Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU's 2007 Schedule to Feature Four NCAA Tournament Teams
June 12, 2007 | Women's Soccer
June 12, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Bowling Green State University women's soccer head coach Andy Richards has announced the team's schedule for the 2007 season. The Falcons are slated to play a total of 19 regular-season matches, including four matches vs. NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago.
The Falcons, who tied for third place in the Mid-American Conference standings a year ago, will play six of eight non-conference matches on the road before beginning the arduous league schedule in late September.
"This may be our strongest non-conference schedule yet," said Richards, who enters his eighth season at the BGSU helm. "Some notable games include a trio of NCAA Tournament teams -- West Virginia, Kentucky and Purdue -- all on the road, along with two opponents who are always tough in Wright State and Michigan State.
"We have had some good battles with Eastern Illinois, another team who has made it to the NCAA Tournament a great deal. Youngstown State is an up-and-coming program who gave us a great game last year, and now we must face them at their place. Murray State is an unknown quantity to us, but again, we play them on the road, and it is always difficult to go on the road and get a win.
The schedule begins with a trip to West Virginia to face the Mountaineers on Aug. 31. Two days later, BGSU embarks upon the home portion of the schedule with a Sept. 2 match vs. EIU. The 2007 season marks the sixth consecutive year that the Falcons and Panthers have met.
A weekend trip to Kentucky to face UK (Sept. 7) and Murray State (Sept. 9) follows, beginning a stretch in which the Falcons play five- of-six matches away from home. The Brown and Orange will host Wright State on Sept. 14 in the team's lone home match in a 25-day span. WSU is coming off a 12-win season in 2006, tying the school record for victories.
Then, BGSU closes the non-league portion of the schedule with three road matches, including a pair against Big Ten opposition. A Sept. 16 match at Purdue will be followed by a trip to Michigan State on Sept. 21. The final non-conference contest is Sept. 23 at YSU.
Michigan State is BGSU's most common non-conference opponent, as the teams will be meeting for the 12th time. The two teams have squared off in the regular season in every year since BG began the varsity women's soccer program in 1997, and the Falcons also met the Spartans in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Championships.
BGSU's eight non-conference opponents posted a combined winning percentage of .559 (78-59-23) last fall.
"The rationale behind our non-conference schedule is to prepare us for MAC play," said Richards. "The league seems to get stronger every year. There are no easy games in the MAC, so we need to play these difficult non-conference games to get us ready for the caliber of play we will see inside the conference.
"Additionally, the schedule was put together with this current BG team in mind. This squad is capable of competing at a high level. With six non-league games on the road, including two against Big Ten Conference opponents and games against Big East and SEC clubs, these are exciting opportunities for us. We want to be competitive and prepare for MAC play, to be sure. But, if we can get results in one or more of those matches, it will really help the confidence of a BG team that is still relatively young."
Richards, assistant coach Scott Gloden and the Falcons will play four consecutive home matches to open the MAC schedule, hosting Northern Illinois (Sept. 28) and Western Michigan (Sept. 30) on the opening league weekend for the second-straight year.
BGSU also will host Central Michigan (Oct. 5), Eastern Michigan (Oct. 7), Ohio (Oct. 26) and Akron (Oct. 28) in MAC action, while traveling to face Kent State (Oct. 12), Buffalo (Oct. 14), Ball State (Oct. 19) and Miami (Oct. 21) in a four-match road swing in mid-October.
The final regular-season match, for the fourth consecutive season, will be against arch-rival Toledo (Nov. 1). The Falcons and Rockets have played back-to-back matches in each of the last two years, meeting in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament in both 2005 and 2006.
The '07 MAC Tournament begins with quarterfinal-round matches at campus sites on Sunday, Nov. 4. The four survivors from that day's play will converge on the site of the highest-remaining seed for the semifinals on Nov. 9 and the championship on Nov. 11. The MAC Tournament winner earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
"It is a cliché, but there really are no easy games on this schedule," said Richards. "There is not one game that you can look at and say `we are a shoo-in to win that one.'
"It will be challenging, to say the least, but this is the type of schedule we need to play if we hope to win a MAC championship and qualify for the NCAAs."
The Falcons posted an overall record of 10-10-0 in 2006, including a 7- 4-0 mark in MAC play. BGSU is slated to return 17 letterwinners, including nine starters, from that squad.
The complete 2007 schedule follows ...
2007 BGSU WOMEN'S SOCCER SCHEDULE
August
25 Sat. MOREHEAD STATE (Exhib.)
31 Fri. at West Virginia
September
2 Sun. EASTERN ILLINOIS
7 Fri. at Kentucky
9 Sun. at Murray State
14 Fri. WRIGHT STATE
16 Sun. at Purdue
21 Fri. at Michigan State
23 Sun. at Youngstown State
28 Fri. NORTHERN ILLINOIS *
30 Sun. WESTERN MICHIGAN *
October
5 Fri. CENTRAL MICHIGAN *
7 Sun. EASTERN MICHIGAN *
12 Fri. at Kent State *
14 Sun. at Buffalo *
19 Fri. at Ball State *
21 Sun. at Miami *
26 Fri. OHIO *
28 Sun. AKRON *
November
1 Thu. at Toledo *
4 Sun. MAC Tournament Quarterfinals (campus sites)
9 Fri. MAC Tournament Semifinals (site of highest-remaining seed)
11 Sun. MAC Tournament Championship (semifinal site)
HOME matches held at Cochrane Field
* Mid-American Conference match
