Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons, Chippewas Meet for MAC Title, NCAA Berth
November 06, 2004 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 6, 2004
ATHENS, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team has qualified for the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship match for the second consecutive season and the third time in five years. The Falcons of head coach Andy Richards, seeded eighth for the eight-team tournament, will meet third-seeded Central Michigan University in Sunday's (Nov. 7) final, which begins at noon at Ohio University's Chessa Field.
THE RECORDS
Bowling Green is 9-11-2 overall, and the Falcons finished eighth in MAC regular-season play with a 5-5-2 league record ... Central Michigan has an overall record of 10-7-3, and the Chippewas tied for third in the MAC with a 6-3-3 conference slate.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
The Falcons, for the second-straight season, qualified for the tourney with a win in the last MAC match ... BGSU earned the eighth and final spot in the tournament, again for the second consecutive year ... and, just like last November, the Brown and Orange picked up a road win over the #1 seed in the quarterfinal round ... BGSU downed Kent State, 2-1 in double-overtime, on Tuesday (Nov. 2) ... senior Kristy Coppes and junior
Britt Anderson scored the BG goals, with Anderson's coming late in the second OT period ... on Friday (Nov. 5), Coppes had the first MAC Tournament hat trick in BGSU history as the Falcons topped #4 seed Western Michigan, 4-1 ... senior Katie Piening had BG's final goal of the match.
Central Michigan lost three consecutive matches to close the regular season, but rebounded with a 2-1 win over visiting Miami in Tuesday's tourney quarterfinal round ... sophomore Rosamaria Rago had a goal and an assist in that win, while classmate Laura Roberts scored the winning goal ... on Friday, junior Rachel Snyder was credited with the lone goal as the Chippewas topped host Ohio, 1-0, in the semifinal round ... Snyder took a corner kick that curved toward the net, and the OU goalkeeper errantly punched the ball into her own goal ...Central sophomore 'keeper Anne Decker picked up her school-record eighth shutout of the season.
THE SERIES
BGSU and Central Michigan are tied, 3-3-2, in the all-time series between the teams ... the Falcons and Chippewas have met once in the MAC Tournament, and once at a neutral site, with both coming in the same match ... that contest, in the semifinal round of last year's tournament, resulted in a 0-0 tie in Kalamazoo, Mich. (Nov. 7, 2003) ... the Falcons advanced to the final, however, by virtue of a 4-3 win in the penalty-kick phase ... the Chippewas won this season's prior meeting, 1-0, in Mount Pleasant (Sept. 24) ... Rosamaria Rago scored the lone goal, late in the first half, and the hosts held BGSU to a season-low seven shot attempts.
SERIES RESULTS
Oct. 1, 1998 -- at BGSU 4, Central Michigan 3 Oct. 17, 1999 -- Central Michigan 2, at BGSU 1 Sept. 15, 2000 -- BGSU 3, at Central Michigan 1 Oct. 14, 2001 -- Central Michigan 4, at BGSU 1 Oct. 11, 2002 -- BGSU 2, at Central Michigan 0 Sept. 12, 2003 -- at BGSU 2, Central Michigan 2 (2-OT) Nov. 7, 2003 -- BGSU 0, Central Michigan 0 (2-OT) % Sept. 24, 2004 -- at Central Michigan 1, BGSU 0 % MAC Tournament SF; BGSU advances, 4-3, on PKs
IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
Bowling Green has an all-time record of 7-4-1 in the MAC Tournament, the third-best mark among all league schools ... BGSU has partipated in the league tourney five times in the eight-year history of the program ... the Falcons are a perfect 5-0-0 in the quarterfinal round, and BG has advanced to the championship final in each of the last two years and in three of head coach Andy Richards' five seasons ... in 2000, BGSU lost a double-OT match, 1-0, to Miami ... last season, host Western Michigan downed the Falcons by a 4-1 count.
Central Michigan is now 6-5-0 in the MAC Tournament ... the Chippewas are participating in the league tourney for the sixth consecutive year, and the sixth time in the program's seven-year history ... CMU has advanced to at least the semifinal round in four of those six years (including this season), and the Chippewas are in the championship final for the second time in school history ... the 2001 team advanced to the title match, before falling to Miami by a 3-1 count ... that match was held in Athens, Ohio, the site of Sunday's final.
TO THE VICTOR GOES AN NCAA BID
The winner of Sunday's match earns the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships ... both BGSU and CMU are looking to make that trip to the NCAAs for the first time in school history ... the 23rd Annual Division I Women's Soccer Championship will begin Friday (Nov. 12) with first-round matches at campus sites ... the NCAA selections will be announced on Monday (Nov. 8).
