Bowling Green State University Athletics
Women's Soccer Falcons Head to Kentucky This Weekend
September 05, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 5, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after splitting a pair of matches to begin the 2007 season, takes to the road for two contests this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards will travel to Lexington, Ky., to take on the University of Kentucky Friday night (Sept. 7) ... kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at the UK Soccer Complex ... on Sunday (Sept. 9), the Brown and Orange will be in Murray, Ky., to face Murray State University ... that match is scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m. locally (1:00 p.m. Eastern) at Cutchin Field.
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THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 91-104-16 all-time, two matches into the 11th season in program history;
• 47-51-11 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches;
• 25-18-2 overall in the last two seasons (plus two games);
• 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;
• 45-46-8 in home games, including 15-7-2 at Cochrane Field in the last two-plus seasons (the '05 and '06 seasons mark BGSU's only two winning home records in history);
• 38-49-7 in road contests;
• 0-0-0 against both Kentucky and Murray State, as this weekend's opponents are two of the three first-time foes on the Falcons' 2007 schedule;
• 0-0-0 in matches played in the state of Kentucky, as this weekend marks the first time the Falcons have ever ventured to the Commonwealth;
• 0-1-0 in regular-season matches against schools from Kentucky, with the only prior contest coming in the program's first-ever home game, a 1-0 loss to Louisville on Aug. 31, 1997;
• 34-42-6 in the month of September through the years;
• 2-1-0 in matches played on Sept. 7 (with none of those three contests coming on the road); and
• 0-3-1 in contests on Sept. 9 (with only one of those games played on the road, a 1-0 loss at Michigan State in 2005).
LAST WEEKEND
The Falcons opened the season by splitting a pair of matches last weekend ... the Brown and Orange suffered a 4-0 road loss at the hands of nationally-ranked West Virginia Friday night (Aug. 31), before bouncing back with a 2-1 win over Eastern Illinois in Sunday's (Sept. 2) home opener ... sophomore Stacey Lucas scored both BGSU goals vs. the Panthers, giving the Falcons a 2-0 halftime lead ... freshman Meagan Moran assisted on the second marker ... junior Christy Zabek made five saves in goal in the complete-match win.
LIVE STATS ON THE WEB
Friday's Kentucky match will have live stats on the web, through the school's athletics web site, ukathletics.com ... all of BGSU's home games will have live stats via Gametracker ... for up-to-the-minute statistical information on matches at Cochrane Field throughout the season, log on to BGSUFalcons.com.
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 72-70-12, including a MAC Tournament mark of 8-4-3 ... 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 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.
GOALS BY BOTH TEAMS SOMEWHAT RARE
The Falcons' win over Eastern Illinois was BGSU's first non-shutout victory in over a year ... all 10 of the team's wins last year came via shutout, with Tiffany Hansen and Christy Zabek each earning five complete-game shutouts in 2006 ... the last time the Falcons had allowed a goal, yet still won the game, came on Oct. 28, 2005 ... on that afternoon, the Brown and Orange picked up a road win over arch-rival Toledo to clinch the 2005 MAC regular-season title.
LUCAS RECORDS FIRST CAREER TWO-GOAL GAME
Sophomore Stacey Lucas scored a pair of first-half goals in the Falcons' win over Eastern Illinois Sunday (Sept. 2) ... for Lucas, it marked the first multiple-goal game of her young career ... in fact, she matched her career goals total entering the contest ... the Huber Heights, Ohio, native had a total of six points on two goals and two assists last season.
MORE FALCON FIRSTS
In addition to Lucas, several other Falcons recorded firsts over the weekend ... on Friday (Aug. 31) at West Virginia, sophomore Carolyn Nesline and freshman Meagan Moran made their first collegiate starts ... Nesline is in her initial season at BGSU after playing the '06 campaign at Butler University ... four Falcon freshmen - Alicia Almond, Sarah Haferkamp, Katie Stephenson and Jackie Tamerlano - made their respective BGSU debuts in that match, coming off the bench ... on Sunday vs. EIU, Moran again was in the starting lineup, and recorded her first assist as a Falcon ... senior Rachael Ross made her first collegiate start in the EIU match.
THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Kentucky takes a 1-0-1 record into Wednesday's (Sept. 5) home opener vs. Evansville ... the Wildcats opened the season late weekend with a second-place finish at the Boilermaker Challenge Cup ... UK battled host Purdue to a scoreless tie before downing Loyola (Ill.) by a 1-0 count ... Laura Novikoff scored the Wildcats' goal, late in the second half, on Sunday ... Laura Baker recorded both shutouts in net, and was named the Defensive MVP of the tournament ... UK is ranked sixth in the Great Lakes Region by Soccer Buzz ... coach Warren Lipka welcomed back 18 letterwinners, including 10 starters, from last year's team that finished 14-7-3 overall and 6-3-2 in Southeastern Conference play ... UK won the SEC Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Championships a year ago ... the school's athletics web site is ukathletics.com.
Murray State brings a 1-1-0 record into Sunday's match vs. BGSU ... MSU dropped a 2-0 decision at Valparaiso to open the season, but bounced back with a 4-0 victory over Lipscomb in Sunday's home opener ... Rebecca Clay had two goals and an assist in that match ... Tara Isbell has played both contests in goal for the Racers ... head coach Beth Acreman returned 14 letterwinners, including eight starters, from last year's club that went 5-9-4 overall and 2-4-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference ... MSU's athletics web site is www.goracers.com.
The Falcons have never met Kentucky or Murray State in women's soccer.
TOUGH CROWD
The Falcons have perennially played a challenging non-conference schedule, and this season is no exception ... Andy Richards and Company play six of the eight non-league matches away from home this fall ... five of the eight opponents are currently ranked regionally, according to Soccer Buzz ... this week, West Virginia is rated fourth in the Mid-Atlantic Region and 18th in the country ... four Falcon non-conference opponents are ranked in this week's Great Lakes Region top 15 ... that list includes Kentucky (sixth), Purdue (eighth), Michigan State (11th) and Wright State (15th) ... the Falcons are one of two GL Region teams also receiving votes in this week's poll.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 1-1 on the young season, as mentioned, after a 4-0 loss at West Virginia and a 2-1 win over Eastern Illinois ... sophomore Stacey Lucas scored both BGSU goals, and is two-thirds of the way to matching her point total for all of last season ... freshman Meagan Moran picked up the assist on Lucas' second goal ... the Falcons return 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 ... the Brown and Orange advanced to the league tournament for the fifth consecutive year ... 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.
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 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.
LOOKING TO EXTEND SOME IMPRESSIVE STREAKS
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 ledger 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 11th season in 2007 ... through the first 10 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.
