2004 Season Wrapup

June 2, 2005

Season Wrapup Release, Stats & Player Bios (16 page) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after winning the 2004 Mid-American Conference Tournament, saw the '04 campaign come to an end in the NCAA Tournament ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards (10-12-2, 5-5-2 MAC), participating in the national tourney for the first time in school history, fell by a 2-0 score to the national No. 6 seed, The Ohio State University, at OSU's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium (Nov. 12).

2004 NCAA TOURNAMENT - FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS
Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium; Columbus, Ohio

Friday, Nov. 12 Detroit 3, Michigan 2 at No. 6 Ohio State 2, Bowling Green 0

Sunday, Nov. 14 at No. 6 Ohio State 3, Detroit 0

STORYLINES / THE YEAR THAT WAS

To say that the 2004 season was a roller-coaster ride for the Falcons would be a vast understatement ... BGSU opened the season with a 7-3 win over Duquesne (Aug. 27), as senior Kristy Coppes shattered the school and MAC records with six goals in that match.

After that seven-goal performance, however, the Falcons went the next nine matches without a victory ... BGSU lost the last match of August, then went 0-7-1 in the month of September ... the Falcons were shut out in six of those nine contests, and scored a total of just four goals during all of September.

The Falcons then set a school record for wins in a month, with a 6-3-1 record in October ... two of the three losses, though, came in back-to-back matches in conference play, leaving the Falcons with a 2-5-1 league ledger midway through the month ... with four MAC matches remaining, BGSU sat in 11th place in the 13-team league.

Needing to pick up points every time out, the Falcons did just that ... a 1-0 win at Buffalo (Oct. 17) ignited a four-match unbeaten streak (3-0-1) that propelled BG into the MAC Tournament as the eighth seed ... the Brown and Orange clinched that eighth and final league tourney berth with a 3-0 win on the road against arch-rival Toledo (Oct. 28).

The Falcons extended that unbeaten streak to seven matches vs. MAC foes, reeling off three consecutive wins to capture the conference tournament for the first time in school history ... BGSU was the lowest-seeded team ever to win the MAC Tournament championship.

A FEW NCAA TOURNAMENT FACTS

The Falcons were one of just two teams with losing records in the 64-team NCAA Tournament ... Weber State was the other ... WSU bowed out of the tourney with a 3-0 loss to Portland in the opening round.

BGSU was eliminated by an Ohio State team that advanced all the way to the fourth round of the tournament ... the sixth-seeded Buckeyes, after downing the Falcons, posted shutouts over Detroit (3-0) and Tennessee (1-0) before losing to UCLA, the eventual national runners-up, by a 1-0 score in the quarterfinals.

HEAD COACH Andy Richards
Andy Richards completed his fifth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 47-52-10 ... Richards has led BGSU to the four finest seasons in school history over his first five years ... he has guided the Falcons to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament on four occasions, to the championship match three times, and now, in 2004, to the first league tourney title and NCAA Tournament berth in school history ... Ashlee Orr completed her fifth season as an assistant coach for the Brown and Orange, while Eric Golz wrapped up his first fall on Richards' staff.

WHAT A RUN!
For the second time in as many seasons, the Falcons entered the MAC Tournament as the eighth and final seed ... in 2003, BGSU became the first-ever eighth seed to advance past the first round, with a 2-1 upset of top-seeded Eastern Michigan in the quarterfinals ... the '03 Falcons advanced all the way to the final ... the 2004 BGSU team repeated history, with another 2-1 road win over the top seed, this time in double overtime at Kent State ... then, the '04 Falcons downed the fourth seed, Western Michigan (4-1), in the semifinal round before beating third-seeded Central Michigan (2-0) in the championship match.

THAT'S VERY UPSETTING (BUT NOT FOR FALCON FANS)
In the 52 matches in MAC Tournament history, the lower team has pulled the upset on 20 occasions ... the Falcons have been that team eight times, including seven under head coach Andy Richards ... the 2003 team was the biggest Cinderella in MAC Women's Soccer Tournament history, until the 2004 Falcon team ... the 2000 squad was seeded seventh, but won a pair of matches and lost the championship match in overtime ... the 1998 team was the sixth seed, but picked up a quarterfinal win before succumbing in the semifinal round.

BGSU'S MAC TOURNAMENT FACTS

After winning the 2004 MAC Tournament, Bowling Green now 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 ... last year's team, seeded eighth, broke that MAC record ... this year's squad, obviously, became the lowest seed to win the league tournament 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 has participated in the league tourney five times in the eight-year history of the program ... this year's win over Central Michigan marked the third trip to the final in head coach Andy Richards' five seasons at the helm ... in 2000, his first BG team lost a double-OT match, 1-0, to Miami ... last season, host Western Michigan downed the Falcons by a 4-1 count in the final.

In 2004, BGSU made the tourney for the third consecutive year, the longest such run in school annals ... the Falcons are now 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 now 1-2-0 in the championship phase.

Richards now 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).

Only six times has a team seeded four or more spots lower than the opponent won a MAC Tournament match, and the Falcons have been the victor in five of those matches.

The Falcons' 4-1 semifinal win over Western Michigan marked the most goals BGSU has ever scored in a MAC Tournament match ... it also was the first time BG has 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 this year were the 2002 semifinal loss to Miami (3-0) and last year's championship-match setback to WMU (4-1).

THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR
For the second-straight season, the Falcons had a 4-5-2 MAC record heading into the final league regular-season match ... and, for the second consecutive year, BGSU needed a road win in that contest to qualify for the MAC Tournament ... last season, the Brown and Orange got a Samantha Meister goal in overtime for a 4-3 win at Marshall ... that win, combined with an Akron loss to Miami, gave the Falcons the eighth and final seed in the 2003 league tourney ... BGSU then proceeded to become the lowest seed to advance to the MAC Tournament's championship match ... this year, the Falcons got three second-half goals to down host Toledo, 3-0, and qualify for the tournament ... then, for the second-straight year, eighth-seeded BG advanced to the championship of the league tourney, this time winning the crown.

AN OCTOBER (AND NOVEMBER) TO REMEMBER
At first glance, the Falcons' final 2004 overall record of 10-12-2 may not seem like anything special ... but, that record looks much better when considering the Falcons' state at the end of the month of September ... BGSU went that entire month without a win (0-7-1), and the team was 1-8-1 overall when October began ... BGSU was 0-3-1 in league play at that time ... but, the Falcons proceeded to have the winningest month in school history, going 6-3-1 (5-2-1 in MAC play) ... BGSU had won five matches in a month three times (5-3-1 in Sept. of 1998, 5-4-1 in Sept. of 2002, 5-3-1 in Oct. of 2002) ... and, the Falcons then went a perfect 3-0-0 in November before falling to nationally-ranked Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament ... BGSU, sitting in 11th place in the 13-team MAC standings in mid-October, proceeded to go 6-1-1 down the stretch before the loss at OSU ... the Falcons' only setback in that eight-match span was a 1-0, non-conference loss at Wright State, a match in which Andy Richards shuffled his lineup and allowed a number of BG starters to sit out most or all of the contest.

COPPES SHATTERS SINGLE-SEASON GOALS RECORD
Senior Kristy Coppes continued her assault on the BGSU record books with a hat trick in the MAC Tournament semifinal win over Western Michigan ... Coppes shattered the BGSU single-season goals record ... she had 18 goals to better the old mark by six ... Tracy Gleixner had set the record with 12 goals in 1998, and Coppes matched that mark as both a freshman (2001) and sophomore (2002), before breaking the record in her final year ... she was injured late in the Falcons' league championship-match win over Central Michigan, and was forced to miss the NCAA Tournament contest at Ohio State.

COPPES CLIMBS CAREER CHARTS
Senior Kristy Coppes became the first BGSU player to surpass the 50-goal mark for a career ... Coppes, who already ranked as the school's career scoring leader before her senior season even began, finished her career with 52 goals as a Falcon ... she is 32 goals ahead of anyone else in school history ... Coppes is third on the MAC's career goals list ... she has 111 career points, 46 points more than any other player in school annals, and is in sole possession of fifth place on that MAC chart.

SEVEN MORE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT Kristy Coppes

Senior Kristy Coppes is the first player in school history to hit double digits in goals in each of her four seasons ... Coppes is just the third player in MAC history to score at least 10 goals in each of four years, joining Miami teammates Danielle Berkemeier and Andrea Cunningham (1999-2002).

Only four times in BGSU history has a player scored 12 or more goals in a season, and Coppes has been that player on three of the four occasions.

Coppes has added yet another record to her long list ... believe it or not, the school's career scoring leader did not own the BGSU single-season points record until the MAC Tournament's quarterfinal round in 2004 ... Coppes scored the first goal of that match, at Kent State, breaking Tracy Gleixner's record of 29 points (in the 1998 season) ... with three goals in the league tourney semifinal and an assist in the championship, Coppes ended up with 38 points on the year ... she had 26 points in both her freshman (2001) and sophomore (2002) campaigns, before scoring 21 points last year.

Coppes' match-winning goal in the MAC Tournament semifinal win was her sixth of the season, extending her own school record in that category ... she held the old record with four MWGs in the 2002 season ... Coppes ended her career with a total of 14 match winners, double the total of the next person on the BG list.

Coppes had 18 goals and 38 points on the season, leading the MAC in each category ... she ranked second in the league in goals per match (0.78) and points per match (1.65).

Coppes recorded the first hat trick in a MAC Tournament match in school history, with her three-goal performance in the semifinal-round win over Western Michigan ... she is the lone player in school history with more than one goal in the MAC Tournament, and finishes with six goals and 13 points in the league tourney ... juniors Julie Trundle (six points), Leah Eggleton and Samantha Meister (four each) are the only other Falcons in the history of the program with more than three points in MAC Tournament play.

Coppes' hat trick vs. WMU was her second of the season and the fourth of her career ... she is the only Falcon in school history with more than one career hat trick.

SHINGLER SETS SAVES STANDARD(S)
Redshirt junior Ali Shingler made a career-high 10 saves in the MAC Tournament quarterfinal win at Kent State, then topped that with an 11-save performance in the championship-match win over Central Michigan ... Shingler's previous high had been eight saves, amassed on four occasions ... she ended the season with a total of 111 saves, including 28 in the Falcons' three league tourney wins and nine more at Ohio State.

SHINGLER SECOND IN SHUTOUTS
Ali Shingler posted a shutout in the Falcons' 2-0 championship-match win over Central Michigan ... the complete-match shutout was her fifth of the season and the ninth of her career ... she now ranks second in BGSU history in each category ... Erika Flanders set the school record with seven shutouts in 2002, and holds the career record as well, with 17 ... Shingler had four shutouts in the 2003 season.

SHINGLER IS TOURNAMENT-TESTED
Through the 2004 season, 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 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.

SHINGLER EARNS NATIONAL WEEKLY HONORS
For her stellar play in the MAC Tournament, Ali Shingler was named to the Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the Week ... the honor marked the fifth week in the history of the BGSU women's soccer program that a Falcon player has been named to a national weekly team ... Shingler earned the recognition after making a total of 28 saves in three league tourney matches, all wins ... earlier in 2004, Kristy Coppes was named to the Soccer Buzz team, becoming the first-ever BG player named to a national squad in two different weeks ... Coppes was named to the Soccer America Team of the Week in October of 2003 ... the Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the Week is comprised of 11 players from around the country, chosen on the basis of their play the previous week ... the complete list of BGSU honorees follows ...

BGSU REPRESENTATIVES, NATIONAL TEAMS OF THE WEEK
Ali Shingler -- Nov. 12, 2004 -- Soccer Buzz
Kristy Coppes -- Sept. 1, 2004 -- Soccer Buzz
Samantha Meister -- Oct. 15, 2003 -- Soccer America, Soccer Buzz
Kristy Coppes -- Oct. 8, 2003 -- Soccer America
Erika Flanders -- Sept. 5, 2001 -- Soccer America, Soccer Buzz

FOUR NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Seniors Kristy Coppes and Nikki Pucillo, along with juniors Molly Bremen and Ashley Wentzel, were named to the MAC's All-Tournament Team ... Coppes has been named to the team in each of the last three seasons ... she is the first player in school history to be named to the league's all-tourney squad three times ... Bremen, Pucillo and Wentzel all made the team for the first time in their respective Falcon careers.

RIEMAN'S LAST START A RECORD-BREAKING ONE
Senior captain Beth Rieman set a school record at Ohio State ... Rieman drew the start in that match, the 79th starting assignment of her career ... she broke the record of 78, reached by both Janice Mentrup (1997-2000) and Erika Flanders (1999-2002) ... senior Kristy Coppes had 77 career starts as a Falcon.

START ME UP
The Falcon senior class helped the team advance deep into the MAC Tournament in each of the last three years, thus extending those seasons by several matches ... so, it is no surprise that several of those seniors are at the top of the BGSU career list for matches started ... senior Kristy Coppes appeared in a school-record 87 matches, while classmates Beth Rieman and Nikki Pucillo played in 86 and 83 contests, respectively ... prior to the 2004 season, the record was 80 matches played, set by Jill Conover (1999-2002) ... two more 2004 seniors, Jenny Berlovan and Katie Piening, each played in 75 career matches.

A FEW MORE NOTES FROM THE MAC TOURNAMENT

BGSU went 3-0-0 in the MAC Tournament, downing the first, third and fourth seeds by a combined 8-2 score ... the Falcons were 0-2-1 against the three teams in the regular season, with losses to Kent State and Central Michigan and a tie vs. Western Michigan.

The Falcons had two wins at Ohio University's Chessa Field that weekend, the first two wins in Athens in the program's history ... BGSU had been 0-4-1 at the field, with a total of two goals, prior to scoring six goals in the two league tournament victories there ... the previous matches in Athens included a 2-1 double-overtime loss to Northern Illinois in the 1998 MAC Tournament.

COPPES, EGGLETON NAMED TO ALL-MAC TEAM
Senior Kristy Coppes and junior Leah Eggleton each were named to the All-MAC Second Team ... the all-conference teams were announced at the MAC Tournament banquet in Athens, Ohio, on Nov. 4 ... both players were named to the team for the first time in their BGSU careers ... the All-MAC Team is the result of voting by the league's 13 head coaches.

COPPES, EGGLETON ALSO MAKE ALL-OHIO TEAM
Senior Kristy Coppes and junior Leah Eggleton were named to the All-Ohio Second Team ... Coppes earned the honor for the third time in her career, after being a third-team selection in both 2001 and 2002 ... Eggleton made the all-state team for the first time.

DAYTON, SHINGLER ON ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM
Junior Keeley Dayton and redshirt junior Ali Shingler were named to the Academic All-District IV University Division Team ... Dayton, who earned academic all-district honors for the first time in her career, was named to the first team ... Shingler was a second-team choice in 2004 after earning third-team honors last year ... both players maintain perfect cumulative grade point averages ... through the fall semester, Dayton had a 4.00 GPA as a business administration major ... Shingler has a dual major of biology and applied health science, and also had a perfect 4.00 GPA ... Dayton is only the second BGSU women's soccer student-athlete to be named to the Academic All-District First Team, joining Jill Conover (2001) on that list ... Shingler joins Conover as the only two-time selections in Falcon history.

WINNING TITLES NOTHING NEW FOR KERNAHAN
Fifth-year senior Jenifer Kernahan picked up two MAC Tournament titles in a span of six months ... Kernahan was the starting shortstop as the 2004 BGSU softball team won the first league tourney title in that program's history ... she completed her second season as a goalie on the Falcon soccer team in the fall of '04 ... Kernahan, who came to BG on a softball scholarship, earned four letters on the diamond.

EGGLETON LENDS AN ASSIST
Junior Leah Eggleton had an assist in the MAC Tournament championship match, her ninth of the season ... Eggleton tied the school single-season record in that category ... Jill Conover had nine in the 2000 season.

TRUNDLE, TOO

Junior Julie Trundle had assists on both BGSU goals at Kent State in the quarterfinals ... the multi-assist match was her second this season and the fifth of her career.

Trundle, who also had an assist in the championship-match win over Central Michigan, had eight assists this season, ranking her second on the team ... she had 10 total points on the year, with eight of those coming over the last eight matches.

Trundle now has 23 career assists to move into a tie for second place in school history ... just a junior, she is only two away from equalling the school record ... Jill Conover (1999-2002) holds that record, with 25 career assists, while Janice Mentrup (1997-2000) had 23 in her Falcon career.

Trundle is the first Falcon to pick up at least seven assists in each of three different seasons.

Trundle has tied a BGSU career record ... she assisted on the winning goal in the MAC Tournament match at KSU, bringing her total to eight career match-winning assists ... that total deadlocks her with Conover for the most in school annals.

RAGS TO RICHES
The Falcons started MAC play in 2004 with a four-match winless streak ... BGSU was 0-3-1 to begin the conference portion of the schedule ... the Falcons ended 2004 with a seven-match unbeaten streak (6-0-1) vs. conference opponents ... the Falcons ended league regular-season play by going 3-0-1 to qualify for the MAC Tournament, then went 3-0-0 in the tourney ... the streak vs. league foes is a school record.

FALCON FIRSTS
Senior Katie Piening's goal vs. Western Michigan in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament was her first of the season ... classmate Nikki Pucillo followed suit, with her first goal of the year against Central Michigan in the championship ... a total of 12 different Falcons scored at least one goal in '04 ... juniors Natalie Sampiller and Megan Rapp each had an assist in the WMU match, giving each their first point of the season ... no fewer than 17 different BGSU players had one point or more in 2004.

ALWAYS THERE TO HELP
A total of six current Falcons rank among the school's top-10 in career assists ... junior Julie Trundle (23), as mentioned, is tied for second on that list, while classmate Leah Eggleton (16) is now deadlocked for fourth ... junior Ashley Wentzel (13) ranks sixth ... still another junior, Samantha Meister, along with seniors Katie Piening and Nikki Pucillo, each have 11 career assists to tie for eighth in BGSU annals ... Jill Conover holds the record, with 25.

CORNERING THE MARKET
The Falcons took 156 corner kicks this season, shattering the old school single-season record in that category ... the previous record was 104, by the 2000 squad ... this season's team averaged 6.50 corners per match, obliterating the former school record of 5.32 ... BG had more corner kicks than the opponents in 19 of this year's 24 matches (and the Falcons were deadlocked in that category in two other contests) ... Falcon foes took a total of 76 CKs in 2004, an average of 3.17 per match ... by contrast, the Falcons had a total of 84 corners in the first half of 2004 matches (and 66 in the second half).

GETTING IT DONE IN THE CLASSROOM
The following BGSU women's soccer team members -- 10 of the 19 returning student-athletes -- entered the fall, 2004, semester with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.00 or greater ... those 10 student-athletes are Britt Anderson, Jenny Berlovan, Molly Bremen, Keeley Dayton, Leah Eggleton, Samantha Meister, Nikki Pucillo, Beth Rieman, Ali Shingler and Julie Trundle.

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