Falcons Host Kent State in MAC Tournament Championship

Nov. 5, 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, following a win in the semifinal round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament, has advanced to the league tourney championship for the third consecutive season and the fourth time in school history ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards (14-6-1 [9-2-0 MAC]), after winning the first regular-season championship in program history, have advanced to the tourney final and will host Kent State University on Sunday (Nov. 6) ... kickoff is scheduled for 1:06 p.m. at Cochrane Field ... the match will be televised by Comcast Local ... the Falcons, after winning the first MAC regular-season championship in school annals, are looking to defend the 2004 league tourney title ... the complete tourney schedule and results ...

2005 MAC TOURNAMENT
Quarterfinals - Tue., Nov. 1 (at campus sites)
at #1 Bowling Green 0, #8 Toledo 0 (2-OT) (BGSU advances on PKs, 3-2)
at #4 Miami 2, #5 Eastern Michigan 1
#7 Kent State 0, at #2 Ball State 0 (2-OT) (KSU advances on PKs, 3-1)
#6 Central Michigan 1, at #3 Western Michigan 0

Semifinals - Fri., Nov. 4 (Bowling Green, Ohio)
#7 Kent State 1, #6 Central Michigan 0 (OT)
at #1 Bowling Green 2, #4 Miami 0

Championship - Sun., Nov. 6 (Bowling Green, Ohio)
#4 Kent State at #1 Bowling Green, 1:06 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Danielle Cygan's first collegiate goal, midway through the first half, proved to be the match-winning goal in Friday's (Nov. 4) 2-0 BG victory over Miami University ... freshman Corbie Yee, who assisted on Cygan's goal, scored the Falcons' second goal, with approximately 20 minutes left in the match ... senior Ali Shingler made two saves, both of the spectacular variety, to earn the shutout win in goal.

FOURTH FINAL FOR FALCONS

As mentioned, the Falcons have qualified for the MAC Tournament championship match for the third consecutive year and the fourth time in school history, all under current head coach Andy Richards ... BGSU lost to Miami in the 2000 final, in Richards' first year at the helm ... the Falcons fell to Western Michigan in the 2003 championship, before winning the first MAC Tournament title in school history with a 2-0 win over Central Michigan in last year's championship match.

On Sunday, the Falcons will tie Miami for the most championship-game appearances in MAC history ... MU made it to the final in four consecutive years ... the Falcons (2003-05) and RedHawks (1999-2002) are the only two league schools to make it to at least three-straight league championship contests.

FAMILIAR, YET UNFAMILIAR, POSITION
The Falcons have qualified for the MAC Tournament's championship match for the third-straight year ... BGSU, however, is not used to being such a high seed in the tourney ... prior to 2005, 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, returning to the final before falling ... 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 fourth seed - the highest seed in school history prior to '05 - and won the first home tourney match in BG annals before losing in the next round.

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 are the number-one seed for the MAC Tournament ... BG has never been higher than the fourth seed for the league tourney, and the Falcons never had hosted a semifinal or championship match prior to 2005.

Bowling Green, the 2004 MAC Tournament champion, has an all-time league tourney record of 9-4-2 after Friday's Miami match ... the Falcons' total of nine wins is the second highest among MAC teams, behind only the RedHawks (12) ... BG's .667 tourney winning percentage is the third-best among MAC schools, trailing only MU (12-2-1, .833) and Northern Illinois (5-1-0, .833).

For the Falcons, this year marks the fourth consecutive season the team has qualified for the tournament, the longest such run in school annals ... the team has advanced to the semifinals in each of those four years, the only MAC school to do so.

BGSU, as mentioned, has qualified for the league tournament match for the third consecutive year, the best such streak in school history.

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 15 matches in program history ... BG is 2-0-1 in league tournament home matches.

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.

The Falcons, after Tuesday's tie vs. Toledo, remain unbeaten in the tournament's quarterfinal round, with a 5-0-1 record ... BG is now 3-2-1 all-time in semifinal-round action, and the Falcons are 1-2-0 in the championship phase.

Richards has a MAC Tournament record of 8-3-2, trailing only Miami coach Bobby Kramig (12 wins) on the MAC coaches' tournament victories list ... Richards has now taken four teams to the tourney final, a total matched only by 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 CMU in the final ... 10 of BGSU's 15 MAC Tournament matches in history have been decided by one goal or fewer, including all six quarterfinal-round contests ... BGSU's complete MAC Tournament history ...

BGSU'S MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY (9-4-2)

Home: 2-0-1 // Away: 4-2 // Neutral: 3-2-1 // OT: 2-2-2
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

2005 (#1 seed)
    QF   H   tied #8 Toledo, 0-0 (2-OT) $
    SF   H   def. #4 Miami, 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
$ BGSU advanced, 3-2, on penalty kicks

WINNING STREAK ENDS, BUT UNBEATEN STREAK CONTINUES
The Falcons' unbeaten streak is now at 10 matches (9-0-1), doubling the old school record ... after losing the final two matches of September, BGSU went a perfect 8-0-0 in the month of October ... the old school record was three consecutive wins, amassed on eight different occasions over the years, prior to this year's eight-match streak ... BG teams had posted two five-match unbeaten streaks, most recently in 2002.

FALCONS SWEEP MAC SPECIALTY AWARDS
Members of the BGSU women's soccer program garnered all three of the league's specialty awards at Thursday night's (Nov. 3) MAC Tournament banquet ... senior Samantha Meister was named the 2005 MAC Player of the Year, while Andy Richards picked up the Coach-of-the-Year award ... Corbie Yee was chosen as the MAC Freshman of the Year ... Meister and senior Britt Anderson were named to the All-MAC First Team, while classmate Julie Trundle was selected to the all-league second team ... Yee and Susan Hunter each were chosen to the MAC's All-Freshman Team ... all awards are the result of voting by the league's 12 head coaches.

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 ... the Falcons began November, of course, with a tie and a win.

In the 2004 and 2005 seasons, the Falcons are now 18-4-2 in the months of October and November.

Since mid-October of 2004, the Falcons are 16-2-2 against MAC opposition ... during that time, BGSU is 12-2-1 in regular-season league contests and 4-0-1 in the conference tournament.

HEAD COACH Andy Richards
Andy Richards is in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons ... the 2005 MAC Coach of the Year, he picked up his 50th career win on Sept. 11 vs. Eastern Illinois, and now has an overall record of 61-58-11, including a MAC Tournament mark of 8-3-2 ... 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 now guided the Falcons to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament on five occasions, to the championship match four 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 Sunday's Kent State match with an overall record of 14-6-1, and the Falcons finished MAC play with a 9-2-0 ledger, good for the first league regular-season title in program history ... BG downed Miami, 2-0, in Friday's (Nov. 4) league tourney semifinal, to advance to the final ... prior to the MU match, the Falcons played two tough matches with arch-rival Toledo in a five-day span ... BG closed the regular-season with a narrow 3-2 road win over UT, and the teams then battled through 110 scoreless minutes in Tuesday's (Nov. 1) MAC Tournament quarterfinal, before the Falcons advanced via penalty kicks ... that tie ended the school-record winning streak at eight matches, but the Falcons' unbeaten streak is now at 10, also a school mark ... 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 freshman Corbie Yee has six and Anderson five ... senior Julie Trundle has three goals, a team- and MAC-best 10 assists and 16 points, while Yee has 15 points after a goal and an assist on Friday ... junior Lindsay Carter has scored 10 points and freshman Kristin McDonald and senior Ashley Wentzel seven apiece, while senior Leah Eggleton has six ... senior Ali Shingler has started all 21 matches in goal this season, and has 99 saves and a 1.26 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, and also the first group ever to make it to the semifinals in every year ... BGSU's recruiting class was rated tops in the MAC by Soccer Buzz.

THE OPPONENT / THE SERIES
Kent State enters Sunday's BGSU match with an overall record of 9-8-4, and the Golden Flashes tied for sixth in the MAC regular-season standings with a 5-4-2 conference mark ... KSU, the seventh seed for the league tournament, battled second-seeded Ball State to a scoreless tie in the tourney quarterfinals, but advanced, 3-1, on penalty kicks ... then, the Flashes downed sixth-seeded Central Michigan, 1-0 in overtime, in the semifinal round ... KSU is 2-3-3 on the road this season to date ... each of the team's last three matches, and six overall this season, have required overtime ... the Flashes are 3-4-1 all-time in MAC Tournament play, and 2005 marks KSU's first-ever trip to the tourney championship match ... individually, redshirt freshman Catherine Marosszeky leads the team with with 15 points, including a team-high six goals ... Marosszeky headed home the lone goal in Friday's win over CMU ... senior Jen Frey has 11 points, while sophomore Kimberly Dimitroff has 10 and senior Ashley Bohinc nine ... Frey, Dimitroff and Bohinc each have four goals ... in net, freshman Kristen Nelson and junior Alicia Fernandez each have played in 12 matches this fall ... Nelson has 49 saves and a goals-against average of 1.07, while Fernandez has a 1.31 GAA and 53 saves ... Fernandez has played in each of the Flashes' two MAC Tournament matches, recording a pair of shutouts ... head coach Rob Marinaro returned 15 letterwinners, including 10 starters, from last year's 11-4-5 team that tied for the MAC regular-season crown ... Marinaro, in his fifth season at the KSU helm, has a record of 44-38-14.

The Falcons lead Kent State, 6-3-2, in the all-time series between the teams ... BGSU is 3-1-2 in home matches and 1-0 in MAC Tournament contests against the Golden Flashes ... overall, BG has won the last two meetings, including this year's regular-season matchup at Cochrane Field and the teams' lone prior league tourney meeting ... last month (Oct. 14, 2005), Samantha Meister and Ashley Wentzel scored goals just 85 seconds apart, while Ali Shingler had six saves in BG's win over the Flashes ... the teams' only previous league tourney matchup came in last year's quarterfinal round in Kent, Ohio (Nov. 2, 2004) ... Britt Anderson's goal in the second overtime lifted the Falcons, seeded eighth, over the top-seeded hosts, 2-1 ... Kimberly Dimitroff, who did not play in the 2005 regular-season match at BG, scored three of KSU's five goals vs. the Falcons last year ... Shingler and KSU's Alicia Fernandez each pitched shutouts in the teams' 2003 meeting at Cochrane (Oct. 19, 2003) ... the complete list of series meetings can be found in the pdf version of these notes.

WATCH OUT: WINS RECORDS FALLING

BGSU has broken the school record for wins in a season, with 14 ... the 2002 team had 12 wins, going 12-8-2.

The Falcons also broke 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 14-6-1, having had the decision in each of this year's 21 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 ... Friday's Miami match was the Falcons' 44th win 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.

And, of course, this year's seniors are now the first group in BGSU annals to advance to the MAC Tournament's semifinal round in all four campaigns.

DURING THE UNBEATEN 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, 21-5, in 10 matches, going 9-0-1.

Freshman Corbie Yee has 13 points and senior Samantha Meister 10 during the unbeaten streak to rank 1-2 on the team ... Yee has five goals and three 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 1.26 during the streak ... in those 10 contests, Shingler has a microscopic 0.50 GAA and a saves percentage of .891.

SHINGLER IS TOURNAMENT-TESTED
Entering the Kent State match, Ali Shingler has five career MAC Tournament wins, the most in school history ... she has a record of 5-1-2 in the league tourney, with the Falcons having advanced in seven of the eight matches ... in each of the two ties, Shingler had a shutout and helped the Falcons advance via penalty kicks to the next round ... 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. Miami on Friday was her fourth in league tournament history, another record, and she now has a GAA of just 0.82 in the league tourney ... Lisy had the only other MAC Tournament shutout for the Falcons, a 1-0 win at Eastern Michigan in '98.

PENALTY KICKS NOTHING NEW FOR SHINGLER, FALCONS
The penalty-kick situation in the Toledo match was nothing new for a number of Falcons, including goalkeeper Ali Shingler ... BGSU played to a scoreless draw through regulation and a pair of OT periods vs. Central Michigan in the 2003 semifinals, and the Falcons advanced via PKs on that day ... Shingler was the goalie of record for the Brown and Orange in that match.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Falcons have set a school record for home wins in a season ... BGSU enters the Kent State match with a record of 7-2-1 at Cochrane Field ... the 2005 team will be the first in school history to finish with a winning record at home ... the 2002 Falcons held the old mark for home wins in a season, having gone 5-5-0 ... the 1997 (4-4-0) and 2001 (4-4-1) teams joined that '02 squad with .500 marks at Cochrane Field.

The Falcons' home winning streak came to an end at six, but BGSU's unbeaten streak continues ... BG is 7-0-1 in the last eight matches at Cochrane ... both streaks are school records.

Friday's shutout was the Falcons' seventh consecutive shutout at home ... BGSU has not allowed a goal at home in a span of 704:44, since late in the first half of the Eastern Illinois match way back on Sept. 11 ... senior Ali Shingler has not allowed a goal in exactly 647 minutes at Cochrane.

Shingler has a goals-against average of 0.93 at home this year ... over the last eight home matches, her GAA is s mere 0.13, with one goal allowed in over 691 minutes in that stretch.

Prior to the current seven-match home shutout streak, BGSU had never recorded more than two consecutive shutouts at Cochrane Field ... in fact, the Falcons had never had more than three shutouts in any home season, and BG recorded a total of 16 shutouts in the first eight years of the program, prior to 2005.

FALCON NOTES AND NUMBERS

BGSU's shutout vs. Miami was the eighth overall this season by the BG defense, a new single-season record ... the 2002 team recorded seven shutouts.

Freshman Corbie Yee figured in the scoring of four of the Falcons' five goals in two games vs. Miami this year ... Yee had two goals in BG's 3-1 win in Oxford on Oct. 2, in the match that began the current 10-match unbeaten streak ... she had a three-point day Friday, assisting on Danielle Cygan's goal before scoring a goal of her own.

The Falcons trail Miami, 8-4-0, in the all-time series between the teams, but BG now has won the last four meetings ... the Falcons are now 2-3-0 in home matches vs. the RedHawks and 1-2-0 in MAC Tournament meetings.

On Monday (Oct. 31), the Falcons broke into the Soccer Buzz regional rankings for the first time in school history ... BGSU was ranked 15th in the 55-team Great Lakes Region.

The Falcons now lead Toledo, 5-3-2, in that series ... the home team has won only one of the 10 meetings, a UT win at the Glass Bowl in the first-ever matchup, in the 1997 season.

BGSU still has never beaten the Rockets at home ... UT is 2-0-2 against the Falcons at Cochrane Field, with every one of those four matches going to overtime.

For the first time in school history, the Falcons have moved eight games over .500 ... BGSU is currently 14-6-1 overall ... 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, before finishing seven games over .500 (9-2-0) this year ... the Falcons were 7-3-1 in league action in '02, 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 61-58-11.

Senior Ali Shingler's win in goal vs. Miami was the 29th of her career, the second-highest total in school history ... she has upped her career mark at 29-28-6, heading into the Kent State match ... Erika Flanders holds the school record with 34 wins.

The 2005 BGSU roster includes three of the top-five scorers in the history of the program ... senior Samantha Meister ranks second on that list with 73 points ... classmate Julie Trundle has 57 points to place fourth, while another senior, Britt Anderson, is in fifth place, with 49 points ... senior Leah Eggleton ranks 11th on that list, with 28 points.

Trundle continues to increase her school record for career matches started, and has broken the BG career mark for matches played ... Friday's Miami match marked the 85th start of her career ... the old record was 79, set by Beth Rieman (2001-04) ... Trundle has played in a total of 88 matches, moving past Kristy Coppes (87 from 2001-04) on that list.

Yee had a goal and an assist vs. Miami Friday, giving her 15 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.

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