Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Prepare for MAC Tournament Semifinal
November 06, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 6, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after a one-year hiatus, has returned to the semifinal round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards (10-9-1 [6-5-0 MAC]), riding a season-long five-game winning streak, will head to Muncie, Ind., for a Friday (Nov. 9) matchup with Ball State University ... kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Ball State Soccer Field ... the Cardinals are the top seed for the eight-team tournament, while the Falcons are seeded fourth ... in the day's first game, second-seeded Toledo will meet third-seeded Northern Illinois at 11:00 a.m. ... Friday's winners will advance to Sunday's (Nov. 11) championship match, which will begin at 1:00 p.m. in Muncie.
Live broadcast of Friday's game via BSU student radio
BGSU Release & Statistics (10 pages) 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.
#3 Northern Illinois vs. #2 Toledo, 11:00 a.m.
#4 Bowling Green at #1 Ball State, 2:00 p.m.
Championship - Sunday, Nov. 11 - at Muncie, Ind.
Semifinal winners, 1:00 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
For the second-straight game, the Falcons rallied from a late deficit to post a 2-1 win ... on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 4), junior Corbie Yee's 'Golden Goal' lifted BGSU to a 2-1 overtime win over Eastern Michigan in the MAC Tournament's quarterfinal round at Cochrane Field ... sophomore Samantha Bland's header, off a Meagan Moran corner kick, tied the match with 4:24 left in regulation, setting the stage for Yee's heroics just 1:46 into the OT period ... Alexa Arsenault earned the win in goal, and also picked up the assist on Yee's winner.
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 Sunday's win over Eastern Michigan ... BGSU now has a 6-1-1 record in the quarterfinal round through the years ... the Falcons enter Friday's match at Ball State with an overall record of 3-2-1 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 o' this release ... the Falcons' game-by-game results can be found there as well.
FALCONS IN THE SEMIFINAL
BGSU's game at Ball State will mark the Falcons' fifth trip to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament in the last six years ... BG has advanced to the semis six times in the eight-year tenure of Andy Richards and seven times in program history ... the seven trips is tied for the most in MAC history (Ohio also has made seven trips) ... BGSU enters Friday's match with an overall record of 3-2-1 in semifinal-round play ... that includes a 1-0-0 mark at home, a record of 0-1-0 on the road and a 2-1-1 slate in neutral-site games ... BGSU has advanced to the championship match in each of its last three semifinal trips, with a tie vs. Central Michigan in 2003 (BG advanced via penalty kicks) and wins over Western Michigan in 2004 and Miami in '05.
FALCONS AND CARDINALS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
BGSU has never met Ball State in MAC Tournament play ... of the current MAC schools, BSU, Akron and Ohio are the only programs the Falcons have never faced in the league tourney.
MILESTONE WIN
The Falcons' victory over Eastern Michigan on Sunday was the 100th win in program history, and also was the 10th win in MAC Tournament play ... BGSU is now 10-5-3 in league tourney action, for the second-most MAC Tournament wins of any team (Miami is 13-4-1).
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 100-112-17 all-time, in the 11th season in program history;
• 53-56-11 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches;
• 10-5-3 in MAC Tournament games, entering the BSU contest;
• 32-17-4 vs. MAC schools over the last three-plus seasons (including regular-season and tournament matches), and 24-12-2 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;
• 43-53-8 in road contests;
• 2-6-1 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;
• 12-7-3 in the month of November through the years (4-0-2 at home, 5-4-0 on the road and 3-3-1 in neutral-site matches during the 11th month);
• 6-1-1 in MAC Tournament quarterfinal matches, after Sunday's win over EMU;
• 4-0-0 against Eastern in the league tournament, with all four wins coming in the quarterfinal round;
• 3-2-1 all-time in the MAC Tournament semifinals;
• 1-2-1 in MAC Tournament championship-match appearances;
• 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]);
• 0-1-0 all-time in matches played on Nov. 9 (a 4-1 loss at Western Michigan in the championship game of the 2003 MAC Tournament).
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 10-9-1 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 downed Eastern Michigan in the league tournament's quarterfinal round on Sunday (Nov. 1) ... the Falcons had a 5-4-0 record at home this year, and BG has a 5-5-1 mark on the road to date ... the Falcons have won five consecutive matches, each by a single goal ... the first three of those games ended with 1-0 scores, with two going to double-OT (Miami and Ohio) ... the Brown and Orange downed Akron (Oct. 28), also by a 1-0 count, then got two late goals for a 2-1 win at Toledo Thursday (Nov. 1), before a second-straight come-from-behind win, vs. EMU ... 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 current 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 7-3-1 with a team-high 54 saves and a team-low goals-against average of 0.82 ... junior Christy Zabek has a 3-5-0 record 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 ... 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 81-78-13 ... his teams have been at their best come MAC Tournament time, as Richards-coached squads are 9-4-3 in league tourney games entering the Ball State match ... 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 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 Falcons have gotten the job done 12 of 16 times in the league tourney games during the Richards Era, having advanced via penalty kicks in all three of the ties.
THE OPPONENT / THE SERIES
Ball State enters Friday's game with an overall record of 13-5-1, and the Cardinals posted a MAC record of 9-1-1 to win the league's regular-season title and earn the #1 seed for the MAC Tournament ... BSU downed Miami by a 1-0 score in the quarterfinal round on Sunday (Nov. 1), increasing the team's current winning streak to three games ... BSU is 9-1-1 at home this season, including 5-0-1 in MAC home matches ... Emily Rein has 17 points to lead five players in double digits ... Sarah Schumacker has scored 12 points, while Katelyn Alexander has 11 and Annie Aiello and Sarah Leibel 10 apiece ... Rein leads the team with six goals, and is tied for the assist lead with five ... Schumacker and Aiello each have five goals, while Schumacker has five assists ... Rachael Murphy has 59 saves in goal, and she also has nine shutouts and a goals-against average of just 0.56 ... head coach Michelle Salmon returned 17 letterwinners, including eight starters, from last year's team that finished 13-4-3 overall and 8-2-1 in the MAC ... the school's athletics web site is www.ballstatesports.com.
The Falcons trail Ball State, 6-2-1, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU is looking to snap a four-game losing streak vs. the Cardinals ... BSU holds a 3-1-1 advantage in games played in Muncie, and the Cards have won the last two meetings there, including a 3-2, double-OT decision three weeks ago (Oct. 19) ... Stacey Lucas had a goal and an assist in that game, while Samantha Bland scored the Falcons' first goal of the day ... the Falcons and Cardinals have never met in the MAC Tournament.
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 ... on 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 win over Eastern Michigan gives the Falcons an all-time record of 17-14-17 in overtime matches ... believe it or not, the loss at Ball State (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 7-1-8 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 seven OT matches in 2007 to date, and have tied the single-season record for overtime wins, with three... the school record is eight OT matches played, as the Falcons went 2-3-3 in 2003 ... 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 3-3-1 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 won the last three OT contests;
• BGSU is now 3-2-3 in MAC Tournament contests that require overtime ... the Falcons advanced via penalty kicks in all three of those ties, meaning that BGSU has moved on in six of the eight league tourney OT matches in program history.
McDONALD MAKES ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM
BGSU junior Kristin McDonald has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team, it was announced Thursday (Nov. 1) ... McDonald, named to the second team, earns the honor for the first time in her career ... McDonald maintains a perfect 4.00 cumulative GPA as a health science major ... the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team is made up of student-athletes from Division I schools in the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee ... McDonald has played in 14 matches this season to date, making one start, and has a pair of assists.
MORAN STRIKES TWICE AT TOLEDO
Freshman Meagan Moran scored a pair of late goals in the Falcons' 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.
FALCON FACTS
The Falcons are competing in the MAC Tournament for the sixth consecutive season, the second-longest active streak in the MAC ... Ball State has made the league tourney for the seventh-straight year ... BGSU is now 3-1-2 in MAC Tournament home games, having advanced via penalty kicks in both of the ties, which came in 2005 ... that means BGSU has advanced in five of the six home tourney games in program history ... BG is now a perfect 4-0-0 in MAC Tournament matches vs. Eastern Michigan, with all four games coming in the quarterfinal round ... the Falcons won road games vs. the Eagles in the 1998, 2000 and 2003 MAC Tournaments ... the Falcons are now tied with EMU, 7-7-1, in the all-time series between the teams ... BGSU is now 2-4-0 vs. the Eagles in home games, but have won two of the last three meetings at Cochrane ... sophomore Samantha Bland has three career goals ... two of those goals have been instrumental in the Falcons' only two home wins over Eastern ... last season (Oct. 22, 2006), Bland scored in the final minute of the second half for a 1-0 win over the Eagles late in the regular season ... on Sunday, of course, her header tied the match with fewer than five minutes remaining in regulation ... in that match, junior Corbie Yee's winning goal came off of a long kick by redshirt freshman Alexa Arsenault ... for Arsenault, the play marked not only her first career point, but her first game-winning assist as well ... she is the first Falcon goalie to pick up an assist in over five years (Erika Flanders vs. Detroit on Sept. 4, 2002) ... the Falcons have finished the home portion of the schedule with a winning record for the third time in school history ... all three have come in the last three years ... BGSU finished with a .500 record at Cochrane Field three times in the first eight years of the program (1997, 2001 and 2002), before going 7-2-2 at home in 2005, 7-5-0 in '06 and 5-4-0 this season ... BGSU is now 49-50-8 all-time in home games ... BG's win over Toledo gives the Falcons a 6-1-0 record in road matches vs. the Rockets, including a perfect 6-0-0 in games played at Scott Park Field ... the home team has won only twice in 13 series meetings between BG and UT ... the Falcons finished third in the league in points in conference games, and BGSU tied for second in goals in MAC games (1.45 gpg) ... individually, Arsenault finished fourth in goals-against average in conference games (0.82), and she was also fourth in saves percentage (.837) ... she was third in shutouts per game, with four shutouts in her eight appearances in MAC matches ... Arsenault now has a 7-3-1 record and a goals-against average of just 0.82 ... the Richmond Hill, Ontario, native has five complete-game shutouts this season ... BG allowed a goal early in the second half at Toledo, snapping Arsenault's and BGSU's shutout streak at 346:56 ... that marks the third-longest streak in school history (by the team), and the fourth-longest such streak of consecutive shutout minutes by an individual ... teammate Christy Zabek owns the longest streak in BGSU history, blanking opponents for a total of 544:48 over parts of the 2005 and 2006 seasons ... the Akron game (Oct. 28) was 'Senior Day' for the BGSU women's soccer program at Cochrane Field ... the Falcons' four seniors - Danielle Cygan, Tiffany Hansen, Rachael Ross and Tiernay Tilford - were recognized in pregame festivities, with a number of BGSU women's soccer alumnae on hand ... the Falcons have won three consecutive 'Senior Day' matches, all by shutout, and BGSU is undefeated (3-0-1) in the last four such contests at Cochrane Field ... BG's last 'Senior Day' loss came to nationally-ranked Ohio State, 3-2 in overtime, in 2003 ... Tilford, junior Brianne Eisenhard and sophomores Colleen Kordan and Bland are the only Falcons to have started all 20 games this season to date.
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 (and this fact will not change in '07), 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.
