Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons. Rockets. Championship.
November 10, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 10, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio/CINCINNATI, Ohio/MUNCIE, Ind. (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after a one-year hiatus, has returned to the championship match of the Mid-American Conference Tournament ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards (10-9-2 [6-5-0 MAC]), riding a season-long six-game unbeaten streak, find their arch rivals standing in the way of a league tournament title ... BGSU will meet the University of Toledo in Sunday's (Nov. 11) championship game in Muncie, Ind. ... kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the Ball State Soccer Field ... the Rockets are the number-two seed for the eight-team tournament, while the Falcons are seeded fourth ... the winner of Sunday's match will earn the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
BGSU Release, Notes & Stats in PDF Format
Quarterfinals - Sunday, Nov. 4 - campus sites
at #4 Bowling Green 2, #5 Eastern Michigan 1 (OT)
at #1 Ball State 1, #8 Miami 0
at #3 Northern Illinois 1, #6 Ohio 0
at #2 Toledo 4, #7 Kent State 3
Semifinals - Friday, Nov. 9 - at Muncie, Ind.
#2 Toledo 0, #3 Northern Illinois 0 (2-OT) (UT advances, 4-3, on PKs)
#4 Bowling Green 0, at #1 Ball State 0 (2-OT) (BGSU advances, 3-0, on PKs)
Championship - Sunday, Nov. 11 - at Muncie, Ind.
#4 Bowling Green vs. #2 Toledo, 1:00 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons battled host and top-seeded Ball State to a double-overtime scoreless tie in Friday's (Nov. 9) semifinal round of the MAC Tournament ... BGSU advanced past the Cardinals, 3-0, via penalty kicks to qualify for the championship game ... prior to the penalty-kick phase, the Falcons inserted junior Christy Zabek in goal ... Zabek made her coaching staff look like geniuses, stopping two of the Cardinals' three PK attempts (the other try was wide) ... meanwhile, Colleen Kordan, Brianne Eisenhard and Danielle Cygan all converted their PK tries to move the Falcons into the championship ... Alexa Arsenault made five saves in earning the shutout in goal, playing all 110 minutes of scrimmage time.
FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
BGSU has qualified for the MAC Tournament for the sixth consecutive season and the eighth time in the 11-year history of the program ... prior to the current six-year run, the Falcons had never made the tourney in back-to-back seasons ... the Falcons, the 2004 and 2005 tournament champions, are 3-1-2 all-time in league tourney home matches after the quarterfinal-round win over Eastern Michigan ... BGSU now has a 6-1-1 record in the quarterfinals through the years ... after Fridaiy's match vs. Ball State, the Falcons have an overall record of 3-2-2 in semifinal-round action ... BGSU is 1-2-1 in league tournament championship games through the years ... additional facts about BGSU's MAC Tournament history are in the pdf version of this release.
MAC TOURNAMENT SUCCESS: FIFTH FINAL FOR FALCONS
The Falcons are advancing to the MAC Tournament's championship match for the fifth time in school history, and the fourth time in the last five years ... a few more notes ...
• The Falcons' five trips to the final is the highest total in MAC history ... Miami has made four appearances in the MAC Tournament's championship match, while Northern Illinois has made three.
• All five of BGSU's trips to the final have come during the eight-year Andy Richards Era ... BGSU lost to Miami in the 2000 final, in Richards' first year at the helm ... the Falcons fell to Western Michigan in the 2003 championship, before winning the first MAC Tournament title in school history with a 2-0 win over Central Michigan in the 2004 championships match ... in 2005, BGSU battled Kent State to a scoreless draw, before winning the title via the PK route.
• BGSU's total of two titles ties the Falcons for second on that MAC list ... Miami won three titles from 2000-02 ... NIU captured the first two league tourney crowns, in 1997 and 1998.
ZABEK SHUTS 'EM DOWN
Christy Zabek is from Hendersonville, Tenn., where the climate is warmer than that of Northwest Ohio or Muncie, Ind. ... but, the junior goalkeeper clearly has ice water coursing through her veins ... Zabek had not seen game action in over a month (since the Oct. 5 match vs. Central Michigan) prior to Friday ... and, she did not play during regulation or either overtime of the Ball State match ... but, with the match heading to the penalty-kick phase, and the Falcons' season on the line, Andy Richards and the BGSU staff called upon Zabek, and the junior did not disappoint ... she saved two of the Cardinals' three PK tries - with the third one going wide of net - to help the Falcons advance to the championship match.
THE PK CAN BE YOUR FRIEND
The Falcons certainly have had their fair share of success in penalty kicks through the years ... BGSU's Friday match at Ball State means that the Falcons have advanced on all four occasions in which they have gone to PKs ... that list includes the 2003 MAC Tournament semifinal match vs. Central Michigan, as well as 2005 MAC Tournament contests vs. Toledo (quarterfinals) and Kent State (championship).
PK CAN BE YOUR FRIEND, PART II
The Falcons are a perfect 4-for-4 on penalty kicks this season ... believe it or not, opponents are 0-of-5 on PKs against BG on the year ... Danielle Cygan converted BGSU's lone penalty-kick try of the regular season, in the win over Western Michigan (Sept. 30) ... Cygan, Colleen Kordan and Brianne Eisenhard all made their PKs against Ball State on Friday ... Falcon foes were 0-for-2 on PKs during the regular season, and BSU kick-takers were unsuccessful on all three kicks Friday afternoon.
FALCONS AND ROCKETS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
BGSU is meeting Toledo in MAC Tournament play for the third consecutive season ... the Falcons are 0-1-1 against the Rockets in league tourney action to date ... BGSU and UT tied, 0-0, through regulation and two overtimes in the 2005 league tourney, before the Falcons advanced via penalty kicks ... last season, the Rockets exacted a measure of revenge, with a 3-0 victory over the Falcons in the quarterfinal round ... both prior BG-UT tournament meetings came at Cochrane Field.
Andy Richards: MR. NOVEMBER
The Falcons have enjoyed more than their fair share of success in MAC Tournament action over the years under head coach Andy Richards ... Richards-coached teams are 9-4-4 in league tourney matches since he took the helm in 2000 ... the Falcons have advanced via PKs in all four ties, meaning BG has moved on in 13 of the prior 17 MAC Tournament matches ... Sunday's game will be Richards' fifth trip to the finals, the most of any coach in MAC history (Miami's Bobby Kramig has made four trips).
CHAMPIONSHIP STAYS IN NORTHWEST OHIO
Sunday's match pits the two teams that have combined for the last three MAC Tournament titles ... BGSU won the league tourney in both 2004 and 2005, while Toledo captured the '06 title.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 100-112-18 all-time, in the 11th season in program history;
• 53-56-11 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches;
• 10-5-4 in MAC Tournament games, entering the UT contest;
• 32-17-5 vs. MAC schools over the last three-plus seasons (including regular-season and tournament matches), and 24-12-3 vs. conference foes in the last two-plus years;
• 49-50-8 in home games, including 18-9-2 at Cochrane Field in the last three seasons;
• 43-53-9 in road contests;
• 8-9-1 all-time in neutral-site matches, entering Sunday's match vs. Toledo;
• 10-5-4 in the MAC Tournament;
• 1-2-1 in MAC Tournament championship matches;
• 3-2-1 in neutral-site games in the MAC Tournament, including 1-1-0 in neutral-site contests in the championship round;
• 2-6-2 in Friday matches this season to date;
• 7-3-0 in Sunday contests so far in 2007;
• 1-0-0 in Thursday contests this fall;
• 12-7-4 in the month of November through the years (4-0-2 at home, 5-4-1 on the road and 3-3-1 in neutral-site matches during the 11th month);
• 6-1-1 in MAC Tournament quarterfinal matches, after last Sunday's win over EMU;
• 3-2-2 all-time in the MAC Tournament semifinals;
• 30-1-0 in the last 31 games in which the Falcons have scored first;
• 2-0-0 in the last two games in which the opponents have scored first (BG rallied from 1-0 deficits to beat both Toledo [Nov. 1] and Eastern Michigan [Nov. 4]); and
• 0-1-0 all-time in matches played on Nov. 11 (a 4-0 loss vs. Michigan State in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Championships at Notre Dame, Ind.).
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 10-9-2 on the season, and the Falcons ended the MAC regular-season schedule with a 6-5-0 league ledger ... BGSU finished in fourth place in the final conference standings, then advanced past Eastern Michigan and Ball State in the league tournament to qualify for the championship match ... the Falcons had a 5-4-0 record at home this year, and BG has a 5-5-2 mark on the road ... the Toledo match is BGSU's first neutral-site game of the year ... the Falcons have a six-match unbeaten streak, having tied Ball State after winning each of the previous five matches by a single goal ... freshmen and sophomores have combined to score 19 of the team's 26 goals this season to date ... sophomore Stacey Lucas and freshman Meagan Moran have 12 points apiece, while junior Corbie Yee has 11 ... Lucas leads the Falcons with five goals, while Moran has four goals and four assists to rank second on the team in both categories ... she scored two goals in the last two minutes of the win at UT ... Yee leads BGSU with five assists, and all three of her goals have been game winners, with all coming during the aforementioned five-game winning streak ... freshman Jackie Tamerlano has nine points, while senior Danielle Cygan has scored seven points this season to date ... soph Faith Juillerat has five points ... in goal, redshirt freshman Alexa Arsenault is 7-3-2 with a team-high 59 saves and a team-low goals-against average of 0.74 ... junior Christy Zabek has a 3-5-0 record with 32 saves and a 1.93 GAA ... she also made two huge saves of penalty kicks during the PK phase of the Ball State match, saves that will not show up on her stats but are as meaningful as any she will ever make ... 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 ... Cygan was the top returning scorer, having scored 10 points last season, while juniors Brianne Eisenhard and Yee had eight and seven points, respectively, in '06 ... all three had three goals, including two GWG, to tie for the team lead in both categories ... Hansen was 5-8-0 with a 1.74 GAA a year ago, while Zabek was 5-2-0 with a MAC-leading 0.67 GAA.
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 81-78-14 ... his teams have been at their best come MAC Tournament time, as Richards-coached squads are 9-4-4 in league tourney games entering the Toledo match ... no MAC coach has as many trips to the league tournament title game as Richards, as the 2007 game marks his teams' fifth appearance in the final ... 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 six occasions (counting 2007), to the championship match a MAC-record five times (again, counting 2007), 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 Falcons have gotten the job done 13 of 17 times in the league tourney games during the Richards Era, having advanced via penalty kicks in all four of the ties.
THE OPPONENT / THE SERIES
Toledo enters Sunday's game with an overall record of 14-5-2, and the Rockets posted a MAC record of 8-3-0 to finish second in the league regular-season standings ... UT downed Kent State by a 4-3 score in the quarterfinal round last Sunday (Nov. 4), then battled through 110 minutes of scoreless soccer before advancing past Northern Illinois via penalty kicks in Friday's (Nov. 9) first semifinal match in Muncie ... UT is 0-2-1 in neutral-site matches this season to date ... the Rockets have scored 39 goals so far in 2007 ... MAC Player-of-the-Year Molly Cornwell has led the way with a whopping 37 points on 14 goals and nine assistts ... Ali Leak and Sarah Schulte each have six goals and three assists for 15 points ... Andrea Plewes, the Rockets' top goalkeeper, has a record of 11-3-1, a total of 67 saves and a goals-against average of only 0.74 ... head coach Brad Evans returned 11 letterwinners, including five starters, from last year's team that finished 9-9-4 overall and 5-3-2 in the MAC ... the 2006 team finished fifth in the MAC regular-season standings, but went on to win the league tournament title ... the school's athletics web site is www.utrockets.com.
The Falcons lead Toledo, 7-4-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU is 5-1-0 in matches away from home vs the Rockets ... this marks the third consecutive season the teams have met in the MAC Tournament, with UT holding a 1-0-1 advantage in those games ... Sunday will be the teams' first-ever neutral-site meeting ... just over a week ago (Nov. 1), Meagan Moran scored twice in the last two minutes of regulation to give the Brown and Orange a 2-1 road win over the Rockets ... that win gave the Falcons a perfect 5-0-0 mark in games played at UT's Scott Park Field ... in 2005, the Falcons clinched the MAC's regular-season title with a road win over UT, 3-2, and the teams then battled through a 0-0 MAC Tournament quarterfinal match several days later, before BG advanced via penalty kicks ... the Falcons went on to win the MAC Tournament in that '05 season ... last season, Brianne Eisenhard's goal in the second OT gave the Falcons a 1-0 win at Cochrane Field and clinched a home game in the league tourney ... three days later, however, the Rockets dealt the Brown and Orange a 3-0 setback in the quarterfinals of the tournament ... in the prior 13 series meetings, all held at one of the two participating schools, the home team has won only twice.
AR-SUH-NO (AS IN NO GOALS ALLOWED)
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Alexa Arsenault picked up the shutout on Friday (Nov. 9), playing all 110 minutes vs. Ball State ... that shutout was her sixth of the season, just one shy of the school record ... Arsenault has picked up those six shutouts in just 12 starts ... Erika Flanders set the record with seven shutouts in 2002, while Ali Shingler had seven in the 2005 season.
YEE DOES IT AGAIN
Junior Corbie Yee has scored three goals this season ... all three have been game-winning goals at Cochrane Field, with two coming in overtime ... Yee was named the MAC Player of the Week on Oct. 29 after scoring both of the Falcons' goals in wins over Ohio (Oct. 26) and Akron (Oct. 28) ... her goal in the OU game came in OT ... last Sunday (Nov. 4), the Berea, Ohio, native again scored a 'Golden Goal' to give the Falcons a MAC Tournament quarterfinal-round win over Eastern Michigan ... her goal in the Akron game came in the 62nd minute.
SIX MORE NOTES ABOUT #6
• Junior Corbie Yee's goal vs. EMU was her second 'Golden Goal' of the season and the third of her career, tying the school record in each case ... Samantha Meister held both marks, as her three OT goals as a Falcon included a pair in the 2003 season.
• All three of Yee's goals this year, as mentioned, have been game-winning goals ... she has scored the winner in each of the Falcons' last three home games.
• Yee now has seven career GWG, tying her for third on the BGSU list ... Kristy Coppes had no fewer than 14 game-winning goals from 2001-04, while Meister (2002-05) had eight and Jill Conover (1999-2002) also had seven.
• Yee is the Falcons' active career leader in goals (12) and points (33) ... she is now tied with Julie Trundle (2002-05) for seventh place in career goals at BGSU ... Yee now ranks ninth in points, having moved past Beth Wechsler (32 from 1998-2001) with her goal vs. EMU ... 11 of Yee's 12 career goals have come against MAC opposition.
• Yee is only the second player in school history to score more than one goal in the MAC Tournament ... she now has a career total of five points (two goals, one assist) in the league tourney ... Coppes had a whopping six goals and 13 points in MAC Tournament matches.
• Yee is third on the team in scoring, with 11 points this fall to date ... she has the three goals and a BG-high five assists on the year ... in MAC matches only, Yee tied for the team lead with eight points this season.
WORKING OVERTIME
The tie with Ball State Friday (Nov. 9) gives the Falcons an all-time record of 17-14-18 in overtime matches ... believe it or not, the regular-season loss at BSU (Oct. 19) was the first time in the 11-year history of BGSU women's soccer that the Falcons lost a road game in OT ... BG has now gone 7-1-9 in overtime matches on opposing soil ... a few other Falcon overtime facts ...
• The Falcons are now 8-11-8 in home overtime games and 2-2-1 in neutral-site OT affairs;
• The Falcons have played eight OT matches in 2007 to date, tying the school single-season record ... BG also has tied the single-season record for overtime wins, with three... the Falcons played eight OT matches in 2003, going 2-3-3 ... BGSU was 3-0-0 in overtime last season, tying the school mark for OT wins in a year (3-1-1 in 2000) ... this fall, the Falcons have gone 3-3-2 in OT;
• Three of the 17 overtime wins in program history have come on Oct. 26 ... Samantha Meister (who holds the school record with three 'Golden Goals') scored in OT to give the Falcons a win at Marshall, and Brianne Eisenhard's goal on Oct. 26, 2006, gave the Brown and Orange a 1-0 win over Toledo;
• This year's Ohio game marked the first time in school history that BGSU played three consecutive overtime games;
• BGSU went nearly four years without an overtime loss ... after an OT setback vs. Ohio State on Halloween of 2003, the Falcons were unbeaten in the next 10 such matches (5-0-5), including seven-straight at home, before a home loss to Wright State on Sept. 14 of this season;
• Beginning with that WSU game, the Falcons were winless in four consecutive OT matches this year (0-3-1) before the win at Miami ... the Falcons now have a new streak, having gone unbeaten (3-0-1) in the last four OT contests;
• BGSU is now 3-2-4 in MAC Tournament contests that require overtime ... the Falcons advanced via penalty kicks in all four of those ties, meaning that BGSU has moved on in seven of the nine league tourney OT matches in program history.
MILESTONE WIN
The Falcons' victory over Eastern Michigan last Sunday was the 100th win in program history, and also was the 10th win in MAC Tournament play ... BGSU is now 10-5-4 in league tourney action, for the second-most MAC Tournament wins of any team (Miami is 13-4-1).
MORAN STRIKES TWICE AT TOLEDO
Freshman Meagan Moran scored a pair of late goals in the Falcons' regular-season win at Toledo (Nov. 1) ... Moran's two goals came 1:21 apart, ranking her third on the list of 'fastest two goals' by an individual ... but, it could be argued that Moran's two goals were the most dramatic ... Moran's feat marked the fastest two goals by an individual in a MAC game in school history ... and, no other pair of goals came so close together, so late in a game ... Tracy Gleixner set the record with a pair of goals just 17 seconds apart vs. Detroit nine years ago (Oct. 27, 1998) ... Kristy Coppes scored two goals just 1:10 apart against the same school, in a win over UDM on Sept. 4, 2002.
THE 2007 CAPTAINS
Seniors Danielle Cygan, Tiffany Hansen, Rachael Ross and Tiernay Tilford are the captains of the 2007 Falcons.
THOSE WHO STAY PLAY FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The BGSU women's soccer program is in its 11th season in 2007 ... through the first 10 years, every player who has stayed with the program all four years has been a part of at least one team that has advanced to the MAC Tournament's championship match.
