Falcons Top Western, 2-0, to Move to 2-0 in MAC Play

Sunday, September 24

Bowling Green, Ohio

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

WESTERN MICHIGAN

September 24, 2006 | Women's Soccer

Sept. 24, 2006

Final Stats

BGSU-WMU Boxscore in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Danielle Cygan and Faith Juillerat scored first-half goals, and the Bowling Green State University defense pitched another shutout as the Falcons topped Western Michigan University, 2-0, Sunday afternoon (Sept. 24). The Mid-American Conference match was held at Cochrane Field.

With the win, the Falcons improve to 5-5-0 on the season, and BGSU is now 2-0-0 in MAC action. The Broncos drop to 1-8-1 and 0-2-0, respectively.

For the Falcons, the shutout was BG's ninth consecutive home shutout against a MAC team. Western was the last conference foe to score a goal at Cochrane, in a 2-2 tie two years ago (Oct. 24, 2004).

Cygan picked up the match-winning goal for the second consecutive game, having scored the lone goal in Friday's (Sept. 22) home victory over Northern Illinois. The BG junior, who scored that goal in the final second of the first half vs. the Huskies, did her best to try to score in the first minute on Sunday.

Cygan challenged a ball that rolled into the WMU penalty box. And, as Western goalkeeper Jenna Schrumpf attempted to clear the ball, Cygan blocked it, but the ball bounded out of play wide of the goal.

Several minutes later, senior Lindsay Carter got her head on a Cygan left-side cross, but the shot was right at Schrumpf.

Cygan again was at the heart of a BG scoring chance just nine minutes after that. With 12:45 gone in the match, she fed a pass to junior Corbie Yee, whose shot caromed off of Schrumpf as the WMU 'keeper charged out of her net.

Just over two minutes later, though, Cygan and the Falcons got on the scoreboard on BGSU's prettiest goal of the season to date. As Western looked to mount some offense, Carter jumped in front of a Bronco player, toe-poking the ball away. Carter's pass went to sophomore Brianne Eisenhard, who played a pass ahead to freshman Stacey Lucas.

Lucas took several dribbles down the right side of the field and, just before she reached the end line, fired a cross as she was falling out of bounds. The cross found the foot of Cygan, who was charging left-to-right across the six-yard box. Schrumpf had no chance as Cygan buried her one-timer into the lower right corner of the net.

Lucas and Eisenhard had assists on the goal, which came at the 15:01 mark.

The Falcons had the first seven shot attempts of the game before Western finally put a number on the scoreboard. The shot, which came nearly 26 minutes into the match, was well wide of the mark, nearly hitting said scoreboard.

The skies opened up midway through the first half, and the rain continued off and on for most of the half. With the rank came a few more WMU shot attempts, but BG junior goalie Tiffany Hansen and the Falcon defense were equal to the task. A shot by Western's Tara Cook off of a corner kick was blocked away by a BG defender, and just over two minutes later, the Falcons doubled the lead.

The play that led to BGSU's second goal developed as Yee took the ball down the left side of the field and played a ball ahead to a streaking Juillerat. With several defenders on her tail and with Schrumpf charging out of her goal, Juillerat calmly poked the ball past the 'keeper with the outside of her right foot, and the ball rolled into the far (right) side of the net. Yee picked up the assist on that goal, which came at 32:48.

Neither team had a large number of quality scoring chances the rest of the day, although four of the Falcons' five second-half shot attempts were on goal. For the day, BGSU held advantages of 15-6 in total shots and 9-1 in shots on goal.

In that second half, neither team had a shot on goal until less than 18 minutes remained. The Falcons mounted a flurry as both Gina Rossi and Susan Hunter fired shots on goal, but Schrumpf was able to stop both offerings. The WMU 'keeper knocked away Rossi's header off a cross from Colleen Kordan, then grabbed Hunter's shot from about 20 yards out several seconds later.

Several minutes later, the Falcons mounted an end-to-end rush. Yee blocked a Bronco shot in the BGSU penalty area, and the Falcon soph was first to the ball, dribbling to nearly midfield before finding Juillerat with a pass. Juillerat played a ball to junior Tiernay Tilford, who fired a shot on goal, but Schrumpf was able to make the save.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Hansen was forced to make just one save on the day, but was able to break up numerous would-be chances by grabbing crosses or punching the ball away. One of Western's best opportunities of the day came with 6:30 left. After a BGSU foul, the Broncos played a free kick into the box. A Western Michigan forward was able to tap the ball away just as Hansen made a dive for it, but Hansen pursued the play and ended the threat with a lunging grab of the ball just to her left of the goalmouth.

The Falcon defense, as mentioned, allowed just one shot on goal in producing the fifth shutout of the season.

Schrumpf made a total of seven saves for the Broncos.

"We are delighted with our win today," said BGSU head coach Andy Richards. "We are especially happy, considering we are a very young team still finding its feet within the conference. We know how vital it is to get MAC wins, and we are very happy to get a second one today.

"I thought the overall team performance was a little bit more polished than it was on Friday, and Western gave us a stern test, particularly in the second half when they were fighting to get back in the game.

"However, I thought we had two very well-constructed goals, which were good rewards for us. We got an excellent cross with pace from Stacey Lucas that was finished by Danielle. And, I thought Faith's finish, from a wonderful pass from Corbie Yee, was excellent as well.

"We are still developing as a team, but I am very happy with the progress we have made, and happy with the play of the defense to earn another shutout as well.

"Wins in the MAC are like gold, and we are very appreciative any time we can get one. We are very pleased to be 2-0 in the conference right now, and we look forward to another week of work as we get ready for two more home matches next weekend."

BGSU's two home contests next weekend will come against Ball State and Miami. The Falcons will welcome the Cardinals to town for a 4:00 p.m. contest on Friday (Sept. 29) at Cochrane Field, then will host the RedHawks Sunday (Oct. 1) at 1:00 p.m.

NOTES
* The Falcons have started MAC play with a 2-0-0 record for just the third time in the 10-year history of the program ... the 1999 team also began conference action with a pair of wins, and the 2000 team, under first-year coach Andy Richards, went 3-0-0 to start MAC action.

* Junior Danielle Cygan had the game-winning goal for the second consecutive contest ... Cygan now has a career total of 10 points ... all three of her goals have proven to the game-winning marker, and three of her four career assists have come on match-winning goals.

* The Falcons now have a record of 18-2-3 against MAC opposition since mid-October of 2004 ... during that time, BGSU is 14-2-1 in regular-season league contests and 4-0-2 in the conference tournament, picking up one regular-season and two tourney crowns along the way.

* BGSU extended two impressive home streaks vs. conference foes ... the Falcons have not lost at home to a MAC school since Oct. 10, 2004 (a 2-1 setback to Ball State) ... BGSU is now unbeaten in the last 11 matches at Cochrane Field vs. conference opposition, having gone 8-0-3 in that span ... that includes three matches in the 2005 MAC Tournament.

* Additionally, the Falcons have not allowed a goal to a conference rival at Cochrane since Oct. 24, 2004, the last time WMU played in BG ... in that match, the Falcons' final home match of the 2004 season, BG trailed by a 2-0 score with less than 14 minutes remaining in regulation, before rallying for a 2-2 tie ... BGSU's home shutout streak now stands at 900:52, heading into Friday's match vs. Ball State.

* The Falcons, as mentioned, now have nine consecutive home shutouts vs. MAC opponents ... the Falcons, who went 5-0-2 vs. league opponents at Cochrane last year, have scored 16 unanswered goals vs. MAC teams at home.

* Ten of this season's 11 matches have been shutouts, with the Falcons on the winning side in five of those games.

Junior Tiffany Hansen, in her first year with the Falcons, now has four shutouts this season ... Hansen, a transfer from Louisville, has six career complete-game shutouts, with one in each of her first two seasons with the Cardinals.

* Freshman Faith Juillerat's goal vs. WMU was her first collegiate goal ... she scored less than four minutes after entering the match.

* On Cygan's goal, freshman Stacey Lucas and sophomore Brianne Eisenhard picked up the assists ... for Lucas, it was her first collegiate assist ... for Eisenhard, it marked her first point as a Falcon.