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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Noting the Falcons
July 11, 2007 | Women's Soccer
July 11, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after earning a Mid-American Conference Tournament berth for the fifth consecutive season, has seen the 2006 campaign come to an end ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards suffered a loss in the MAC Tournament's quarterfinal round, and end the year with an overall record of 10-10-0 ... BGSU, with 12 newcomers - including 11 freshmen - on the 2006 roster, went 7-4-0 in MAC regular-season action to tie for third place in the 12-team league ... Richards and the Falcons had just one senior on the 24-woman roster in '06.
BGSU Women's Soccer Notes & 2006 Statistics in PDF Format
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FALCONS HAND OUT AWARDS AT BANQUET
Freshman Samantha Bland, sophomore Brianne Eisenhard and junior Danielle Cygan each earned most valuable player awards for the 2006 season (NOTE: All years of eligibility in this release refer to the '06 season - for example, Bland was a freshman in '06, and is entering her sophomore year) ... the team held its annual banquet in March ... 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 ... Bland was named the Falcons' MVP on defense, while Eisenhard was the team's MVP in the midfield and Cygan earned the MVP honor on offense ... 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 ... the "Hustle" 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 ... the Leslie Dawley "Fighting Falcon" 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.
YEE NAMED TO ALL-MAC TEAM
Sophomore Corbie Yee was named to the 2006 All-Mid-American Conference Team ... Yee was selected to the second team ... a native of Berea, Ohio, Yee played in all 20 of BGSU's matches, making 16 starts ... the 2005 MAC Freshman of the Year, she finished third on the Falcons with seven points in '06, and tied for the team lead in goals, with three ... two of those goals proved to be game-winning markers, which also tied her for the BG lead.
BLAND EARNS ALL-ROOKIE HONORS ...
Freshman Samantha Bland was named to the Women's College Soccer All-Rookie Team by TopDrawerSoccer.com ... Bland was named to the third team by the soccer web site ... the only MAC player named to the team, Bland helped solidify a BGSU defensive corps that posted a school-record 10 shutouts in 2006 ... she saw action in 16 of BGSU's 20 matches, making 13 starts, and helped the Falcons set a school record for lowest goals-against average in MAC games (0.91).
... AS DOES KORDAN
Colleen Kordan also earned rookie honors in 2006 ... Kordan was named to the MAC's All-Freshman Team ... the All-MAC and all-freshman squads are the results of voting by the league's 12 head coaches ... Kordan, the latest in BGSU's uber-successful line of Strongsville, Ohio, products, anchored a Falcon defensive unit that set a school record with 10 shutouts ... the Falcons' primary free-kick taker, she had a pair of assists, including a game-winning helper off a last-minute free kick vs. Eastern Michigan (Oct. 22).
ZABEK NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-MAC TEAM
Sophomore Christy Zabek was named to the Academic All-MAC Team for 2006 ... Zabek, the Falcons' lone selection, earned the honor for the first time, in her first year of eligibility ... the Academic All-MAC Team is the result of voting by faculty athletic representatives at MAC institutions ... to qualify, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of the contests for that particular sport ... Zabek, a native of Hendersonville, Tenn., had a 3.67 cumulative GPA (at the time of the team announcement) as a marketing major ... a goalkeeper, Zabek saw action in 12 matches in 2006, making seven starts ... she finished the season with a BGSU school record-low goals against average of 0.67, and had a record of 5-2-0 ... in MAC play, Zabek had a GAA of only 0.48, with three goals allowed in 562 minutes ... she began her BGSU career with an overall 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.
LAST TIME OUT
Visiting Toledo got three second-half goals to post a 3-0 win over the Falcons in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament at Cochrane Field (Oct. 29) ... the Rockets, seeded fifth for the eight-team league tourney, scored all three goals within the first 20 minutes of the second half ... the loss ended the season for the fourth-seeded Falcons, and was BG's first MAC Tournament setback since 2003 ... all four road teams won in the quarterfinal round, meaning that UT hosted the tourney's semifinal and championship round after going on the road for the quarters ... 2006 marked the first time in MAC history that all four lower-seeded teams were victorious in the quarterfinals.
GOALS HARD TO COME BY, AT BOTH ENDS OF THE FIELD
BGSU struggled at times to score goals in 2006 ... at the other end of the field, however, the Brown and Orange surrendered a school record-low 26 goals in 20 games, for a goals-against average of 1.30 ... that GAA is the second lowest in school history ... in MAC action, the Brown and Orange gave up only 10 goals - also a school record low - in the 11 matches ... BG had a GAA of only 0.91 (another record) in MAC play ... the Falcon defensive corps posted a BG-record 10 shutouts in 2006.
THE 'P' WORD
Here's a note that speaks to the parity in the Mid-American Conference in 2006 ... in regular-season play, BGSU went a perfect 4-0-0 against the four schools that advanced to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament ... the Falcons outscored those opponents - Kent State, Miami, Northern Illinois and Toledo - by a combined 6-0 in those four contests ... those teams all went on the road and pulled quarterfinal-round upsets in the league tourney.
END OF AN IMPRESSIVE STREAK
The MAC Tournament loss to Toledo marked the first time in program history that the Falcons' season ended in the quarterfinal round ... BGSU now has an overall record of 5-1-1 in quarterfinal-round play.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 90-103-16 all-time, having completed the 10th season in program history;
• 47-51-11 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches through 2006;
• 32-27-4 overall and 25-12-4 vs. MAC schools over the last three seasons (including regular-season and tournament matches);
• 44-46-8 in home games;
• 38-48-4 in road contests;
• 40-46-7 in the month of October through the years;
• 19-7-1 in October contests since the start of the 2004 season;
• 9-5-3 in MAC Tournament matches;
• 5-1-1 in the quarterfinals of the league tourney; and
• 2-1-2 in MAC tourney games at Cochrane Field.
NEW FACES FOR 2007
The Falcons will welcome several new faces to the coaching staff for the 2007 season ... Scott Gloden was named assistant coach in May, coming to BGSU after three seasons as an assistant coach at Saint Francis (Pa.) ... Gloden, a native of Traverse City, Mich., is a 1998 graduate of the University of Michigan ... Britt Anderson, a former Falcon standout on the pitch, will be on the sidelines in '07 as a volunteer assistant ... Anderson was a senior on the 2005 BGSU team that won the MAC's regular-season and tournament titles ... she still ranks fifth in career scoring at the University, with 49 points.
THAT SOUNDS FAMILIAR...
Only twice in BGSU program history have the Falcons met the same opponent in back-to-back games ... both times, the opponent was arch-rival Toledo ... the first time came in 2005, as BG posted a one-goal win over Toledo in the final regular-season game, then faced the Rockets in the opening round of the MAC Tournament ... in the '05 league tourney, the teams battled to a scoreless draw before the Falcons advanced via penalty kicks ... again in 2006, the Brown and Orange posted a narrow one-goal win over the Rockets to end the regular season, setting up a quarterfinal-round match between the arch-rival schools at Cochrane Field ... this time, however, UT got three second-half goals to post a victory.
FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
In 2006, BGSU qualified for the MAC Tournament for the fifth consecutive season and the seventh time in the 10-year history of the program ... prior to the current five-year run, the Falcons had never made the tourney in back-to-back seasons ... the Falcons the 2004 and 2005 tournament champions, are now 2-1-2 all-time in league tourney home matches ... BGSU has a 5-1-1 record in the quarterfinal round through the years ... additional facts about BGSU's MAC Tournament history, as well as the Falcons' all-time game-by-game results, can be found in the pdf version of this release.
A FEW RANDOM NOTES ...
• As mentioned earlier, goals were hard to come by in the 2006 season ... in fact, goals were very few and far between in the first half of games down the stretch ... BGSU's final four matches of the season all went to halftime with 0-0 scores ... the final first-half goal of the season came from Corbie Yee in the Oct. 15 match vs. Buffalo ... BG did not allow a first-half goal after surrendering two in the Akron match the prior Sunday (Oct. 8) ... in fact, the Falcons played a total of 276:48 of first-half action without allowing a goal to end the season.
• Toledo's first goal in the MAC Tournament match marked the first time BGSU had allowed a goal in league tournament play since 2004 ... the Brown and Orange went a total of 513:58 without being scored upon on MAC Tournament action, since a Western Michigan goal early in the 2004 semifinal round (Nov, 5, 2004) ... after that Bronco goal, BGSU had scored seven unanswered goals before UT's win in '06.
• BGSU had not trailed in a MAC Tournament match for an even longer period of time ... prior to the '06 Toledo contest, the last time an opponent led the Falcons in a league tourney match had been way back in 2003 ... in that year's championship match (Nov. 9, 2003), the Falcons scored first against Western Michigan, but the host Broncos would rally back for a 4-1 win in Kalamazoo.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU ended the 2006 season with an overall record of 10-10-0, and the Falcons finished MAC regular-season play with a league mark of 7-4-0 ... BG finished in a tie for third place in the final conference standings ... the Falcons tied with Central Michigan, but CMU won the tiebreaker by virtue of a 3-1 victory in the teams' head-to-head meeting, giving BG the fourth seed for the tourney ... teams earn three points for a win and one for a tie, which meant absolutely nothing this year ... with Mother Nature forcing the cancellation of one regular-season game (the Toledo-at-Buffalo contest of Oct. 13) the final regular-season standings were determined by winning percentage, not total points ... had the point system been used, the Falcons would have finished third outright, as BG had 21 points to Central's 20 in the same number of games ... the 2006 Falcons set school record-lows for both goals scored (17) and goals allowed (26) in a season ... individually, junior Danielle Cygan led the Falcons in scoring, with 10 points, while sophomores Brianne Eisenhard and Corbie Yee had eight and seven points, respectively ... all three players had three goals, including two game-winning goals, to tie for the team lead in both categories ... freshman Stacey Lucas scored six points on the year, while classmate Faith Juillerat had four ... the BGSU defense posted a school-record 10 shutouts, with goalkeepers Christy Zabek and Tiffany Hansen garnering five complete-match shutouts each ... Hansen, a junior transfer in her first season with the Falcons, started 13 games on the year ... she was 5-8-0 with a goals-against average of 1.74 and 53 saves ... Zabek, a sophomore in 2006, made seven starts, inlcuding each of the last six games, and had a MAC-leading 0.67 GAA and 35 saves ... she finished with a record of 5-2-0 ... head coach Andy Richards returned 10 letterwinners, including just four starters, from the 2005 team that won the MAC's regular-season and tournament titles.
SOMETHING ALWAYS ON THE LINE WHEN FALCONS MEET ROCKETS
It seems as if something is always on the line when BGSU meets Toledo ... sure, the importance of getting a win over your arch-rival school always exists ... but, the last five games have had a great deal at stake ... in 2004, the Falcons and Rockets met in the final regular-season game, and BG and UT entered that match in a tie for ninth place ... with the winner earning a trip to the MAC Tournament, and the loser seeing the season come to an end, the Falcons picked up a 3-0 victory at Scott Park (Oct. 28, 2004) ... that win put BG into the league tourney as the eighth and final seed, and the Falcons proceeded to win three games and the tournament ... exactly one year later (Oct. 28, 2005), BG and UT again met at Scott Park to close the regular season ... this time, the Falcons needed a win to clinch the first regular-season title in school history ... BGSU got that victory, by the slimmest of margins, 3-2, as Falcon goalie Ali Shingler was forced to make a save in the final seconds of the match ... the teams met at Cochrane Field less than a week later (Nov. 1, 2005), in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament ... top-seeded BGSU and eighth-seeded UT battled through 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, before the Falcons advanced to the semifinal round via penalty kicks ... in the final regular-season game of 2006 (Oct. 26, 2006), with BGSU needing a win to clinch a home berth for the league tourney quarterfinals, the Falcons and Rockets again waged a scoreless battle into overtime ... this time, however, a Brianne Eisenhard goal gave the Falcons a 1-0 win in the second OT period ... three days later (Oct. 29, 2006), however, the Rockets returned to Cochrane Field and exacted some revenge with a 3-0 win in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals ... that UT win snapped a four-game series unbeaten streak for the Falcons.
HEAD COACH Andy Richards
Andy Richards wrapped up his seventh 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 ends the '06 season with an overall record of 71-69-12, including a MAC Tournament mark of 8-4-3 ... Richards guided the youthful Falcons to 10 overall wins and a tie for third place in the MAC standings in 2006 ... 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 ... he 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.
THAT WACKY BG-UT SERIES
In 12 series meetings between BGSU and Toledo through the years, the home team has won only twice ... the first such result came in the teams' first-ever meeting, in 1997 ... that game actually was held at the Glass Bowl ... the Falcons are 1-3-2 in home games vs. the Rockets - with five of the six games having gone to overtime - but BG is 5-1-0 all-time in road games vs. the Blue and Gold ... the Falcons lead the overall series by a 6-4-2 margin.
PRETTY GOOD FOR A TEAM WITH 12 NEWCOMERS
The Falcons' win over Toledo to end the regular season (Oct. 26) was BGSU's 10th victory of the year ... the Brown and Orange finished with a MAC record of 7-4-0, the second-best league winning percentage in program history ... BGSU's league finish, a third-place tie, was also the second best in the 10-year history of the Falcons ... only the 2005 team (9-2-0, first place in the final MAC standings) posted a better conference showing during the regular season.
FALCONS BREAK SHUTOUT MARK
BGSU's shutout vs. Toledo was the Falcons' 10th of the season ... that broke the school record of nine, set by the 2005 team ... the Falcons have 19 shutouts over the last 40 games after posting a total of 34 (4.25 per year) in the first eight seasons in program history.
A WINNING RECORD: TEAM PUTTING SOME STREAKS TOGETHER
At 7-4-0, the Falcons finished with a winning record in MAC play for just the third time in the 10-year history of the program ... after going 9-2-0 in league action in '05, the Falcons have posted back-to-back winning MAC records for the first time ever ... BGSU's only other winning MAC record came in 2002, when the Falcons finished at 7-4-1 ... the '06 Falcons finished among the top-four teams in the MAC standings for only the third time (fourth in 2002, first in 2005) in school history, and the second-straight year ... overall, the Falcons have now posted three consecutive seasons of double-digit wins for the first time in school annals ... BG has had back-to-back records of at least .500 for the first time ever.
