Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Open 2007 Season This Weekend
August 28, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 28, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after finishing the 2006 season with an overall record of 10-10-0, begins the 2007 campaign with a pair of matches this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards will begin the 11th season in program history with Friday night's (Aug. 31) match at nationally-ranked West Virginia University ... starting time for that match is set for 7:00 p.m. at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium in Morgantown, W.Va. ... on Sunday (Sept. 2), the Brown and Orange will open the home portion of the regular-season schedule with a match vs. Eastern Illinois University ... kickoff for that contest is scheduled for noon at BGSU's Cochrane Field.
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LIVE STATS ON THE WEB
Sunday's Eastern Illinois match will have live stats on the web via Gametracker ... for up-to-the-minute statistical information on the EIU match, and on all of the Falcons' home games throughout the season, log on to BGSUFalcons.com.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 90-103-16 all-time, entering the 11th season in program history;
• 47-51-11 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches;
• 24-17-2 overall in the last two seasons;
• 25-12-4 vs. MAC schools over the last three seasons (including regular-season and tournament matches), and 17-7-2 vs. conference foes in the last two years;
• 44-46-8 in home games, including 14-7-2 at Cochrane Field in the last two seasons (the only two winning home records in school history);
• 38-48-7 in road contests;
• 7-8-0 in the month of August through the years;
• 6-4-0 in the opening match of the season;
• 5-5-0 in the first road match of the season;
• 3-1-0 when opening the regular season on the road;
• 5-5-0 in home openers throughout the program's first decade;
• 1-2-0 in games played on Aug. 31 (including a 1-1 mark in road games); and
• 1-0-1 in Sept. 2 matches, with neither contest played at Cochrane Field.
FALCONS PICKED SECOND
The Falcons have been picked to finish second in the MAC in 2007, according to the preseason coaches poll released in mid-August ... the second-place prediction is the highest spot ever forecasted for the Brown and Orange in school history ... BGSU was picked for third in last year's preseason poll, and wound up in a tie for third ... Ball State was the coaches' choice to win the MAC regular-season and tournament titles in 2007 ... the complete poll ...
2007 MAC PRESEASON POLL:
1 - Ball State 7 - Central Michigan 2 - Bowling Green T8 - Eastern Michigan 3 - Ohio T8 - Toledo 4 - Miami 10 - Buffalo 5 - Kent State 11 - Akron 6 - Northern Illinois 12 - Western Michigan PREDICTED MAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPION: Ball State
HEAD COACH Andy Richards
Andy Richards begins 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 enters the '07 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 ... Richards 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.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU returns 17 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 ... the Brown and Orange advanced to the league tournament for the fifth consecutive year ... the returning Falcons combined for no less than 100 percent of the team's goals scored, nearly 71% of the total assists and over 90% of the overall points amassed by last season's club ... additionally, the two goalkeepers that combined to play every second of every match in goal both return ... senior Danielle Cygan is the top returning scorer, having scored 10 points last season, while juniors 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 ... Tiffany Hansen, a senior in 2007, had a 5-8-0 record and a 1.74 goals-against average a year ago, while junior Christy Zabek had a 5-2-0 mark and a MAC-leading 0.67 GAA.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons battled Morehead State to a 1-1 tie in BGSU's lone exhibition match of the 2007 preseason ... MSU got on the board first, scoring on a deflected shot in the 16th minute, but BG freshman Katie Stephenson's header tied the score early in the second half ... senior Danielle Cygan and freshman Jackie Tamerlano drew assists on Stephenson's goal ... head coach Andy Richards used a total of 22 different players, including all three goalkeepers, in the 90-minute match.
THE 2007 CAPTAINS
Seniors Danielle Cygan, Tiffany Hansen, Rachael Ross and Tiernay Tilford are the captains of the 2007 Falcons ... Hansen started 13 matches for the Falcons last fall, in her first season after transferring from Louisville ... Cygan led the Falcons in scoring a year ago, with 10 points ... Cygan, Ross and Tilford all were freshmen on the 2004 Falcon team that won the MAC Tournament title, BGSU's first conference crown in program history ... the three were sophomores on the '05 team that won the MAC's regular-season and tournament titles, and returned to the NCAA for the second-straight season.
THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
West Virginia enters the 2007 season in the national rankings ... the Mountaineers, preseason favorites to win the Big East Conference's American Division title, are ranked 18th in the nation by Soccer Buzz and 21st in the National Soccer Coaches of America (NSCAA)/adidas poll ... coach Nikki Izzo-Brown returns 13 letterwinners, including nine starters, from last year's team that finished 14-4-3 overall and 8-2-1 in league play ... WVU has advanced to the NCAA Championships in each of the last seven seasons.
Eastern Illinois was predicted to finish fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference this season, according to the league's coaches poll ... the Panthers return a total of 16 letterwinners, including 10 starters, from last year's team that finished with an overall record of 8-7-5 and an OVC record of 4-1-4 ... head coach Tim Nowak's team will play at Eastern Michigan Friday (Aug. 31) before coming to BGSU for Sunday's match.
The Falcons trail West Virginia, 2-0-0, in the all-time series between the teams, but the teams have not met since Andy Richards assumed the BG helm ... the meetings came in the first two seasons that BGSU fielded a program ... WVU posted a 4-0 win in Morgantown in 1997 and a 6-0 victory at Cochrane Field in 1998.
The Falcons and Eastern Illinois are tied, 2-2-1, in that series, but BGSU has won each of the last two meetings ... BG captured a 2-1 overtime victory at Cochrane two years ago (Sept. 11, 2005) and a 2-0 road win last season (Sept. 10, 2006) ... BGSU is 1-1 in home games vs. EIU, as the Panthers took a 4-2 decision in the 2003 meeting (Sept. 5, 2003) ... the teams are meeting for the sixth-straight September.
THE BGSU-WEST VIRGINIA SERIES (WVU leads, 2-0-0) Oct. 1, 1997 A L 0-4 Sept. 9, 1998 H L 0-6LOOKING TO EXTEND SOME IMPRESSIVE STREAKSTHE BGSU-EASTERN ILLINOIS SERIES (Tied, 2-2-1) Sept. 8, 2002 A T 1-1 (2OT) Sept. 5, 2003 H L 2-4 Sept. 5, 2004 A L 0-2 Sept. 11, 2005 H W 2-1 (OT) Sept. 10, 2006 A W 2-0
BGSU is looking to extend several streaks in 2007 ... last year, 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 2005 and 7-4-0 in '06, 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 (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.
THOSE WHO STAY PLAY FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The BGSU women's soccer program is in its 10th season in 2006 ... through the first nine 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.
