 2-2 deadlock.

Toledo is the only team to post two regular-season overtime wins over the Falcons ... Miami is the only other school to down the Brown and Orange twice in OT, but one of the RedHawk wins came in the championship match of the 2000 MAC Tournament.

QUOTING BGSU COACH ANDY RICHARDS
"I was very disappointed with the result today, but more disappointed with the performance. We should have won the game, we could have won the game. But we failed to (win) because we didn't produce enough quality, particularly in the offensive third of the field. If we had created a bit of quality in our play by making better passes, better crosses or taking more shots, I have no doubt that we would have won the game in regulation. But, unfortunately, we did not produce the quality which was necessary, especially in a MAC game and especially against a rival."

"We talked to the team at the end of the game, and appealed to them to start producing quality and taking care of the little things that need to be taken care of. I feel that we're not too far away from being a successful team. We're 1-2-1 in the MAC, but we could easily be 4-0 if we had produced quality and taken chances when they came."

"As ever, the line between winning and losing is very thin. We are going to work very hard this week, starting tomorrow (Monday) in practice, and we're going to make sure we turn this corner. It's very disheartening and disappointing, but I don't think we're that far away from being a good team, particularly if we can enhance the quality of the things that we do."