Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MICHIGAN STATE
Spartans top Falcons, 3-0, in Cochrane Field Opener
August 31, 2008 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 31, 2008
Final Stats
BGSU-MSU Boxscore in PDF Format 
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Lauren Hill scored the game's first two goals as visiting Michigan State University picked up a 3-0 win over the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team Sunday afternoon (Aug. 31). The non-conference match was held at BGSU's Cochrane Field.
With the win, the Spartans improve to a perfect 3-0-0 on the year, while dropping the Falcons to 0-2-1.
MSU held a 16-3 advantage in shot attempts, with an 11-1 margin in shots on goal. Falcon redshirt sophomore Alexa Arsenault made seven saves in 71-plus minutes in net, while senior Christy Zabek had one save in 18-and-a-half minutes of shutout relief.
Neither team had a shot attempt for almost the first 15 minutes of the match. With almost 11 minutes gone, BG freshman Leah Johnson played a right-side cross to sophomore Jackie Tamerlano. Tamerlano was able to get a foot on the ball, but was not able to redirect it on goal.
The first shot of the day came off of a Spartan corner kick. Freeman got her head on the ball, but it went right to Arsenault, who made her first save of the day.
Arsenault stopped a point-blank shot by Laura Heyboer, the first of three such saves she would make on the MSU striker, several minutes later. But, the Spartans would score in the 21st minute.
A pass by Heyboer sent Hill down the left side, and the Spartan forward deked a defender and neatly slid her shot just inside the far post.
Arguably the Falcons' best scoring chance of the first half came when freshman Alyssa Zuccaro took the ball into the penalty area with several MSU defenders on her. Zuccaro went down as the Spartan defense was able to clear the ball out of danger.
Spartan goalkeeper Lindsey Wrege was able to grab a crossing ball by junior Stacey Lucas with seven minutes left in the half. The Spartans took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
MSU doubled that lead early in the second half. Katelin Chaklos' cross from the left side found Hill in the center of the box. Hill's one-timer blooped into the far right netting, for her second two-goal game in as many outings.
Minutes later, sophomore Katie Stephenson's corner kick found the head of junior Colleen Kordan. Kordan struck the ball hard, but the shot sailed high.
The Spartans had several flurried over the next 15 minutes. Twice, Hayboer was the recipient of forward balls that found her all alone behind the BGSU defense. Both times, she approached the right post with only Arsenault between her and the net. And, both times, the BG 'keeper was equal to the task.
The first such point-blank try saw Arsenault cut down the angle and block the shot out of play for a corner kick. Moments later, Arsenault made another one-on-one save.
However, the Spartans would get a third goal. From the right side of the 18-yard box, Hayboer slid a ball to a charging Freeman, who drilled a shot into the lower left-hand corner of the gotl.
The Falcons threatened to spoil the Spartans' shutout bid with under two minutes left. Off of a corner kick by junior Kaitlyn Kobe, the ball deflected to freshman Katelyn Turner. Turner, in traffic, was unable to get a shot off, but the ball caromed to junior Samantha Bland. Bland fired a shot that got past MSU backup goalie Danielle Petri, but a Spartan defender was able to clear the ball off the goal line and preserve the shutout.
Wrege played nearly 80 minutes to pick up the win for MSU, while Petri saw 10:38 of action between the posts.
The Falcons will return to the road next weekend, with a Friday (Sept. 5) match at IPFW. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
