Bowling Green State University Athletics
Women's Soccer Falcons Home to Ball State, Miami this Weekend
September 26, 2006 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 26, 2006
Release, Stats & Last Weekend's Boxscores (8 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, having opened the Mid-American Conference schedule with a 2-0-0 record for just the third time in program history, concludes a season-long four-game homestand this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards, the defending MAC regular-season and tournament champions, host the last conference team to defeat BGSU at Cochrane Field when Ball State University comes to town Friday (Sept. 29) ... kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. ... then, on Sunday (Oct. 1), the Brown and Orange will face Miami University in a game slated for a 1:00 p.m. start.
BGSU'S LENGTHY MAC UNBEATEN STREAK ON THE LINE
The Falcons are riding a 13-game unbeaten streak vs. MAC foes ... BGSU has won 10 consecutive regular-season matches against league opposition, and the Falcons also were 1-0-2 in the 2005 MAC Tournament ... BGSU's last loss to a conference team came nearly a year ago, a 3-0 setback at Ball State on Sept. 30, 2005 ... BSU, of course, is the Falcons' next opponent, as the Cardinals come to Cochrane Field Friday.
LAST WEEKEND
The Falcons picked up a pair of shutout wins to open the MAC schedule, with junior Danielle Cygan scoring the game-winning goal in each contest ... Cygan found the back of the net with less than one second remaining in the first half of Friday's (Sept. 22) win vs. Northern Illinois ... on Sunday (Sept. 24), Cygan and freshman Faith Juillerat scored first-half goals in a 2-0 win over Western Michigan ... junior goalkeeper Tiffany Hansen and the Falcon defense blanked both the Huskies and the Broncos, with Hansen making a total of three saves.
FALCONS LOOK TO EXTEND TWO MORE MAC STREAKS
* The Falcons extended a pair of impressive streaks vs. conference foes with last weekend's two wins ... BGSU has not lost at home to a MAC school since Oct. 10, 2004 (a 2-1 loss to Ball State) ... the Falcons are unbeaten in the last 11 matches at home 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 (a 2-2 tie vs. Western Michigan in the final home game of the '04 season) ... BGSU's home shutout streak now stands at 900:52 heading into Friday's Ball State game ... in 2005, the Brown and Orange went 5-0-2 vs. league opponents at Cochrane.
* The Falcons now have nine consecutive home shutouts vs. MAC opponents ... BGSU has scored 16 unanswered goals vs. league foes at home.
TWO WINS TO START MAC PLAY
The Falcons have started the MAC schedule 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 the MAC schedule.
CYGAN A WINNER
Junior Danielle Cygan had the game-winning goal in each of last weekend's two matches, vs. Northern Illinois and Western Michigan ... Cygan now has a team-high six points this season, and 10 points in her career ... all three of her career goals have proven to be the game-winning marker (her first collegiate goal came vs. Miami in the 2005 MAC Tournament) ... additionally, three of her four career assists have come on match-winning goals.
LOOKING TO CONTINUE MAC SUCCESS
As mentioned earlier, the Falcons are riding a 13-match unbeaten streak vs. MAC opponents ... BGSU has a record of 18-2-3 against conference foes since mid-October of 2004 ... during that time, the Falcons are 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 ... a game-by-game look at BGSU's current MAC unbeaten streak can be found in the pdf version o' this release.
AN ELEVENTH-HOUR GOAL
Junior Danielle Cygan's goal vs. Northern Illinois came with one second on the clock in the first half of Friday's game (Sept. 22) ... not surprisingly, the goal, at 44:59, is the latest goal in a half in school history ... it marked the ninth time in BGSU annals that the Falcons scored in the final two minutes of the first half ... that list can be found in the pdf at the top of the page.
ELEVENTH-HOUR GOAL, PART II
Junior Danielle Cygan's goal on Friday is the latest goal in either half (first or second) in school history ... Ashley Wentzel, currently the Falcons' student assistant coach, was a part of the goal that previously stood as the record ... Wentzel's cross found Julie Trundle for a header with just six seconds left on Oct. 13, 2002 at Eastern Michigan ... that same duo teamed up for the only other last-minute, second-half goal in BG annals ... this time, Wentzel scored off a Trundle cross with 44 seconds left, for a 2-1 win over Akron the next fall (Sept. 19, 2003).
HOME IS WHERE THE GAMES ARE
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 are/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.
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 led the Brown and Orange to both the MAC's regular-season and tourney titles last fall ... he has an overall record of 66-64-12, 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 ... he has led BGSU to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament 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.
LIVE STATS ON THE WEB
The Ball State and Miami matches, like all of BG's home contests, are scheduled to have live stats on the web ... fans who can't make it to a match at Cochrane Field can get up-to-the-minute statistics on the web via GameTracker, simply by logging on to BGSUFalcons.com.
THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Ball State is 7-1-2 on the season, and the Cardinals -- like the Falcons -- are off to a 2-0 start in MAC action ... BSU, riding a six-game winning streak and a seven-match unbeaten string, picked up home wins over Kent State (3-1) and Buffalo (3-2) last weekend ... four players have at least three goals on the year, with senior Amy Holst and sophomore Sarah Schumacker having scored four apiece ... Ball State has scored 22 goals in 10 games, including three in each of the last three contests ... junior Rachael Murphy has played every minute in goal this season, and has a 1.13 goals-against average ... first-year coach Michelle Salmon has 19 letterwinners, including eight starters, back from last year's team that finished 15-3-2 overall and 5-2-5 in MAC play.
Miami has a record of 4-5-0 heading into a Friday match at Toledo, and the RedHawks are 1-1 in MAC action ... MU downed Buffalo by a 3-1 count before suffering a 1-0 loss to KSU last weekend ... senior Kathleen Vistica leads the team with five goals and 12 points, while classmate Katie Boyd has three goals, a team-high four assists and 12 points ... junior Shannon Chew and freshman Krista Pace each have seen time in goal this fall ... Chew has played in four games, and has a 1.37 GAA ... Pace, in six games, has a 1.45 GAA on the year ... last year, the RedHawks of head coach Bobby Kramig had an overall mark of 9-9-0 and a 6-5-0 MAC slate ... Kramig welcomed back 17 letterwinners, including nine starters, from that team.
The Falcons trail Ball State, 4-2-1, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Cardinals have won the last two meetings ... as mentioned earlier, BSU is the last MAC team to beat the Falcons, with last year's 3-0 win in Muncie (Sept. 30, 2005) ... the Cards also are the last conference opponent to down BG at Cochrane Field (2-1 on Oct. 10, 2004) ... the Falcons are 1-2-0 in home games vs. BSU through the years ... Miami leads the series with BGSU, 8-4-0, but the Falcons have won four consecutive games vs. the RedHawks after losing the first eight series matchups ... last year, the Falcons picked up a 3-1 win at Oxford during the regular season (Oct. 2, 2005; two goals from Corbie Yee) and a 2-0 home victory in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament (Nov. 4, 2005; Danielle Cygan and Yee each scored) ... the Falcons are 2-3-0 in home matches vs. Miami.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
* 85-98-16 all-time, in the 10th season in program history;
* 42-47-11 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches;
* 27-22-4 overall and 20-7-4 vs. MAC schools over the last two-plus seasons (including regular-season and tournament matches);
* 41-43-8 in home games;
* 33-41-6 in the month of September through the years;
* 35-42-7 in October games;
* 14-3-1 in October contests since the start of the 2004 season;
* 1-1-0 in games played on September 29; and
* 2-2-1 in October 1 matches.
FALCON NOTES
* Friday's Ball State match marks the 200th game in school history.
* 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.
* Freshman Stacey Lucas and sophomore Brianne Eisenhard picked up the assists on Danielle Cygan's goal vs. the Broncos ... for Lucas, it was her first collegiate assist ... Eisenhard's assist marked her first point as a Falcon.
* On Friday, junior Karie Sahly's assist on Cygan's goal vs. NIU was her first point as a Falcon ... Sahly, in her second season with the Brown and Orange, had five points during her freshman season (2004) at Valparaiso.
* The Falcons now lead Northern Illinois, 6-5-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... Friday's match marked only the second time in series history that the home team emerged victorious ... BGSU is now 2-4-0 in home matches vs. Northern, having won the last two meetings with the Huskies at Cochrane ... overall, BGSU has captured four consecutive series meetings.
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.
