Falcons Lose Wild One at Eastern, 3-2

Sunday, September 26

Ypsilanti, Mich.

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

EASTERN MICHIGAN

September 26, 2004 | Women's Soccer

Sept. 26, 2004

Final Stats

YPSILANTI, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team got first-half goals from juniors Molly Bremen and Samantha Meister, but it was not enough as host Eastern Michigan University picked up a 3-2 victory over the Falcons Sunday afternoon (Sept. 26). The Mid-American Conference match was held at Scicluna Field.

The Eagles improve to 6-2-2 overall and 3-1-1 in MAC play, while the Falcons drop to 1-8-1 and 0-3-1, respectively.

All five goals came in the first 27:14 of the match. After Bremen's score, EMU responded with three goals in a span of just over 10 minutes.

On a warm, sunny day in Ypsilanti, the Falcons got off to a quick start. BGSU took the first three shot attempts of the match, with the third shot resulting in the first goal. Junior Leah Eggleton started the play, driving a ball that was redirected by freshman Tiernay Tilford. The ball caromed directly to Bremen, whose turnaround shot beat EMU goalkeeper Nikki Allen.

The goal was the first of Bremen's collegiate career, and came just 3:08 into the match. But, the Eagles would need less than a minute to strike back.

After a BGSU foul to the left of the penalty box at the Falcon end of the field, the hosts' Cyndi Mullins lofted a free kick into the box, where Sara Schiffbauer headed it into the net to tie the score. The goal came just 47 seconds after BGSU's score, and the teams were knotted at 1-1 with less than four minutes gone.

BGSU had several chances over the next few minutes, as senior Kristy Coppes shot just wide of the net, then Tilford just missed on a header off a Bremen cross. Freshman Janie Babich took a long shot that was saved by Allen, and what appeared to be a grade-A scoring chance for Meister was whistled down due to an offsides call.

Eastern's next chance, however, resulted in Eastern's next goal, with Schiffbauer again doing the damage. The Eagle freshman let fly a long shot that hit the crossbar and bounded straight down. Falcon goalie Ali Shingler grabbed the ball, but the official was already ruling that the ball had crossed the goal line, and the hosts had the lead at the 11:51 mark. Jessica Hupe was credited with an assist.

Just over two minutes later, the EMU lead was two goals, as Hupe headed home a corner kick by Mullins. The goal made Hupe the EMU career scoring leader, but more importantly, the hosts had a two-goal lead at the 13:58 juncture. EMU's three goals had come on the team's first three shot attempts of the match.

EMU's fourth shot of the match very nearly resulted in another goal, as Hupe's blast hit the crossbar and bounded away just three minutes after her goal.

But, it would be the Falcons that got the next goal, with Eggleton and Tilford again involved. This time, Eggleton took a cross that Tilford redirected to Meister. The junior took one touch to settle the ball, then fired a long, low shot past Allen into the goal. After less than a third of regulation time, the Eagles and Falcons had combined to score five goals.

But, the scoring would end there, despite a number of chances thereafter. Falcon goalkeeper Jenifer Kernahan, in a relief appearance, made a pair of saves in the final 10 minutes of the first half. At the other end of the field, a long, curving shot by Meister went just wide of the far post with six minutes left in the half.

Kernahan made one more save in the early going of the second half, leaping high to grab a hard shot by Trisha Roberts. In her 45:35 of work, Kernahan gave up precious few rebounds.

The fifth-year senior, however, was forced to leave the match after she grabbed a crossing ball and was hit by Eastern's Kate Nierman midway through the second half.

The Falcons pressed forward in an attempt to score the equalizer, and very nearly got that goal with just under four minutes remaining. Coppes, BGSU's career scoring leader, took a long shot that beat Allen, but rang off the goalpost. That shot, which came just 20 seconds after Coppes had reentered the match, was the Falcons' best scoring chance of the half.

Allen and the Eagles were able to hold the Brown and Orange off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Allen made five saves in her complete-match effort.

For the Falcons, Kernahan made three saves during her shutout stint, while Shingler had one save in the match.

BGSU had a 19-11 advantage in shot attempts, including a 14-6 margin in the first half. Each team had seven shots on goal.

The Falcons will step outside of MAC play for a Friday (Oct. 1) match at Cleveland State University, before returning to league action two days later with a trip to the University of Akron.

NOTES

Sunday's match marked the first time the Falcons had scored more than one goal in a contest in nearly a month ... BGSU had scored seven goals in the season-opening match vs. Duquesne (Aug. 27), but had scored only two total goals in the next eight matches.

The loss snapped a five-match BGSU unbeaten streak at Scicluna Field ... that streak included MAC Tournament quarterfinal-round wins in 1998, 2000 and 2003, as well as a double-overtime win in the 2000 regular season, and a 2002 double-overtime tie in which the Falcons scored with six seconds left in regulation ... the Eagles now lead the overall series by a 6-4-1 margin, but the Falcons are 4-3-1 in matches played in Ypsilanti, Mich.

As mentioned, junior Molly Bremen's goal was the first of her collegiate career ... she had picked up her first point as a Falcon earlier this year, in the 7-3 win over Duquesne.

Junior Samantha Meister's goal was her second of the season, and her first since the Duquesne contest ... Meister now has 18 career goals, moving her into a tie with Michelle Lisy (1997-2000) for fourth place on the BGSU career list ... Meister now has 47 career points, ranking her fifth on that Falcon list.

Junior Leah Eggleton had the first two-assist match of her career, and scored her first points of the season ... Eggleton missed the first four matches of this season due to injury, then played sparingly in the next few contests ... freshman Tiernay Tilford had her second multi-assist match of the year, and leads the Falcons with four assists on the season.

For the ninth time in 10 matches this season, the Falcons had more corner kicks than the opponent ... BG took six corners to EMU's three ... on the year, the Falcons now have taken 70 corner kicks, to the opponents' 34.

QUOTING BGSU COACH Andy Richards
"Since the Duquesne demolition, today's performance was by far our best display of the season. At last, we have seen from the team the passion and commitment to the game that is needed. I was very happy with the way we played as a team today, despite the loss."

"I was very disappointed in one or two individual errors we made that directly led to their goals. I was also disappointed that we had two first-half goals disallowed, and that their second goal was ruled to be across the line. But, it was a much, much better BG performance than in recent matches."

"Molly Bremen scored a great goal after three minutes. It was awesome to see her get her first collegiate goal, and it was a fitting reward for the work she has put in this season, and particularly over the last three or four weekends. The shot from Sam Meister was a great strike. It sizzled into the bottom corner of the net, and again was a fitting reward for her. She played very, very well today, and has seemed to have found the form that she produced over the last two years in Bowling Green colors."

"I don't understand why our team has lost its form this year. It's certainly not for lack of effort on anyone's part. Hopefully, today we saw the return of it. I am encouraged by this performance."

"We go into the second half of the season with a bit of a mountain to climb. But, I am hopeful and confident that the team can put a string of positive results together that will move us upward in the MAC. We obviously need to turn it around and get some wins. But, I think if the team produces with the heart that they showed today, and add a little touch of luck, we will do very well."