Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Announces 2008 Women's Soccer Schedule
April 17, 2008 | Women's Soccer
April 17, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Bowling Green State University women's soccer head coach Andy Richards has announced the team's schedule for the 2008 season. The Falcons are slated to play a total of 20 regular-season matches, including three matches vs. NCAA Championships participants from a year ago.
The Falcons, who finished fourth in the Mid-American Conference standings a year ago, will play nine non-conference matches, including four inside the friendly confines of Cochrane Field, before beginning the arduous league schedule in late September. In all, the Brown and Orange will have a total of nine home matches on the season.
"I am pleased with this schedule," said Richards, who enters his ninth season at the BGSU helm. "We have some tough non-conference tests, which we hope will prepare us for the MAC portion of the schedule."
That schedule begins on August 22, the earliest starting date in program history. The Falcons will make trips to Cincinnati at both ends of the non-league slate. BG begins the season with a game vs. UC, and the final tuneup for MAC play will be a match at Xavier on Sept. 21.
Following the UC match, BGSU will play an August 29 game at Oakland, before opening the home portion of the schedule on August 31, facing Michigan State.
Road contests at IPFW (Sept. 5) and Ohio State (Sept. 7) begin the Falcons' September schedule, and BGSU then plays three-straight home games, against Tennessee Tech (Sept. 12), Marshall (Sept. 14) and Detroit (Sept. 19), before playing at XU.
"We are excited to have a pair of Big Ten Conference teams on the schedule," said Richards. "The opening game at Cincinnati will be a challenge for us right out of the gate, and Oakland is a very good team as well. Again this year, there are no easy games during the non-conference season."
The aforementioned trip to Xavier closes the non-conference schedule, but also begins a season-long five-game road swing. The Brown and Orange will begin MAC play with a weekend trip to face Northern Illinois (Sept. 26) and Western Michigan (Sept. 28).
BG faces Ohio on Friday, Oct. 3, and concludes the road swing with an Oct. 5 match at Akron.
The Falcons' first home game in MAC play comes on Oct. 10, when BG faces defending regular-season champion Ball State in a rematch of a 2007 league tournament semifinal match. The Falcons and Cardinals battled to a double-overtime tie, before BGSU advanced to the championship via penalty kicks.
The Ball State match begins a stretch of five home games in a seven-game span to close the regular season. After a home game vs. Miami (Oct. 12), the Falcons conclude the road portion of the schedule by playing at Central Michigan (Oct. 17) and Eastern Michigan (Oct. 19).
BG completes the regular season with three home games in less than a week. The Falcons will host Kent State (Oct. 24) and Buffalo (Oct. 26) before ending the season with an Oct. 30 game vs. arch-rival Toledo (Oct. 30). The Falcons and Rockets met in the MAC Tournament's championship game last November, battling to a 2-2 tie before the Rockets advanced to the NCAA Championships via the PK route.
The 2008 MAC Tournament will begin on Sunday, Nov. 2, with quarterfinal-round games at campus sites. The four survivors from that day's play will converge upon the site of the highest-remaining seed for the semifinals on Nov. 7 and the championship on Nov. 9. The MAC Tournament winner earns the conferences' automatic bid to the NCAAs.
"The start to our MAC season will be a difficult one, as we go on the road for two consecutive weekends," said Richards. "We have played well on the road in the past, though, and we should have a nice blend of exuberant youth and sage experience on our team this fall.
"We hope that those factors, plus the lessons we learn during preseason and the non-conference schedule, will help us when the MAC season begins.
"With five of the last seven games at home, we hope to put ourselves in a position where those games are meaningful. We would like to have a chance for a good, strong finish to propel us into postseason play, and maybe even to lead into one or more additional home games."
The Falcons finished 10-9-3 in 2007, posting a 6-5-0 MAC record to place fourth in the regular-season standings. Richards and Company advanced all the way to the championship game of the league tournament for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
Richards and his staff lose the services of four talented seniors off of the 2007 squad, but will have 18 returning letterwinners, plus a host of newcomers
The complete 2008 schedule follows, with teams' 2007 records and series information listed as well ...
2008 BGSU WOMEN'S SOCCER SCHEDULE
August
Fri., 22 - at Cincinnati (6-10-2, 3-7-1 Big East) - Series tied, 1-1-0
Fri., 29 - at Oakland * (10-8-2, 6-2 Summit) - OU leads, 2-0-0
Sun., 31 - MICHIGAN STATE (7-10-2, 1-8-1 Big Ten) - MSU leads, 9-1-2
September
Fri., 5 - at IPFW (1-16-0, 1-7-0 Summit) - First meeting
Sun., 7 - at Ohio State * (12-10-1, 5-5-0 Big Ten) - OSU leads, 4-1-0
Fri., 12 - TENNESSEE TECH (4-10-4, 2-5-2 OVC) - First meeting
Sun., 14 - MARSHALL (4-13-1, 1-7-1 C-USA) - BGSU leads, 4-1-2
Fri., 19 - DETROIT (4-11-4, 2-3-3 Horizon) - UDM leads, 4-1-0
Sun., 21 - at Xavier (4-14-1, 3-7-1 Atlantic 10) - BGSU leads, 1-0-0
Fri., 26 - at Northern Illinois (10-5-5, 6-3-2 MAC) - Series tied, 6-6-0
Sun., 28 - at Western Michigan (4-11-3, 2-7-2 MAC) - WMU leads, 8-5-1
October
Fri., 3 - at Ohio (5-11-3, 5-5-1 MAC) - OU leads, 8-2-1
Sun., 5 - at Akron (6-7-6, 1-6-4 MAC) - BGSU leads, 6-1-0
Fri., 10 - BALL STATE (13-5-2, 9-1-1 MAC) - BSU leads, 6-2-2
Sun., 12 - MIAMI (6-10-3, 4-6-1 MAC) - MU leads, 8-6-0
Fri., 17 - at Central Michigan (8-10-0, 4-7-0 MAC) - Series tied, 5-5-2
Sun., 19 - at Eastern Michigan (7-8-4, 5-4-2 MAC) - Series tied, 7-7-1
Fri., 24 - KENT STATE (7-11-1, 5-6-0 MAC) - BGSU leads, 8-3-3
Sun., 26 - BUFFALO (7-10-2, 4-6-1 MAC) - BGSU leads, 7-4-1
Thu., 30 - TOLEDO * (14-6-3, 8-3-0 MAC) - BGSU leads, 7-4-3
November
Sun., 2 - MAC Tournament Quarterfinals (campus sites)
Fri., 7 - MAC Tournament Semifinals (site of highest-remaining seed)
Sun., 9 - MAC Tournament Championship (semifinal site)
HOME matches held at Cochrane Field
* 2007 NCAA Championships participant
