Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
EASTERN ILLINOIS
Eggleton's Golden Goal Downs Panthers, 2-1
September 11, 2005 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 11, 2005
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - In 2000, first-year head coach Andy Richards and his Bowling Green State University women's soccer team invented a word.
The word is 'crackalated,' and the term certainly could be applied to the winning goal on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 11), as the Falcons downed visiting Eastern Illinois University in overtime at Cochrane Field.
Senior Leah Eggleton scored that winning goal, just over nine minutes into overtime, to give BG the win. Classmate Samantha Meister scored the Falcons' first goal of the day, and added an assist on Eggleton's winner.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 3-3-0 on the season. The visiting Panthers, like BGSU an NCAA Tournament team in 2004, drop to 1-6-0 on the year.
Seniors figured in all of the BGSU scoring, as Britt Anderson had assists on both goals and Julie Trundle picked up the primary helper on Meister's goal.
The win also marked the 50th victory of Richards' tenure. He has been at the helm for 50 of the 69 wins in the history of the Falcon program.
Loosely translated, 'crackalated' (pronounced crack-uh-lated) is a term used when a shot is struck, or 'cracked', so hard that the opposing goalkeeper has no chance to make a save. Eggleton's goal, indeed, was crackalated.
The winning play began when sophomore Danielle Cygan made a long run down the left side of the field in the Panthers' end. Cygan reached the penalty area, and played the ball outside to Meister. Meister's crossing ball found Anderson, who redirected it to Eggleton.
Eggleton, who missed Friday's match due to injury, uncorked a one-timer, and Panther goalkeeper Tiffany Groene never had a chance, as the scorching volley spun just under the crossbar and into the net. Anderson and Meister drew the assists.
The Falcons' first goal of the day was something straight out of an instructional video. Anderson played the ball to Trundle on the left side of the field. Trundle, with no Panther defenders challenging her, crossed the ball right to the head of a leaping Meister. Meister struck the ball into the lower right corner, giving the Falcons an early lead.
Just before halftime, however, the visitors capitalized on a BG miscue to tie the match. Morgan Frericks and Karisa Brenner worked a give-and-go off a throw-in for the visitors, and Frericks played a diagonal ball from in front of the BGSU bench. The ball bounced once, and BG goalie Ali Shingler made a leaping try, but could not come up with it. Sharyne Connell was there to pounce on the ball and deposit it into the net with just 41 seconds left before halftime.
The two first-half goalscorers had had earlier chances as well. The Falcons took three corner kicks in the span of a minute in the early going, and Meister got a head on the third kick, but the ball went right to Groene.
With just under 30 minutes elapsed, Connell one-timed a pass just a few yards from the BG goal. The Eastern striker drilled a shot just over the crossbar.
In a scoreless second half, the best chance for either team came with just over 10 minutes left in regulation. Trundle made several nifty moves to elude her pursuers, cutting the ball to her right and taking a shot that hit off a teammate's heel. The ball deflected to junior Lindsay Carter, whose try from 20 yards out rang off the bar.
The best chance for either team in the first nine minutes of overtime came when Shingler made a point-blank save on Kellie Floyd with approximately 6:20 elapsed in the extra period. Less than three minutes later, of course, Eggleton's heroics sent the BG crowd home on a happy note.
"I am very happy with the way the team performed today," said head coach Andy Richards. "Certainly, we have learned to compete quickly this year, and as a result, have put some pretty good performances together.
"We got two fantastic goals from two seniors who have contributed much to the success of BG soccer over the past few years. It was especially nice to see Leah Eggleton score such a magnificent goal to win the match. She had been struggling with an injury over the weekend, but showed tremendous personality to overcome that.
"After the game, I watched the tape of Leah's goal a few times. The timing involved in hitting a volley like that, and the technical ability to be able to do that under pressure, is of the highest quality.
"Sam's goal, as well as Leah's, was a very good goal. I am very happy with the way we are competing against some very tough opposition. We look forward to seeing our team compete the same way in our matches against Cleveland State and Indiana next weekend."
The teams each had 14 shot attempts in the match, with BG holding a narrow 8-7 advantage in shots on goal. Both Shingler and Groene played the 99:03 in net, and each had six saves.
The teams combined for 38 fouls and two yellow cards, with Eastern picking up 22 fouls and both cautions.
The Falcons will be back in action at Cochrane Field on Friday (Sept. 16), hosting CSU in a 4:00 p.m. match.
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