Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Conclude Road Schedule This Weekend
October 12, 2006 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 12, 2006
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, looking to rebound from a pair of road losses last weekend, takes to the road again for two Mid-American Conference games this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards, the defending MAC regular-season and tournament champions, will play a second-straight game in Northeast Ohio, facing Kent State University Friday (Oct. 13) in a rematch of the 2005 MAC Tournament's championship game ... kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the Kent State Soccer Field ... then, on Sunday (Oct. 15), the Brown and Orange will face the University at Buffalo to conclude the road portion of the regular-season schedule ... that game is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start at UB Stadium.
THE RACE IS TIGHT AS SECOND HALF GETS UNDERWAY
With just over half of the Mid-American Conference schedule in the books, only seven points separate the league-leading team from the 11th-place squad ... each team has played six of the 11 scheduled MAC matches, and teams earn three points for a win and one for a tie ... the Falcons, at 3-3-0 in league action, are smack dab in the middle of the race ... BGSU is currently tied for sixth place with Sunday's opponent, Buffalo ... the top-eight teams in the final regular-season standings will qualify for the MAC Tournament, which begins on Sunday, Oct. 29 ... BGSU won both the 2004 and 2005 MAC Tournaments after advancing to the league tourney championship game in 2003.
LAST WEEKEND
The Falcons dropped a pair of MAC games on the road ... on Friday (Oct. 6), Ohio scored three goals in a first-half span of just over 16 minutes en route to a 3-0 win over the Brown and Orange ... OU had just four shots on goal, but converted on 75 percent of those tries ... Sunday (Oct. 8), Akron picked up a 2-1 win over the Falcons in the Rubber City ... the Zips scored just 3:42 into the match, before sophomore Brianne Eisenhard knotted the score, knocking home a cross from junior Danielle Cygan at the 10:43 mark ... but, a UA goal with 6:48 left in the first half proved to be the game-winner ... junior Tiffany Hansen played the first half in goal in each contest, with sophomore Christy Zabek playing the second half in both the OU and UA games.
OCTOBER WIN STREAK COMES TO AN END
With Friday's loss at Ohio, the Falcons saw an impressive streak come to an end ... the setback snapped a nine-game winning streak in the month of October for the Brown and Orange ... Andy Richards' team was a perfect 8-0-0 during October of 2005, all in MAC play ... prior to the OU match, BG's last October loss was a 1-0 loss at Wright State on Oct. 30, 2004 ... BGSU had had a 13-game undefeated streak vs. MAC foes during October, and had gone 12-0-1 since a setback at Kent State on Oct. 15, 2004.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
* 86-101-16 all-time, in the 10th season in program history;
* 43-50-11 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches;
* 28-25-4 overall and 21-10-4 vs. MAC schools over the last two-plus seasons (including regular-season and tournament matches);
* 42-44-8 in home games;
* 37-48-4 in road contests;
* 5-2-0 in games at the Kent State Soccer Field through the years (including a 2-0-0 mark in the Kent Classic in 2000);
* 3-1-1 in games in Buffalo, N.Y. (including a win over Western Michigan and a double-overtime loss to Miami in the 2000 MAC Tournament);
* 36-44-7 in the month of October through the years;
* 15-5-1 in October contests since the start of the 2004 season;
* 1-0-1 in games played on October 13 (including an 0-0-1 road mark, a 2-2 tie at Eastern Michigan in 2002 when the Falcons scored with just six seconds remaining in regulation); and
* 0-4-0 in October 15 matches (despite having scored two goals in three of those games).
THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Kent State is 7-6-1 on the season, and the Golden Flashes have posted a 4-2-0 MAC record to date ... KSU has won four of the last five matches ... after seeing a three-game win streak come to an end with Friday's 2-0 loss at Northern Illinois, the Flashes bounced back with a 3-2 win at Western Michigan two days later ... KSU is 5-0-0 at home this year to date, with all five wins coming by a single goal (three in double overtime) ... sophomore Caitlin Hester has five goals and 13 points on the year, while junior Lisa Kurz is right behind, with four goals and 11 points ... junior Kimberly Dimitroff, after missing the first eight games of the year due to injury, has six points in six games ... those three players have combined for all nine of the Flashes' goals in MAC play ... in goal, senior Alicia Fernandez has played every second this year to date, and has a 1.55 goals-against average and 77 saves ... head coach Rob Marinaro has 14 letterwinners, including nine starters, back from last year's team that finished 9-8-5 overall, 5-4-2 in MAC play and advanced to the championship match of the league tournament.
Buffalo has a record of 6-7-0, and the Bulls are 3-3-0 in MAC play heading into a Friday home match vs. Toledo ... UB and BGSU enter the weekend tied for sixth place in the conference ... the Bulls have won three of the last four matches, including a road sweep of WMU (4-2) and NIU (2-1) last weekend ... UB has a 3-1-0 home record this year to date ... junior Heidi Griffiths and freshman Caitlin Higgins have 11 and 10 points, respectively, while sophomores Andrea Vescio and Brook McCalla have nine points each ... Griffiths, Higgins and Vescio have four goals apiece, while McCalla, the reigning MAC Player of the Week, has a team-high five assists ... sophomore Amy Coron has played all but 16 minutes in goal, and has 74 saves and a 2.03 GAA ... last year, the Bulls of head coach Jean-A. Tassy had an overall mark of 5-11-2 and a 3-7-1 MAC slate ... Tassy welcomed back 16 letterwinners, including six starters, from that team.
The Falcons lead Kent State, 6-3-3, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU is unbeaten in the last three games with the Golden Flashes ... the teams have met twice in each of the last two years ... in 2005, the Falcons won a 2-0 home contest in the regular season, before the teams battled to a scoreless tie in the MAC Tournament championship at Cochrane Field ... the Brown and Orange advanced via penalty kicks to capture the league tourney title ... in 2004, KSU won a 4-2 regular-season match in Kent, but the Falcons returned to the Kent State Soccer Field to knock off the top-seeded Flashes, 2-1 in double-OT, in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament ... BG has a 3-2-0 record in road matches vs. KSU ... six of the 12 series meetings have gone to overtime ... BGSU leads the series with Buffalo by a 6-3-1 count, and the Falcons have won the last two meetings ... BG captured a 4-0 home decision last year, and the Brown and Orange picked up a 1-0 win over the Bulls two years ago, in the last meeting in New York ... Lindsay Carter and Kristin McDonald each had a goal in the 2005 UB game ... prior to the last two series meetings, five consecutive BGSU-UB matchups had gone to overtime ... the Falcons are 2-0-1 vs. the Bulls in road games.
THE BGSU-KENT STATE SERIES
(BGSU leads, 6-3-3)
Aug. 29, 1997 A W 1-0 (OT) Oct. 17, 1997 H W 2-0 Sept. 27, 1998 H T 1-1 (2-OT) Sept. 15, 1999 H W 2-0 Oct. 22, 2000 A L 1-3 Oct. 26, 2001 H L 0-1 (OT) Sept. 29, 2002 A W 1-0 Oct. 19, 2003 H T 0-0 (2-OT) Oct. 15, 2004 A L 2-4 Nov. 2, 2004 A$ W 2-1 (2-OT) Oct. 14, 2005 H W 2-0 Nov. 6, 2005 H%# T 0-0 (2-OT) $ MAC Tournament Quarterfinal % MAC Tournament Championship # BGSU advanced, 3-2, on penalty kicks
THE BGSU-BUFFALO SERIES
(BGSU leads, 6-3-1)
Oct. 24, 1997 H W 2-1 Sept. 25, 1998 H W 2-1 Sept. 26, 1999 H L 0-3 Oct. 20, 2000 A T 1-1 (2-OT) Sept. 23, 2001 H L 1-2 (OT) Oct. 20, 2002 A W 2-1 (OT) Nov. 6, 2002 H$ W 2-1 (2-OT) Oct. 17, 2003 H L 2-3 (OT) Oct. 17, 2004 A W 1-0 Oct. 16, 2005 H W 4-0 $ MAC Tournament Quarterfinal
HEAD COACH Andy Richards
Andy Richards is in his seventh season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons ... the 2005 MAC Coach of the Year, Richards has an overall record of 67-67-12, including a MAC Tournament mark of 8-3-3 ... Richards has led BG to the five finest seasons in school history in his tenure, including '05, as he guided the Falcons to the first regular-season title in BG annals and a second-straight MAC Tournament crown ... he has led BGSU to the semifinal round of the league tourney 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 ... Richards and the Falcons repeated that feat last year, as BGSU again won the MAC Tournament crown ... Erik Burstein is in his first season with the program, while Ashley Wentzel, a co-captain on the 2005 team, is in her first season as a student assistant coach.
ZEROES AGAINST ZABEK
Sophomore goalkeeper Christy Zabek has yet to allow a goal in her collegiate career ... Zabek played the second half of both the Ohio and Akron games last weekend ... she has played a total of 307:45 in nine career contests without allowing a goal ... this season, she has seen action in six games, playing 241:26 without ever having to fish a ball out of the back of the net.
HOME IS WHERE THE GAMES ARE (OTHER THAN THIS WEEKEND, OBVIOUSLY)
The Falcons' 2006 schedule includes a school record-tying 11 home contests ... BGSU played four of eight non-conference games at Cochrane Field ... additionally, seven of September's nine matches were at home ... after playing just four of 11 MAC matches at home last year, the Falcons meet seven of the 11 league foes inside the friendly confines of Cochrane Field in 2006 ... BGSU's only four MAC road games all come in a stretch of back-to-back weekends, as the Falcons played at Ohio and Akron last weekend, and now head to Kent State and Buffalo ... the Falcons return home for the final three regular-season games, against Central Michigan (Oct. 20), Eastern Michigan (Oct. 22 - Senior Day) and Toledo (Oct. 26).
NOT MANY GOALS AT EITHER END
The Falcon defense has allowed 20 goals in 14 games this season, and seven goals in the six MAC contests ... BGSU has allowed 1.43 goals per game, a stat which would rank second in school history, behind only last year's team (1.30 goals against per game) ... in MAC action, the Falcons have allowed 1.17 goals per game to date in '06 ... that average would rank second in BG annals as well, trailing only the 2002 team (1.08 goals per game allowed in MAC play) ... however, at the other end of the field, the Falcons are last in the league in goals scored, with 11 in 14 games ... in MAC play, BGSU's total of six goals ranks the Falcons 10th of the 12 teams.
FALCON NOTES
Freshman Renae Dietrich made her debut in Friday's Ohio game • Sunday's game marked Akron's first-ever win over the Falcons ... BG had held a 5-0-0 series lead prior to this year • sophomore Brianne Eisenhard's goal in the UA match was the second of her career, and her second in as many Sundays ... Eisenhard had scored her first collegiate goal one week earlier (Oct. 1) in a home win over Miami • junior Danielle Cygan's assist on the Eisenhard goal at UA was her third of the season, the most on the Falcons ... Cygan also leads the team with seven points in 2006 • the Akron game, BGSU's 14th of the season, was only the second '06 contest in which one team did not post a shutout ... the Falcons have been the winning team in six of those shutouts and the losing team in six ... just like that UA contest, the only other non-shutout game this year to date also was a 2-1 Falcon loss, vs. Michigan State on Sept. 15 • BGSU is tied for second in the MAC with a total of six shutouts • junior Tiffany Hansen, in her first year with the Falcons, has five shutouts this season ... Hansen, a transfer from Louisville, has seven career complete-game shutouts, with one in each of her first two seasons with the Cardinals • Hansen's shutout total ties her for third on the BGSU single-season list ... the school record for shutouts in a season by an individual is seven, amassed by Erika Flanders in 2002 and matched by Ali Shingler last year • Three of Hansen's shutouts have come in MAC action • the Falcons have allowed a total of just six second-half goals in this season's 14 games.
FALCONS PICKED THIRD
The Falcons have been picked to finish third in the MAC in 2006, according to the preseason coaches poll released last month ... the third-place prediction is the highest spot ever forecasted for the Brown and Orange in school history ... Central Michigan was the coaches' choice to win the MAC regular-season and tournament titles, while Western Michigan was tabbed to finish second in the regular-season race ... following BGSU, Miami was picked for fourth, followed by Kent State and Toledo ... Ball State and Eastern Michigan were projected to tie for seventh, followed by Ohio, Northern Illinois, Buffalo and Akron.
MAC PRESEASON POLL:
1 - Central Michigan T7 - Ball State 2 - Western Michigan T7 - Eastern Michigan 3 - Bowling Green 9 - Ohio 4 - Miami 10 - Northern Illinois 5 - Kent State 11 - Buffalo 6 - Toledo 12 - Akron PREDICTED MAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPION: Central Michigan
