Falcons Host Toledo Tuesday in MAC Tournament Action

Oct. 31, 2005

BGSU Release & Statistics (12 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, having won the first Mid-American Conference regular-season championship in school history, now looks to defend its 2004 MAC Tournament title ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards (13-6-0, 9-2-0 MAC), after a narrow win at the University of Toledo to close the regular season, will face the Rockets for the second time in five days ... BGSU, the top seed for the MAC Tournament, will host eighth-seeded UT in a quarterfinal-round match Tuesday (Nov. 1), with kickoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field ... the winner of the BGSU-UT match will meet the winner of Tuesday's quarterfinal between fifth-seeded Eastern Michigan University and fourth-seeded Miami University ... should the Falcons beat Toledo, Cochrane Field would be the site of the semifinal matches on Friday (Nov. 4), as well as the championship contest on Sunday (Nov. 6) ... the highest-remaining seed among the four quarterfinal survivors hosts the weekend tourney action ... the complete tourney schedule can be found in the pdf version of this release.

LAST WEEKEND
The Falcons extended the team's school-record winning streak to eight matches with a 3-2 victory at Toledo to close the regular season ... senior Samantha Meister scored a pair of goals, while classmate Molly Bremen also found the back of the net ... Kelly Langenbeck scored both of Toledo's goals, each time pulling the hosts within a single goal ... the match was not decided until senior goalkeeper Ali Shingler saved a UT shot in the final seconds ... Shingler made four saves for the Brown and Orange.

THIS SEEMS STRANGE, BUT IN A GOOD WAY
The Falcons enter the 2005 MAC Tournament as the top seed for the tournament ... playing in the league tourney is nothing new for the Brown and Orange, as BGSU has qualified for the fourth consecutive year and the sixth time in the nine-year history of the program ... but, the Falcons are not used to being the higher-seeded team ... in fact, BGSU has been the higher seed only once in 13 MAC Tournament matches prior to Tuesday's UT contest ... the Falcons won that match, a 2-1, double-overtime decision over Buffalo in 2002 ... that UB match was the lone home tourney contest for BG.

BGSU'S MAC TOURNAMENT FACTS

BGSU, as mentioned, won the Mid-American Conference regular-season title for the first time in school history, and the Falcons will be the number-one seed for the MAC Tournament ... BG has never been higher than the fourth seed for the league tourney.

After winning the 2004 MAC Tournament, Bowling Green has an all-time league tourney record of 8-4-1 ... the Falcons' total of eight wins is the second highest among MAC teams, and BG's .654 tourney winning percentage is the third-best among MAC schools, trailing only Miami (11-1-1, .884) and Northern Illinois (5-1-0, .833).

Making BGSU's MAC Tournament record all the more impressive is the fact that the Falcons have been the lower-seeded team in 12 of the 13 matches in program history ... ironically, BG's three lowest-seeded teams have made the deepest runs in the league tourney ... the 2000 team, seeded seventh, became the lowest seed ever to advance to the championship match ... the 2003 team, seeded eighth, broke that MAC record ... last year's squad, also the eighth and final seed for the tournament, became the lowest seed to win the league tourney crown ... in 1998, BGSU was seeded sixth, but won a quarterfinal match before losing in the semifinals ... in 2002, the Falcons earned the highest-ever seed in school history -- fourth -- and won the lone home tourney match in BG annals before losing in the next round.

BGSU is participating in the league tourney for the sixth time in the nine-year history of the program ... last year's win over Central Michigan marked the third trip to the final in head coach Andy Richards' first five seasons at the helm ... in 2000, his first BG team lost a double-OT match, 1-0, to Miami ... in '03, host Western Michigan downed the Falcons by a 4-1 count in the final.

For the Falcons, this year's trip to the tourney marks the fourth consecutive year the team has qualified, the longest such run in school annals ... heading into the Toledo match, the Falcons are a perfect 5-0-0 in the tournament's quarterfinal round ... BG is 2-2-1 all-time in semifinal-round action, and the Falcons are 1-2-0 in the championship phase.

Richards has a MAC Tournament record of 7-3-1, trailing only Miami coach Bobby Kramig (11 wins) on the MAC coaches' tournament victories list ... Richards has taken three teams to the tournament's final, a total second only to Kramig (four).

The Falcons' 4-1 semifinal win over Western Michigan last year marked the most goals BGSU has ever scored in a MAC Tournament match ... it also was the first time BG won a tourney match by more than one goal ... the Brown and Orange then posted a two-goal win (2-0) over Central Michigan in the final ... nine of BGSU's 13 MAC Tournament matches in history have been decided by one goal or fewer, including all five quarterfinal round wins ... the lone exceptions prior to 2004 were the 2002 semifinal loss to Miami (3-0) and the 2003 championship-match setback to WMU (4-1) ... BGSU's complete MAC Tournament history follows ...

BGSU'S MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY (8-4-1)
Home: 1-0  Away: 4-2  Neutral: 3-2-1  OT: 2-2-1

1998 (#6 seed)
   QF  A   def. #3 Eastern Michigan, 1-0
   SF  N1  lost to #2 Northern Illinois, 1-2 (OT)

2000 (#7 seed)
   QF  A   def. #2 Eastern Michigan, 2-1
   SF  N2  def. #6 Western Michigan, 2-1
   Ch. N2  lost to #4 Miami, 0-1 (2-OT)

2002 (#4 seed)
   QF  H   def. #5 Buffalo, 2-1 (2-OT)
   SF  A   lost to #1 Miami, 0-3

2003 (#8 seed)
   QF  A   def. #1 Eastern Michigan, 2-1
   SF  N3  tied #5 Central Michigan, 0-0 (2-OT) %
   Ch. A   lost to #3 Western Michigan, 1-4

2004 (#8 seed)
   QF  A   def. #1 Kent State, 2-1 (2-OT)
   SF  N1  def. #4 Western Michigan, 4-1
   Ch. N1  def. #3 Central Michigan, 2-0

H/A/N - Home/Away/Neutral
Neutral sites: N1 - Athens, Ohio; N2 - Buffalo, N.Y.; N3 - Kalamazoo, Mich.
% BGSU advanced, 4-3, on penalty kicks

AN OCTOBER TO REMEMBER: WINNING STREAK NOW AT EIGHT
Friday's win at Toledo increased the Falcons' current winning streak to eight matches, a school record by a long shot ... after losing the final two matches of September, BGSU went a perfect 8-0-0 in the month of October ... prior to the current stretch, the school record was three consecutive wins, amassed on eight different occasions over the years.

OCTOBER (AND NOVEMBER?) SUCCESS

The Falcons have enjoyed late-season success in each of the last two years ... in 2004, BGSU went the entire month of September without a win (0-7-1), and the team was 1-8-1 overall when October began ... but, the Falcons proceeded to have the winningest month in school history, going 6-3-1 (5-2-1 in MAC play) ... BG then went 3-1-0 in November, with the lone loss coming at Ohio State in the NCAA Championships.

In 2005, the Falcons entered the month of October with a 1-2 MAC record, and had been outscored by a combined 7-0 in their last two matches, losses to Western Michigan and Ball State ... but, BG was a perfect 8-0-0 in October - breaking the school record for wins in a month for the second time in as many Octobers - en route to capturing the MAC regular-season title.

In the last two years combined, the Falcons are 17-4-1 in the months of October and November.

HEAD COACH Andy Richards
Andy Richards is in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons ... he picked up his 50th career win on Sept. 11 vs. Eastern Illinois, and now has an overall record of 60-58-10, including a MAC Tournament mark of 7-3-1 ... Richards led BGSU to the four finest seasons in school history over his first five years, and mentored the Falcons to the first regular-season title in BG annals in this, his sixth season ... he has guided the Falcons to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament on four occasions, to the championship match three times, and, in 2004, to the first league tourney title and NCAA Tournament berth in school history ... Eric Golz is in his second season with the program, and his first as the top assistant.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU enters Tuesday's Toledo match with an overall record of 13-6-0, and the Falcons finished MAC play with a 9-2-0 ledger, good for the first league regular-season title in program history ... the Falcons are meeting the Rockets for the second time in a five-day span, having closed the regular-season with a narrow 3-2 road win over UT ... that victory extended the school-record winning streak to eight matches, with four coming at home and four on the road ... after a 3-1 win at Miami (Oct. 2), the Brown and Orange returned to Cochrane Field for wins over Ohio, Akron, Kent State and Buffalo ... then, BG won at Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan, prior to the UT match ... senior Samantha Meister has a team-high 22 points on the season, while classmate Britt Anderson has 17 ... Meister leads the team with eight goals, while Anderson and freshman Corbie Yee have five apiece ... another senior, Julie Trundle, has three goals, a team- and MAC-best 10 assists and 16 points, while Yee has 12 points ... junior Lindsay Carter has scored 10 points and freshman Kristin McDonald seven, while seniors Leah Eggleton and Ashley Wentzel have six apiece ... senior Ali Shingler has started all 19 matches in goal this season, and has 93 saves and a 1.42 goals-against average ... BG returned 15 letterwinners, including eight starters, from last year's MAC Tournament championship team ... the group of returnees includes no fewer than nine seniors, the most in school history ... the senior class has become the first class in school history to qualify for the MAC Tournament in four consecutive seasons ... BGSU's recruiting class was rated tops in the MAC by Soccer Buzz.

THE OPPONENT / THE SERIES
Toledo enters Tuesday's BGSU match with an overall record of 10-7-1, and the Rockets finished eighth in the MAC regular-season race with a 5-5-1 conference mark ... UT went 3-5-1 in road matches this season, including 1-4-1 in MAC contests away from home ... the Rockets' league road win came at Northern Illinois, 1-0 on Sept. 25, and UT earned a tie at Central Michigan (0-0, Oct. 23) in the last match before Friday's BGSU contest ... the Rockets have qualified for the MAC Tournament for the third time in school history, and the first time since the 2000 season ... individually, senior Kelly Langenbeck leads the team, and is tied for the MAC lead, with 10 goals ... she scored both of the Rockets' goals vs. BGSU Friday ... Langenback has 20 points, while classmate Pam Richard has nine points, including four goals ... junior Diana Ginley and sophomores Pene Hughes and Suzi Siwinski have seven points apiece, with Siwinski's five assists the most on the team ... junior Jen Whipple has played in all 18 of UT's matches in goal, and has 69 saves and a goals-against average of just 1.09 ... head coach Brad Evans welcomed back a whopping 23 letterwinners, including 10 starters, from last year's 7-9-3 team ... Evans has a record of 39-45-7 with the Rockets and 106-71-9 as a collegiate head coach.

The Falcons hold a 5-3-1 lead over Toledo in the all-time series between the teams ... the teams have never met in the MAC Tournament ... BGSU is 5-1-0 in road matches vs. the Rockets, including a perfect 5-0 mark at Scott Park after Friday's 3-2 win there (the Falcons' lone road loss came at the Glass Bowl in 1997) ... but, BGSU is just 0-2-1 in home matches vs. the Rockets, with all three prior matches at Cochrane Field requiring overtime ... last season, a year to the day before this year's meeting, BGSU also went to Scott Park to close the MAC schedule ... Lindsay Carter scored a pair of goals, while Ali Shingler pitched a shutout in net, to help the Falcons post a 3-0 win (Oct. 28, 2004) ... two years ago, Jen Whipple authored a shutout of her own to help the Rockets to a 1-0 OT win at Cochrane (Sept. 28, 2003) ... three years ago, Julie Trundle's first career goal came at Scott Park, and led to a 1-0 BG victory (Sept. 6, 2002) ... the home team has won only one of the eight series meetings, that 1997 contest ... the complete list of series meetings can be found in the pdf.

WATCH OUT: WINS RECORDS FALLING

BGSU has broken the school record for wins in a season, with 13 ... the 2002 team had 12 wins, going 12-8-2.

The Falcons also have broken the school single-season records for MAC wins and points, going 9-2-0 for a total of 27 points (teams earn three points for a win and one for a tie) ... that 2002 team held the old marks, having gone 7-4-1 to total 22 points ... the 2005 team also broke the '02 squad's record for winning percentage in MAC play.

The '05 team will be just the second in BGSU history to finish with a winning record ... that 2002 team was the only other Falcon squad to do so ... that team also set a school record for fewest losses (eight), which the 2005 team will break.

Senior Ali Shingler has set a new single-season mark for wins by a goalkeeper ... Shingler is 13-6-0, having had the decision in each of this year's 19 matches to date ... Erika Flanders went 12-8-2 for the 2002 team ... Shingler, of course, also set the BGSU goalkeeping record for MAC wins in a season, with nine.

SENIOR PRIDE

With at least one match remaining, the Falcons' senior class already can make a claim to being the most successful group in school history ... the senior class includes Britt Anderson, Molly Bremen, Leah Eggleton, Samantha Meister, Megan Rapp, Natalie Sampiller, Ali Shingler, Julie Trundle and Ashley Wentzel ... the win at Toledo was the Falcons' 43rd since the start of the 2002 season, the most wins over a four-year span in the history of the program.

Additionally, the Falcons' 2005 seniors have become the first class in BG history to qualify for the MAC Tournament in all four seasons ... BGSU had never made back-to-back appearances in the league tourney, prior to the current run.

DURING THE WINNING STREAK ...

On Sept. 30, BGSU's offense was held without a shot on goal for the first time in school history, in a 3-0 loss at Ball State ... since that time, however, BGSU has outscored opponents, 19-5, in eight matches, all wins.

Freshman Corbie Yee and senior Samantha Meister each have 10 points during the eight-match winning streak to tie for the team lead ... Yee has four goals and two assists in that time, while Meister has three goals and four assists ... junior Lindsay Carter and senior Julie Trundle have eight points apiece during the streak, while senior Britt Anderson has seven.

Senior Ali Shingler has lowered her goals-against average from 2.00 to 1.42 during the streak ... in those eight contests, Shingler has a microscopic 0.64 GAA and a saves percentage of .875.

FALCON NOTES AND NUMBERS

For the first time in school history, the Falcons have moved seven games over .500, both overall and in MAC play ... BGSU is currently 13-6-0, and finished 9-2-0 in the conference ... the Falcons had been five games over the break-even mark once, at 12-7-2 in 2002.

In conference play, BG had been as many as four games over .500 on just one prior occasion, also in 2002 ... the Falcons were 7-3-1 in league action that season, before dropping the final conference regular-season contest.

With the Oct. 23 win at Eastern Michigan, head coach Andy Richards moved his overall record over the .500 mark for the first time since early in the 2003 season ... Richards, in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach (all at BGSU), now has a record of 60-58-10.

Senior Ali Shingler's win in goal at Toledo was the 28th of her career, the second-highest total in school history ... she has evened her career mark at 28-28-5 ... Erika Flanders holds the school record with 34 wins.

Senior Samantha Meister scored two goals in that UT match ... Meister's multiple-goal match was her first of the season and the second of her career ... she had four goals in a BG win at Northern Illinois her sophomore year, setting a school single-match record (since broken).

Meister ranks second in BGSU history in both career goals and points ... she increased her totals to 28 goals and 73 points in the Brown and Orange ... Kristy Coppes (2001-04) holds the BGSU records with 52 goals and 111 points in her career.

Senior Julie Trundle, already the BGSU career leader in assists, now owns the single-season record in that category ... Trundle's helper at Toledo Friday was her 10th of the season ... that breaks the school record of nine, set by Jill Conover in the 2000 season and matched by Leah Eggleton last fall.

Trundle now has a school-record 33 assists in her career ... she has recorded at least seven assists in each of her four seasons ... only Jill Conover (two) had more than one season of seven or more assists.

Trundle continues to increase her school record for career matches started ... Friday's UT match marked the 83nd start of her career ... the old record was 79, set by Beth Rieman (2001-04) ... Trundle has played in a total of 86 matches, and is tied with Rieman for second on that list ... should Trundle see action in Tuesday's match vs. the Rockets, she will tie Kristy Coppes for first place on that list.

The 2005 BGSU roster includes three of the top-five scorers in the history of the program ... Meister, as mentioned, ranks second on that list with 73 points ... Trundle now has 57 points to place fourth, while senior Britt Anderson's assist at UT moved her into sole possession of fifth place, with 49 points ... Eggleton ranks 11th on that list, with 28 points.

Corbie Yee had an assist at UT, giving her 12 points on the season ... her point total is the highest by a freshman since Trundle had 18 points and Meister 17 in the 2002 season.

Shingler had a GAA of just 1.21 in MAC matches this fall.

SHINGLER IS TOURNAMENT-TESTED
Entering the 2005 tourney, Ali Shingler now has four career MAC Tournament wins, the most in school history ... she has a record of 4-1-1 in the league tourney (and had a shutout and helped the Falcons advance via penalty kicks in the match that ended in a 0-0 tie) ... Erika Flanders had a league tournament record of 3-2-0 in her career, while Michelle Lisy was 1-1-0 in goal in the 1998 tourney ... Shingler's shutout vs. Central Michigan in last year's tourney final was her second in league tournament history, another record ... both of Shingler's tourney shutouts have come against the Chippewas ... Lisy had the only other MAC Tournament shutout for the Falcons, a 1-0 win at Eastern Michigan in '98.

LEADERS OF THE MAC
Falcon players are at or near the top of a number of MAC lists ... senior Julie Trundle leads the league in both assists (10) and assists per match (0.53) ... senior Samantha Meister is second in the MAC in points (22), while classmate Britt Anderson is fourth (17) ... Trundle is tied for fifth in the league in that category (16) ... Meister is third in the league in points per game (1.16), with Anderson fifth (1.00) and Trundle sixth (0.84) ... Anderson is tied for second in assists, with six, while Meister is fourth in that category (five) ... Meister is third in goals (eight) and goals per game (0.42) and tied for second in game-winning goals (three) ... Anderson is second in the league, behind Trundle, in assists per match (0.41) ... Anderson and freshman Corbie Yee are deadlocked for seventh in goals (five) ... at the other end of the field, senior goalkeeper Ali Shingler is tied for second in the MAC in saves (93), fifth in saves per match (4.89) and tied for fifth in shutouts (four) ... as a team, BG leads the league in assists, and the Falcons are second in goals and points ... in MAC matches only, Trundle led the league in assists (seven) and assists per match (0.64) ... Anderson was tied for second in each of those categories ... as a team, BG paced the entire MAC in goals, assists and points in conference matches.

FALCONS PICKED FOURTH
The Falcons were picked to finish fourth in the MAC in the league preseason poll ... the poll is the result of voting by the league's 12 head coaches ... Kent State, the defending regular-season co-champion, was picked to win the 2005 regular-season and tournament crowns ... Ohio and Western Michigan were tabbed for second and third, respectively ... the poll, with actual finish ...
MAC PRESEASON POLL:

1 - Kent State         T-6th     7 - Ball State           2nd
2 - Ohio                12th     8 - Miami              T-4th
3 - Western Michigan     3rd     9 - Buffalo            T-9th
4 - Bowling Green        1st    10 - Toledo              10th
5 - Central Michigan   T-6th    11 - Akron              T-9th
6 - Eastern Michigan   T-4th    12 - Northern Illinois   11th

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