Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Western Michigan as MAC Tournament Begins Sunday
November 01, 2008 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 1, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team starts the 'second season' on Sunday (Nov. 2), as the MAC Tournament begins ... the Falcons, seeded fourth for the conference tourney, host fifth-seeded Western Michigan University in a 1:00 p.m. kickoff at Cochrane Field ... the winner of the BGSU-WMU match will advance to Friday's (Nov. 7) semifinal round ... the top-seeded team among today's four survivors will host the semifinals, as well as the championship game a week from Sunday (Nov. 9).
THE FALCONS AND THE MAC TOURNAMENT
The Falcons have had more than their share of success in the Mid-American Conference Tournament over the years ... here are a few Falcon facts in relation to the conference tourney ...
• The Falcons have qualified for the MAC Tournament for the ninth time overall, and the seventh consecutive season ... that is the second-longest current streak in the league, behind Ball State (eighth-straight tourney trip in `08) ... BG's seven-year run is by far the longest in school history.
• BGSU has a MAC Tournament record of 10-5-5.
• In 2007, the Falcons advanced to the MAC Tournament's championship match for the fifth time, the most trips for any school in league history.
• A testament to the Falcons' consistency in getting to the tournament, as well as BG's success once reaching the tourney, is the following stat ... BGSU has played a total of 20 matches in the MAC Tournament, the most of any league institution ... that works out to 2.5 games per tourney trip, a pretty good ratio considering it takes three games to win the tournament.
• BGSU has the second-most MAC Tournament wins of any team, behind only Miami (13) ... BG's .625 tourney winning pct. is the third-best among MAC schools, trailing only Northern Illinois (8-2-1, .773) and MU (13-4-1, .750).
• BG is 3-1-2 in league tournament home matches entering Sunday afternoon ... the Falcons are 6-1-1 in quarterfinal-round contests through the years.
• BGSU is 2-1-0 against Western Michigan in the conference tournament ... the teams have never met in Northwest Ohio in league tourney action ... BG downed WMU, 2-1, in the 2000 semifinals in Buffalo, N.Y. ... the Broncos picked up a 4-1 win in the `03 championship match in Kalamazoo ... the Falcons posted a 4-1 win of their own in the semifinal round in 2004 in Athens, Ohio ... the latter two matches represent the most goals BG has allowed and scored, respectively, in a MAC Tournament game.
• BGSU is looking to make it to the MAC Tournament's semifinal round for the eighth time, which would be the most of any team ... both the Falcons and Ohio have made seven trips ... OU did not qualify for the `08 tournament.
• All five of BGSU's MAC Tournament losses (to NIU in 1998, Miami in 2000 and 2002, WMU in 2003 and UT in `06) have come to the eventual champion.
• In 2007, UT advanced past BGSU via penalty kicks in the tourney's championship match ... that marked the first time in school history that the opponent had advanced past the Brown and Orange via that fashion ... the Brown and Orange have advanced four times via PKs, vs. Central Michigan in the 2003 semifinals, UT in the 2005 quarters, Kent State in the championship match in `05, and Ball State in the `07 semis.
• Head coach Andy Richards has a MAC Tournament record of 9-4-5, trailing only Miami coach Bobby Kramig (13 wins) on the MAC coaches' tournament victories list ... Richards has taken five teams to the tourney final, moving past Kramig (four) into sole possession of first place on that list.
