Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head to Arizona
August 30, 2005 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 30, 2005
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after opening the 2005 season last weekend, will hit the road for the first time ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards will head to Flagstaff, Ariz., for the La Quinta Inn & Suites Mountain Classic, hosted by Northern Arizona University ... BGSU will face the host Lumberjacks Friday night (Sept. 2), and the Falcons will meet Boise State University in Sunday action (Sept. 4) ... both matches will be played at Lumberjack Stadium.
FALCONS IN TOURNAMENT PLAY
BGSU will be playing in an in-season tournament for the seventh time in school history ... the Falcons have a record of 6-6 in regular-season tournaments, with marks of 3-1 in home matches, 0-2 in away contests and 3-3 in neutral-site matches ... two of the five highest-scoring matches in school history have come in tourney play, as the Falcons scored nine goals vs. Robert Morris in 1998 and seven in last year's win over Duquesne ... the Falcons have outscored opponents, 27-24, in those 12 matches ... BG's complete list of in-season tourney participation follows ...
Opponent Result Date Falcon Classic (Bowling Green) Western Illinois W, 3-0 9/5/98 Robert Morris W, 9-2 9/6/98Kent Classic (Kent, Ohio) vs. St. Bonaventure W, 2-0 8/25/00 vs. Bucknell (ot) W, 3-2 8/26/00
Ohio State Invitational vs. Pittsburgh W, 1-0 9/13/02 vs. Missouri L, 0-1 9/15/02
No Ka Oi Tournament (Honolulu, Hawai'i) vs. Arizona State L, 1-5 8/30/03 at Hawai'i L, 0-4 8/31/03
Falcon Classic (Bowling Green) Duquesne W, 7-3 8/27/04 Pittsburgh L, 0-2 8/29/04
Navy Tournament (Annapolis, Md.) at Navy L, 1-3 9/10/04 vs. Delaware L, 0-2 9/12/04
FALCON NOTES AND NUMBERS
HEAD COACH Andy Richards
Andy Richards is in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons ... he has an overall record of 47-54-10, and a MAC Tournament mark of 7-3-1 ... 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, 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 to Richards.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU opened the 2005 season with a pair of home losses ... the Falcons fell to Oakland, 4-1, on Friday (Aug. 26), and lost to Wright State by a 4-0 count two days later ... senior Samantha Meister scored the Falcons' lone goal, with an assist from sophomore Danielle Cygan ... BG returns 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 ... fifth-year senior goalkeeper Ali Shingler is back, and is joined by seniors Britt Anderson, Molly Bremen, Leah Eggleton, Meister, Megan Rapp, Natalie Sampiller, Julie Trundle and Ashley Wentzel ... the senior class is looking to become the first class in school history to qualify for the MAC Tournament in four consecutive seasons ... Shingler, the lone returning 'keeper, played nearly 84 percent of the minutes in 2004 ... the Falcons return 47.5% of the goal-scoring from a year ago ... BGSU's incoming recruiting class was rated tops in the MAC by Soccer Buzz.
THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Northern Arizona enters the weekend with a record of 0-2-0 ... last weekend, the Lumberjacks opened the season with a 3-0 loss at #25 San Diego, then fell victim to a late San Diego State comeback, 2-1 ... freshman Kaitlin Baum scored the team's lone goal on the weekend ... NAU is coming off a 2004 season in which the Lumberjacks finished 5-11-2 overall ... head coach Andre Luciano's team went 2-4-0 in Big Sky Conference play ... sophomore Dani Davis is one of 18 returning letterwinners from that team ... she led the Lumberjacks in goals (5) and points (10) a year ago ... senior goalie Andrea Berra played in all 18 matches last year, and had a 1.24 goals-against average and six shutouts ... last year's team allowed only 24 goals in those 18 matches, but scored just 13 on the year ... Luciano, in his fifth year at NAU, has a record of 23-45-7.
Boise State began the 2005 season with a 3-0 loss to #26 Utah Sunday (Aug. 28) ... the Broncos will face UC Davis, the fourth team in NAU's tournament, before meeting the Falcons ... BSU returns 17 letterwinners, including six starters, from last year's 9-8-2 team ... the Broncos went 2-4-2 in the Western Athletic Conference play last year ... junior goalkeeper Kim Parker, an All-WAC honoree, had a 1.08 GAA and five shutouts last season, setting school records in both categories ... Molly McDonald is the top returning scorer, having amassed seven points a year ago ... head coach Steve Lucas is in his sixth year, and has a record of 36-50-7.
BGSU has never met either Northern Arizona or Boise State in women's soccer.
MEISTER MOVES UP
Senior Samantha Meister's goal in the Oakland match was the 21st of her Falcon career ... she has assumed sole possession of second place on the BGSU career list, having entered 2005 in a tie with Jill Conover (1999-2002) and Tracy Gleixner (1998-2002) ... Meister now has 53 career points, ranking third in school history ... Kristy Coppes, who completed her BG career last November, hold the school records with 52 goals and 111 points.
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.
FALCON FIRSTS
Six players saw action for the first time over the weekend ... sophomore Karie Sahly, in her first year at BGSU after transferring from Valparaiso University, was in the starting lineup for both the Oakland and Wright State matches ... a total of five freshmen - Amanda Campbell, Brianne Eisenhard, Susan Hunter, Kristin McDonald and Corbie Yee - all came off the bench vs. OU ... Hunter made her first collegiate start on Sunday vs. WSU, with Eisenhard, McDonald and Yee also seeing playing time in that match.
