Falcons Top Northern, 2-1; Pick Up Key Victory in MAC Tournament Hunt

Friday, October 22

Bowling Green, Ohio

3:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

NORTHERN ILLINOIS

Falcons Top Northern, 2-1; Pick Up Key Victory in MAC Tournament Hunt

October 22, 2004 | Women's Soccer

Oct. 22, 2004

Final Stats

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Junior Samantha Meister's goal broke a second-half tie and lifted the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Northern Illinois University Friday afternoon (Oct. 22). The Mid-American Conference match was held at Cochrane Field.

With the victory, the Falcons improve to 6-10-1 overall and 4-5-1 in MAC play, and the Brown and Orange picked up three important points in the race for a MAC Tournament berth. The Huskies drop to 6-5-5 and 3-3-5, respectively.

Senior captain Beth Rieman scored the Falcons' first goal of the day, while redshirt junior Ali Shingler made four saves in net to pick up the win.

The Falcons held the ball for the bulk of the first half, and took eight of the first nine shots of the afternoon. BGSU's fourth shot, off the foot of Rieman, gave the Brown and Orange the lead at the 18:13 mark. The scoring play began on a corner kick by junior Julie Trundle. Trundle played a ball into the box, and several players on both teams battled for possession. Senior Nikki Pucillo got a foot on the ball, and directed it toward Rieman, who was lurking on the doorstep near the left post. Rieman blasted a shot off NIU goalkeeper Carrie Dvorak and into the near side of the goal. Dvorak was able to get a piece of the ball, but had no chance to stop it from hitting the back netting.

The Falcons had several other scoring opportunities in the first half. Less than a minute after checking into the match, junior Britt Anderson took a pass on the left side of the penalty box. With several NIU defenders in the area, Anderson fired a shot that was blocked off the goal line by a Huskie player for a BGSU corner kick.

With less than two minutes remaining in the half, Trundle took a high, arcing shot from approximately 30 yards out. Her try eluded Dvorak, but rebounded off the crossbar, and the Falcons took the 1-0 lead into the intermission. BG held an 11-2 advantage in shots in the first 45 minutes.

It was more of the same in the early minutes of the second half, as BGSU had several chances to increase the lead. With ten-and-a-half minutes gone in the half, freshman Gina Rossi hit the post on a shot. Then, under four minutes later, Trundle made a long run and worked a nifty give-and-go play with junior Molly Bremen. Trundle took Bremen's return pass and fired a shot that went just wide of the far (right) post.

Less than a minute after Trundle's chance, and seemingly out of nowhere, the Huskies tied the contest. After a Falcon foul in the NIU end of the field, the Huskies' Alexis Terry played a long free kick. Terry's kick sailed over the BGSU defenders and landed between the back line and Shingler. Northern's Jamie Figura was the first one to get there, racing onto the ball and playing a quick shot. The blooper sailed over Shingler, who was attempting to come out to the ball, and went into the vacated net. With just over 30 minutes remaining in regulation, the teams were deadlocked.

Northern had a good chance to take the lead six minutes after tying the score, but a shot hit the corner of the goal, where the post meets the crossbar, and bounded away.

BGSU responded, however, regaining the lead with 16:40 left. Trundle took a shot from the left side that seemed ticketed for the lower right corner of the goal. Dvorak was able to dive and deflect the ball, which rolled toward the right corner of the field. Junior Ashley Wentzel tracked down the ball and slid a pass across the six-yard line to Meister. Meister slammed the ball into the open goal, and the Falcons were back on top.

Meister had another chance with 12 minutes left, but her shot from close range was high. That was the last grade-A scoring opportunity for either team, though, as the Falcon defense shut down the Huskies the rest of the way to pick up the win.

BGSU outshot Northern, 23-10, for the match, and the Falcons also held the advantages in shots on goal (11-5) and corner kicks (6-2). Shingler, as mentioned, made four stops en route to the win, while Dvorak stopped eight BGSU shots and her defense was credited with one `team save.'

The Falcons will conclude the home season Sunday afternoon (Oct. 24), hosting Western Michigan University in a 1:00 p.m. contest. That match will be preceded by 'Senior Day' festivities, and will also feature a number of prizes and giveaways for fans all afternoon long.

NOTES

Believe it or else, Friday's win was BGSU's first-ever home victory over NIU in five tries ... in fact, the home team had never won a match in the series prior to Friday ... NIU holds an overall series lead of 5-4-0 (including one neutral-site match).

Senior Beth Rieman, who has played much of her collegiate career at a defender spot, now has three goals during her BGSU tenure ... all three have come in wins over Northern Illinois ... Rieman scored a pair of goals, and also had an assist, in the Falcons' 4-2 win at Northern during her freshman year (Sept. 28, 2001) ... seven of her 11 career points have come vs. Northern.

Junior Samantha Meister's goal Friday was her fourth of the season, the second-highest total on the Falcons ... she now has 20 career goals, and has surpassed the 50-point mark for her career ... Meister ranks third in BGSU history in scoring, as her total of 51 points places her behind only teammate Kristy Coppes (100 points) and Jill Conover (65 points from 1999-2002) ... Meister has moved into a tie for second on the career goals list ... Conover and Tracy Gleixner (1998-2002) each had 20 goals in the Brown and Orange ... Coppes leads that category with 47 career goals.

Five of Meister's 20 career goals have come against NIU ... she had four goals, at the time a school record, in the Falcons' 4-3 overtime win in DeKalb last season.

Junior Julie Trundle had a pair of assists Friday, doubling her season total ... Trundle's multi-assist match was her first of the season and the fourth of her career ... two of those contests have come vs. NIU, as she had helpers on two of Meister's goals in last year's road win vs. the Huskies.

Trundle has scored at least two points in each of the Falcons' three matches vs. Northern in her career ... she had a goal and an assist in the 2002 match at Cochrane (Oct. 27, 2002), and had a two-assist match in last year's win (Oct. 12, 2003) ... Trundle has seven points in her career vs. the Huskies, and has been involved in the scoring on six of the Falcons' eight goals vs. NIU during her BG tenure.

Trundle now has a career total of 35 points, ranking her seventh in school history ... 19 of those points have come on assists ... Trundle is third on the Falcon career assists list.

Senior Nikki Pucillo and junior Ashley Wentzel each had an assist Friday ... Wentzel now has 12 career assists, while Pucillo has 11 ... Wentzel is tied for sixth on that BGSU career list, and Pucillo is in a tie for eighth.

A total of six current Falcons rank among the school's top-10 in career assists ... Trundle (19), as mentioned, is ranked third, while junior Leah Eggleton (14) is fifth ... Wentzel (12) is part of a tie for sixth place, while Pucillo, Meister and senior Katie Piening all have 11 to deadlock for eighth place ... the school record is 25, held by Conover.

Freshman Danielle Cygan made her first collegiate start in Friday's match ... she is the fourth Falcon freshman to start a match this year ... Janie Babich has made seven starts, while Tiernay Tilford has five ... Gina Rossi and Danielle Cygan each have started one contest ... a total of 20 different Falcons have made at least one start this season.

The Falcons had six more corner kicks vs. NIU, upping the team's school-record total to 119 this season ... the old record was 104, by the 2000 squad ... currently, the school mark is 5.32 corners per match ... through Friday, the 2004 BGSU team is averaging exactly seven per contest.

QUOTING BGSU COACH ANDY RICHARDS
"The win today keeps the light still blazing at the end of the tunnel. As long as we keep winning games in the MAC, it means that our destiny is in our own hands. We have two games remaining, and we would qualify if we were to win them both, regardless of what other teams do. So, the winning is very important, to keep our destiny in our own hands and control what we are doing."

"It was great to get the win today. We played a tough Northern Illinois team that came in prepared to fight and battle for everything. We knew it would be so, and they didn't disappoint us. It was great to see Beth Rieman and Sam Meister score goals. They are a couple of individuals who, in fairly recent times, have had trouble getting into the starting lineup. They have shown exactly what the coaching staff is looking for, and that is perseverance and a determination to do well. That determination has resulted in the two goals that made the difference today."

"I am delighted for them personally, but I hope that that message is received by everyone in the program. Some players are in at times, and some players are out. You have to keep working hard, for the good of the team, and if you have the right positive attitude, things will come out well for the team."

"It wasn't the greatest of performances today. We were wasteful in front of the goal once again, and we felt that we gave their goal to them, rather than Northern earning it. But, at this stage of the season, we'll take the win. The win is the most important thing right now, and we were able to get it."

"We are delighted with the victory, and we look to improve upon the performance on Sunday, and hopefully get another positive result."