Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Take to the Road; Face KSU, Buffalo this Weekend
October 11, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 11, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after playing four consecutive home games to open the Mid-American Conference schedule, now takes to the road for the next four contests ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards (4-7-1, 1-3-0 MAC) begin the season-long road swing with matches at Kent State University and the University at Buffalo this weekend ... the Brown and Orange will face the Golden Flashes on Friday (Oct. 12), with kickoff at 4:00 p.m. at the Kent State Soccer Field ... Sunday's (Oct. 14) match will begin at 1:00 p.m. at UB Stadium.
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THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 94-110-17 all-time, in the 11th season in program history;
• 48-54-11 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches;
• 28-24-3 overall in the last two seasons (plus 12 games);
• 26-15-4 vs. MAC schools over the last three-plus seasons (including regular-season and tournament matches), and 18-10-2 vs. conference foes in the last two-plus years;
• 46-50-8 in home games, including 15-9-2 at Cochrane Field in the last two-plus seasons;
• 40-51-8 in road contests entering Friday's match at KSU;
• 0-5-1 in Friday matches this season to date;
• 4-2-0 in Sunday contests so far in 2007;
• 40-46-7 in the month of October through the years;
• 26-0-0 in the last 26 games in which the Falcons have scored first, dating to the 2005 season opener;
• 1-2-0 all-time in matches played on Oct. 12, with the win coming in the only prior MAC road match - four years ago at Northern Illinois (a 4-3 overtime victory in which Samantha Meister scored all four goals, at the time the school's single-game record); and
• 1-1-0 in contests played on Oct. 14, with both previous matches (a 4-1 loss to Central Michigan in 2001 and a 2-0 win over KSU in 2005) coming at BGSU's Cochrane Field.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 4-7-1 on the young season ... the Falcons have a 1-3 record in the MAC and a 2-3-1 mark on the road to date ... BG is looking to snap a two-game losing streak ... two of the Falcons' top-three scorers are freshmen ... in fact, freshmen and sophomores have combined to score 11 of the team's 14 goals this season to date ... freshman Jackie Tamerlano leads the way with four goals and eight points this fall, while sophomore Stacey Lucas has three goals and seven points ... freshman Meagan Moran has six points on two goals and two assists, while senior Danielle Cygan has scored four points this season to date ... in goal, redshirt freshman Alexa Arsenault is 1-1-1 with 21 saves and a team-low goals-against average of 1.07 ... junior Christy Zabek has started a team-high eight matches, and also leads BG in wins and saves ... she is 3-5-0 with 32 saves and a 1.93 GAA ... senior Tiffany Hansen has eight saves in her four matches played ... the Falcons returned 16 of 20 letterwinners, including nine starters, from a youthful 2006 squad that went 10-10-0 overall and 7-4-0 in MAC play ... the '06 Falcons tied for third in conference action ... the Brown and Orange advanced to the league tournament for the fifth consecutive year ... Cygan is the top returning scorer, having scored 10 points last season, while juniors Brianne Eisenhard and Corbie Yee had eight and seven points, respectively, in '06 ... all three players had three goals, including two game-winning goals, to tie for the team lead in both categories ... Hansen had a 5-8-0 record and a 1.74 GAA a year ago, while Zabek had a 5-2-0 mark and a MAC-leading 0.67 GAA.
LAST WEEKEND
The Falcons dropped a pair of matches at Cochrane Field, falling to Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan ... on Friday (Oct. 5), the Chippewas downed BGSU by a 2-1 count in double overtime ... two days later, the Eagles posted a 2-0 shutout over the Brown and Orange ... freshman Meagan Moran's laser shot provided the Falcons' goal in the loss to CMU, with juniors Kristin McDonald and Corbie Yee picking up the assists ... another junior, Christy Zabek, made a career-high 10 saves in that match ... redshirt freshman Alexa Arsenault played the EMU contest and made four saves ... the game marked her first-ever action at Cochrane Field.
LOOKING TO GET ON THE BOARD FIRST
The Falcons are looking to reverse a recent trend ... the opponents have scored the first goal in each of BGSU's last five games, including all four contests on the team's just-completed homestand ... the Falcons have won 26 games in a row when scoring first, but BG has gotten on the board first only three times in this year's 12 games ... the Falcons are 3-0-0 (obviously) when scoring first, and BGSU is 1-7-1 when allowing the first goal in 2007 matches.
HEAD COACH Andy Richards
Andy Richards is in his eighth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons ... he has guided the Brown and Orange to unprecedented heights during that time ... the 2005 MAC Coach of the Year, Richards currently has an overall record of 75-76-13, including a MAC Tournament mark of 8-4-3 ... upon his arrival in Northwest Ohio, he took over a team that had gone 19-34-4 in the previous three seasons ... last year, Richards guided the youthful Falcons to 10 overall wins and a tie for third place in the MAC standings ... that came on the heels of the '05 campaign, in which he led the Falcons to the first regular-season title in BG annals and a second-straight MAC Tournament crown ... Richards 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 in '05, as BGSU again won the MAC Tournament crown.
THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Kent State enters the weekend with an overall record of 5-5-1, and the Golden Flashes have a MAC mark of 3-2-1 heading into Friday's match vs. BGSU ... KSU has won three consecutive matches, with last weekend's two wins coming via shutout at Northern Illinois (1-0) and Western Michigan (2-0) ... the Flashes are 1-2-0 in home games this year to date ... Kimberly Dimitroff leads the team with four goals and nine points on the year, while Catharine Marosszeky and Brittany Fracasso each have two goals ... in goal, Kris Nelson has played every minute this season, and has 56 saves and a goals-against average of just 1.12 ... head coach Rob Marinaro welcomed back 17 letterwinners, including nine starters, from last year's team that finished 10-10-1 overall and 6-5-0 in MAC play ... the school's athletics web site is www.kentstatesports.com.
Buffalo has a 3-7-2 record, and the Bulls are 0-3-1 in MAC play, entering Friday night's home match vs. Toledo ... UB earned a 2-2 double-OT tie at WMU last Friday, before falling by a 2-1 count at NIU on Sunday ... the Bulls have a 1-2-0 home record entering the UT match ... Brooke McCalla leads the team with 11 points, and has four goals and three assists this year to date ... Andrea Vescio has three goals and a team-high four helpers for 10 points, while Heidi Griffiths has nine points, including four goals to tie McCalla for the team lead ... Amy Coron has played every match in goal, and has 72 saves and a 1.73 GAA ... head coach Jean-A. Tassy returned 23 letterwinners, including nine starters, from last year's club ... the 2006 edition of the Bulls went 8-10-0 overall and 4-6-0 in the MAC ... the school's athletics web site is www.buffalobulls.com.
The Falcons lead Kent State, 7-3-3, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU is unbeaten in the last four games with the Golden Flashes ... last season, BG posted a 1-0 overtime win, with Corbie Yee scoring to cap off a mad scramble ... Christy Zabek made seven saves to preserve the shutout ... the teams met twice in both 2004 and '05, squaring off in the MAC Tournament in each of those years ... BG has a 4-2-0 record in road matches vs. KSU ... seven of the 13 series meetings have gone to overtime.
BGSU leads the series with Buffalo by a 7-3-1 count, and the Falcons have won the last three meetings ... last year, two days after picking up the win over KSU, the Falcons returned to Kent to post a 2-0 win over the Bulls in a neutral-site match ... Yee continued her hot weekend by picking up both goals, while Zabek posted another shutout with a then-career high nine saves ... the match was moved to Kent due to a snowstorm that hit Western New York that week ... the Falcons are 2-0-1 vs. the Bulls in road games, including a 1-0 win in 2004 in the last meeting in New York ... from 2000 to 2003, five consecutive series meetings went to overtime ... the Falcons have posted shutout wins over the Bulls in each of the teams' last three games.
THE FALCONS AND THE KENT STATE SOCCER FIELD
• The Falcons enter Friday's match with an all-time record of 7-2-0 in games played at the Kent State Soccer Field ... that record includes a 3-0 mark in neutral-site contests played there ... BGSU picked up wins over St. Bonaventure and Bucknell at the Kent Classic in 2000 - in Andy Richards' first two games as the Falcons' head coach - in addition to last season's victory over Buffalo.
• In the 10-plus years since BGSU began fielding a varsity women's soccer program, four of the team's 14 overtime wins have come at the Kent State Soccer Field ... BGSU's 4-0-0 OT mark at the field includes a 1-0 victory in the first game in the history of both the BGSU and KSU programs.
DARKEST BEFORE THE DAWN?
The Falcons' 1-3 start in MAC play marks the team's worst record through four conference games since 2004 ... that season, the Brown and Orange sat at 0-3-1 after losses to Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan in the second weekend of the conference season ... that '04 team, however, rallied to finish 5-5-2 in MAC action, earning the eighth and final seed for the MAC Tournament ... then, the Falcons proceeded to roll through the conference tourney, picking up three wins and the league tournament title ... overall, the 2004 Falcons had a record of 1-8-1 after that loss to EMU, before righting the ship and advancing to the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history.
SIMILAR SITUATION
Last year, the Falcons headed into the road weekend vs. Kent State and Buffalo looking to rebound from two losses the previous weekend ... as is the case this season, the 2006 Falcons entered the Friday KSU match after scoring a total of one goal in the prior weekend's two games (against Ohio and Akron last year) ... BG, as mentioned, won last year's match with the Golden Flashes, sparking a stretch in which the Brown and Orange won four-of-five matches to close the regular season.
FALCON FACTS
As mentioned, BGSU is undefeated (3-0-1) in the last four meetings with Kent State ... that stretch began in the 2004 MAC Tournament quarterfinal in Kent, and also includes the '05 league tournament championship match in BGSU ... the Falcons have held the Flashes scoreless for the last 366:42, or the equivalent of over four games ... BGSU is also looking to extend a lengthy shutout streak against Buffalo ... that streak stands at exactly 270 minutes over the last three matches ... UB's last goal vs. the Falcons came in overtime of the teams' 2003 match in BG ... the Falcons have scored 14 goals this season to date (1.17 per game), after notching a total of 17 goals (0.85 per game) during all of last year ... junior Corbie Yee picked up her third assist of the year in Friday's (Oct. 5) Central Michigan game, tying her for the team lead ... Yee now has seven career assists, and is the Falcons' active career scoring leader with 25 points ... sophomore Kaitlyn Kobe made her first career start in Sunday's (Oct. 7) Eastern Michigan match, while junior Kristin McDonald made her first start of the season and the fifth of her career ... a total of 22 different players have started at least one game for the Falcons this fall ... also in that EMU match, redshirt freshman Alexa Arsenault saw her first-ever playing time at Cochrane Field ... Arsenault sat out all of last season, and had played in three games this year prior to Sunday ... all three prior contests had come on the road, against Purdue, Michigan State and Youngstown State.
TOUGH CROWD
The Falcons have perennially played a challenging non-conference schedule, and this season has been no exception ... Andy Richards and Company played six of the eight non-league matches away from home this fall, going 3-4-1 ... five of the eight opponents have been ranked regionally for much of the season, with four currently in the rankings ... According to this week's (Oct. 8) Soccer Buzz poll, West Virginia is rated third in the Mid-Atlantic Region and 22nd in the country ... three Falcon non-conference opponents are ranked in this week's Great Lakes Region top 15 ... that list includes Purdue (first in the region, 11th in the country), Kentucky (ninth regionally) and Wright State (10th) ... those four teams are a combined 34-11-5 on the season.
