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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Hand Out Awards at Banquet
March 26, 2007 | Women's Soccer
March 26, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Freshman Samantha Bland, sophomore Brianne Eisenhard and junior Danielle Cygan each earned most valuable player awards as the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team held its annual banquet on Saturday, March 17 at the Bowen-Thompson Student Union. Head coach Andy Richards guided the 2006 version of the Falcons to an overall record of 10-10-0.
Lindsay Carter, the Falcons' lone senior in 2006, earned both the "Hustle" award and the Leslie Dawley "Fighting Falcon" award, while sophomore Christy Zabek was named the Falcons' most improved player.
The "Fighting Falcon" award winner is selected by the BGSU coaching staff, while the other five awards are the result of voting by the team members.
Bland (Hilliard, Ohio/Darby H.S.) was named the Falcons' MVP on defense. In her first season in the Brown and Orange, she was named to the national All-Rookie Team by TopDrawerSoccer.com. Bland, named to the third team by that soccer web site, was the only Mid-American Conference player named to that squad.
Bland saw action in 16 of BGSU's 20 games, making 13 starts, and helped the Falcons posted a school-record 10 shutouts in 2006. At the other end of the field, Bland had three points on a goal and an assist. The goal was a last-minute game winner, as her header gave the Falcons a 1-0 home win over Eastern Michigan (Oct. 22). Her assist also came on a winning goal, in the second overtime of the Falcons' next game for a 1-0 victory over Toledo in the final regular-season match (Oct. 26).
Eisenhard (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota H.S.) was named the team's MVP in the midfield. In her sophomore season, she blossomed into one of the Falcons' top players, finishing second on the team in scoring while helping the Brown and Orange to unprecedented success defensively.
 Samantha Bland was named BGSU's MVP on defense ...  |
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 ... while Brianne Eisenhard was the Falcons' MVP in the midfield |
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Cygan (North Royalton, Ohio/Padua H.S.) was named the Falcons' MVP on offense after leading the team in scoring. She played in all 20 games, starting 19, and had team-best totals of four assists and 10 points while tying for the BG lead in goals.
Cygan scored match-winning goals in back-to-back games to open the MAC schedule, against Northern Illinois (Sept. 22) and WMU. Her goal in the NIU game came with just one second remaining in the first half of play. She also scored vs. Central Michigan, and had assists on winning goals against Xavier (Sept. 1) and Youngstown State (Sept. 8). Her other helpers came in the UA and UB matches.
Carter (Hillard, Ohio/Darby), a team captain in 2006, earned both the "Hustle" award and the Leslie Dawley "Fighting Falcon" award. The former award is given to a player who shows a consistent enthusiasm for the game and a tremendous work ethic, both at practice and during games, while the latter award is given to a team member who, through words and actions, most accurately reflects the program's philosophy of 'Today I gave all that I have, for everything I left behind is gone forever.' It was renamed to honor former Falcon Dawley, who entered BGSU in the fall of 2002 and played with the team during that '02 season before passing away in November of that year.
Carter capped off her career by starting all 20 games this season, one of just two players to draw the starting assignment in every match. She had three assists on the year.
Carter's assists came in the XU, Kent State (Oct. 13) and UB matches, with the first two coming on overtime winners. She ended her BGSU career with 21 points on six goals and nine assists, and helped the Brown and Orange to four MAC Tournament appearances, two league tourney titles, one MAC regular-season crown and a total of 42 wins in her four years.
 Lindsay Carter picked up a pair of awards ... |
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 ... and Christy Zabek was named the team's Most Improved Player in '06 |
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In MAC play, Zabek had a GAA of only 0.48, with three goals allowed in 562 minutes. She began her BGSU career with a shutout streak of 544:48, the equivalent of over six full games without having to fish a ball out of the back of the net. Her wins included a three-save effort in the win over UT and a seven-save afternoon in the shutout win against EMU. She had back-to-back complete-game shutouts in road wins over KSU and UB, making seven saves vs. the Golden Flashes and a career-high nine stops against the Bulls.
BGSU, as mentioned, went 10-10-0 in 2006. The Falcons, with 12 newcomers on the 24-woman roster, went 7-4-0 in MAC regular-season action to tie for third place in the league. BG set a school record for lowest GAA in MAC games (0.91) in a season. The Falcons surrendered a school record-low 26 goals in this season's 20 games, for a 1.30 GAA (second-lowest in school history), and the Brown and Orange gave up only 10 goals -- also a school record-low total -- in the 11 MAC matches.
BGSU WOMEN'S SOCCER - 2006 AWARDS
* MVP - DEFENSE: Samantha Bland
* MVP - MIDFIELD: Brianne Eisenhard
* MVP - OFFENSE: Danielle Cygan
* MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Christy Zabek
* "HUSTLE" AWARD: Lindsay Carter
* Leslie Dawley "FIGHTING FALCON" AWARD: Lindsay Carter
