Falcons Open MAC Play With Two Home Matches This Weekend

Sept. 14, 2004

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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, looking to snap a five-match losing streak, returns home for a pair of Mid-American Conference matches this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards (1-5-0) will open the league portion of the schedule against Ohio University in a Friday (Sept. 17) contest, beginning at 4:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field ... BGSU then hosts Marshall University Sunday (Sept. 19) at 1:00 p.m.

CORNERING THE MARKET...

Bowling Green has had more corner kicks than the opponent in each of the first six matches this season ... last fall, the Falcons had fewer corners than the opposition in each of the first six contests of the year.

The Falcons are 1-5-0 this season in matches in which BG has more corner kicks than the opponent ... prior to the 2004 campaign, the Falcons had been 36-16-6 when taking more corners than the other team ... in fact, BGSU had been 17-7-3 in such matches in the Andy Richards Era.

In the history of the program, BGSU is now 37-21-6 in matches in which the Falcons have taken more corner kicks ... the Falcons are 17-52-5 when the opponent has had more corners, and BGSU is 3-6-1 all-time when the teams are even in that category.

SIMILAR FATES
Both of BGSU's weekend opponents, like the Falcons, have had trouble putting the ball in the back of the net in 2004 ... BG has scored eight goals in six matches (1.33 per match), but seven of those eight scores came in the season opener ... Ohio, having played some quality opposition to start the season, has scored only four goals in six contests ... but, thanks to some solid defense, the Bobcats picked up two points (two ties) to open MAC play, despite scoring just one goal in the two matches ... Marshall has scored 12 goals in seven matches (1.71 per match), but six of those 12 goals came in one match, and the Thundering Herd has gone scoreless in each of the last three contests, heading into the weekend.

HEAD COACH ANDY RICHARDS
Andy Richards is in his fifth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 38-45-6 ... Richards has led the Falcons to the three finest seasons in school history over his first four years ... last season, he guided the Falcons to the championship match of the MAC Tournament for the second time in his four seasons ... BGSU has advanced to the semifinals of the league tourney in three of his four campaigns to date ... Ashlee Orr is in her fifth season as an assistant coach for the Brown and Orange, while Eric Golz is in his first fall on Richards' staff.

THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Ohio will bring a record of 0-4-2 to Cochrane Field, and the Bobcats have a MAC record of 0-0-2 after home ties with Northern Illinois (1-1) and defending league tourney champion Western Michigan (0-0) last weekend ... OU's grueling early-season schedule included matches vs. Wisconsin, West Virginia, Louisville and Michigan ... four different players have scored one goal apiece ... senior goalkeeper Michelle Meglaughlin has a record of 0-1-2, but a goals-against average of just 1.17 ... the Bobcats of Stacy Strauss went 10-10-1 last year, including a 6-5-1 league mark ... Strauss welcomed back 14 letterwinners, including eight starters, from that team ... the school's athletics web page is www.ohiobobcats.com.

Marshall will enter the weekend with a 2-3-2 overall record, and the Thundering Herd is 0-2-0 in MAC play, heading into Friday's match at Toledo ... after going 2-0-2 to start the year, MU has gone scoreless in the last three matches, including last weekend's losses to WMU (2-0) and NIU (1-0) ... freshman Katie Watson has four goals and 10 points on the year, while senior GK Ashleigh Woods has a 1.22 GAA and 50 saves to date ... last fall, the Herd went 2-15-1 overall and 2-10-0 in the MAC ... head coach Chris Kane has seven returning letterwinners, including five starters ... the school's athletics web page is www.herdzone.com.

The Falcons trail Ohio, 6-0-1, in the all-time series between the teams ... in fact, BGSU had never scored a goal against the Bobcats prior to last season's 2-1 loss in Athens (Oct. 24, 2003) ... OU is 3-0-0 at Cochrane Field, including a 1-0 overtime win in the last meeting in BG (Oct. 6, 2002) ... the Brown and Orange holds a 4-1-1 advantage in the series vs. Marshall, and BG is 2-0-0 in home games vs. the Herd ... last year, the Falcons got a 4-3 overtime win in Huntington on the final day of the MAC's regular season (Oct. 26, 2003), propelling BG into the MAC Tournament ... in the most recent meeting at Cochrane, BG downed MU by a 3-0 count (Oct. 4, 2002).

NOTES FROM SUNDAY'S DELAWARE MATCH

Redshirt junior Ali Shingler made seven saves, many of the spectacular variety, in the Falcons' 2-0 loss to Delaware ... at the other end of the field, junior Samantha Meister hit the crossbar with a shot, while classmate Britt Anderson hit the post.

For the sixth time in as many 2004 matches, the Falcons held the advantage in corner kicks over the opponent ... BGSU had nine corners to UD's six in Sunday's match ... on the season, the Falcons have a whopping 37-14 margin in that category, including an 18-3 advantage in the second half ... during the current five-match losing streak, the Brown and Orange has held a 34-12 advantage in corner kicks.

NOTES FROM FRIDAY'S NAVY MATCH

Freshman Tiernay Tilford scored the first goal of her collegiate career in the 3-1 loss to the Midshipmen ... Tilford now ranks second on the team with four points on the season ... she had assists on two Kristy Coppes goals in the season-opening win over Duquesne.

That DU match (Aug. 27) was the last time the Falcons had scored a goal prior to the Navy match ... Tilford's goal snapped a BGSU scoreless streak of 367:22 ... the most consecutive matches in which the Falcons have been blanked is five, in the final four matches of the 2001 season and the 2002 opener.

Senior Nikki Pucillo assisted on Tilford's goal, her first assist of the season and the 10th of her career ... Pucillo has moved into a tie for seventh place on the BGSU career assists list ... she is deadlocked with teammate and classmate Katie Piening on that chart.

FALCONS PICKED FOR FIFTH-PLACE TIE
The Falcons, as mentioned earlier, open MAC play this weekend, with the matches vs. Ohio and Marshall ... the Falcons were picked to finish in a fifth-place tie in the MAC in the league preseason poll ... the poll, released August 17, is a result of voting by the league's 13 head coaches ... Western Michigan, the defending league tournament champion, was picked to win the 2004 regular-season crown, followed by Ohio, Eastern Michigan and Miami ... BGSU was picked to tie with Ball State for fifth place ... the Falcons were the choice of two coaches to win the league tourney, trailing WMU (7) and OU (3) in that category ... Miami received the other tournament-title vote.

DEFYING THE EXPERTS
The Falcons have made a habit of proving the 'experts' wrong over the years ... in the program's history, BGSU has always finished higher than predicted in the preseason coaches poll in the even-numbered years ... in the odd years, the Falcons have finished lower than picked in the preseason ... the complete history follows ...

BGSU'S MAC PRESEASON POLL HISTORY
Year  Poll Favorite (AF)     BG Picked...  BG's Finish
1997  Northern Ill. (1st)    Tie-Fifth     Eighth of 8
1998  Northern Ill. (T-1st)  Ninth         Sixth of 11 #
1999  Ohio (5th)             Sixth         10th of 12
2000  Eastern Mich. (2nd)    Eighth        Seventh of 12 %
2001  Miami (3rd)            Sixth         12th of 13
2002  Miami (1st)            Ninth         Fourth of 13 #
2003  Ohio (T-5th)           Fourth        Eighth of 13 %
2004  Western Mich.          Tie-Fifth
% advanced to league tournament championship
# advanced to league tournament semifinals

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