Women's Soccer Falcons Face League-Leading Central Michigan Friday

The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, after picking up a win and a tie last weekend, remains alive in the battle for a Mid-American Conference Tournament berth ... but, for the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards, a number of difficult opponents stand in their way ... the Brown and Orange will head north this weekend to face league-leading Central Michigan University in Friday (Oct. 23) action ... kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the CMU Soccer Complex ... then, BGSU will square off with Eastern Michigan University on Sunday (Oct. 25) afternoon, with kickoff at 1:00 p.m. at EMU's Scicluna Field ... following this weekend's play, the Falcons will have just one regular-season match remaining, on the road against the arch-rival University of Toledo.

STUFF TO CLICK
BGSU NOTES & STATS (PDF) | MAC NOTES & STATS (PDF)
Central Michigan women's soccer home page
Eastern Michigan women's soccer home page
Live Stats Link for BGSU-CMU | CMU Live Blog for Friday's match
Live Stats Link for BGSU-EMU (link will be active on Sunday morning)

ROUGH ROAD AHEAD
The Falcons have a difficult road ahead in the team's quest to earn a MAC Tournament berth ... BGSU has three regular-season matches remaining ... all are on the road, against the teams currently sitting in the top three spots in the conference standings ... Friday's opponent, Central Michigan, currently leads the league, while Sunday's foe, Eastern Michigan, is in third place ... then, next week, the Falcons end the regular season against second-place Toledo ... those three teams currently have a combined conference record of 17-3-4.

LAST WEEKEND
Two shutouts helped the Falcons earn four points in the final regular-season games at Cochrane Field ... on Friday (Oct. 16), BGSU battled Kent State to a 0-0, double-overtime draw ... redshirt junior Alexa Arsenault made eight saves and was aided by a pair of 'team saves' as the Falcon defense earned the shutout ... then, on Sunday (Oct. 18), freshman Keely Chandler's goal just 5:36 into the match held up as the winner in a 1-0 BG victory over Buffalo ... sophomore Megan Amann assisted on the goal, as Chandler knocked home her corner kick ... Arsenault made four stops to earn her second shutout of the weekend ... speaking of Arsenault ...

ARSENAULT NAMED MAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Redshirt junior Alexa Arsenault was named the MAC's Defensive Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday (Oct. 19) ... she earned a league weekly honor for the second time this season and the third time in her Falcon career ... a native of Richmond Hill, Ontario (St. Theresa of Lisieux), Arsenault had a total of 12 saves and a GAA of 0.00 last weekend, helping the Falcon defense post a pair of shutouts ... Arsenault now has three complete-game shutouts this season, and has increased her school-record career total to 20 ... she was named the MAC's Defensive Player of the Week, as the conference office increased the number of weekly women's soccer honorees from one to two players the previous Monday (Oct. 12).

THE FALCONS AND THE MAC TOURNAMENT
BGSU picked up four points last weekend, with a win and a tie, to stay alive in the race for a MAC Tournament spot ... teams earn three points for a win and one point for a tie, and the top-eight teams in the final regular-season standings will earn spots in the league tournament ... with three games remaining, the Falcons are two points out of eighth place, but there are several teams between BG and that spot ... Western Michigan currently holds down eighth place with a total of eight points ... Buffalo is ninth with seven points, while the Falcons and Ball State are tied for 10th place with six points apiece ... in the event of a two-team tie with any of the aforementioned schools, BGSU would win the tiebreaker with UB, but would lose a tiebreaker with WMU or BSU, by virture of head-to-head results.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU has an overall record of 5-9-3, including a mark of 1-4-3 in MAC play, entering Friday's Central Michigan game ... the Falcons went 4-2-2 in home games, and BG is 1-6-1 in road contests and 0-1-0 in neutral-site matches to date ... the Brown and Orange battled Kent State to a 0-0, double-overtime tie on Friday (Oct. 16), before snapping a nine-match winless streak with a 1-0 win over Buffalo on Sunday (Oct. 18) ... the Falcons have scored 16 goals and allowed 24 this year to date ... BG's top-three scorers, and four of the top six, come from the sophomore class ... soph Megan Amann leads the team with nine points, while classmate Katelyn Turner has eight ... another sophomore, Alyssa Zuccaro, has seven points on the year, while freshman Keely Chandler and senior Colleen Kordan each have six ... soph Leah Johnson has five points this season to date ... Chandler and Turner share the team lead in goals, with three apiece, while Amann, Kordan and Zuccaro each have two ... Amann has five assists to pace the Falcons in that department, while Johnson and Zuccaro have three assists apiece ... four different Falcons – Johnson, Zuccaro, senior Samantha Bland and junior Alicia Almond – have started all 17 games ... Johnson leads the team in minutes played with 1531, while Almond has played 1458 and Bland 1450 ... in goal, redshirt junior Alexa Arsenault has started 15 matches, and has a team-high 70 saves and a goals-against average of 1.22 ... redshirt freshman Becca Ison has a GAA of 1.13, in nearly 159 minutes of work ... true freshman Laura Arnold has played 180 minutes, and has a 2.50 GAA.

FALCON COACH ANDY RICHARDS
BGSU head coach Andy Richards, in his 10th season at the helm, has proven himself to be one of the most successful mentors in MAC women's soccer history ... he has guided the Falcons to an overall record of 98-93-22, and a record of 53-46-12 in MAC regular-season play ... BGSU is 10-5-5 in MAC Tournament matches during his tenure, and no coach has as many trips to the league tourney title game as Richards (five) ... two of those appearances – in 2004 and 2005 – resulted in MAC Tournament titles and trips to the NCAA Championships ... Richards and the Falcons also won the '05 regular-season crown ... BGSU reached an agreement with Richards on a two-year contract extension in May of 2008 ... his contract now runs through June 30, 2011 ... Richards had inked a three-year contract in February of 2006, marking the first time in school history that a soccer coach had received a multi-year contract.

SENIOR DAY SUCCESS
Sunday's Buffalo match was 'Senior Day' at Cochrane Field, with the team's six seniors recognized in pre-game ceremonies ... that senior class included Samantha Bland, Jen Czapka, Kaitlyn Kobe, Colleen Kordan, Stacey Lucas and Carolyn Nesline ... the Falcons have won five-straight 'Senior Day' matches, all by shutout, and BG is undefeated (5-0-1) in the last six such contests at Cochrane ... BG's last 'Senior Day' loss came to nationally-ranked Ohio State, 3-2 in OT, in 2003.

THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 117-127-26 in the history of the program, which began in 1997;
• 51-41-12 overall in the last four-plus seasons;
• 60-63-16 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches;
• 40-25-11 vs. MAC schools over the last five-plus seasons (including regular-season & tourney matches), and 32-20-9 vs. league foes in the last four-plus years;
• 61-53-11 at home, and 31-14-5 at Cochrane Field in the last five seasons;
• 12-3-3 at Cochrane since the start of the '08 season;
• 48-64-13 in road contests in program history;
• 8-10-2 all-time in neutral-site matches;
• 50-55-11 in the month of October through the years;
• 28-16-5 in October matches in the last four-plus seasons;
• 1-0-0 in games played on Oct. 23 in the history of the program, with the lone match on that date a 2-1 victory at Eastern Michigan in the 2005 season;
• 1-0-0 in Oct. 25 matches over the years as well, as the 2002 team exploded for a 7-0 home win over Western Michigan;
• 47-1-2 in the last 50 games when scoring first (17-0-1 since the start of last season); and
• 0-15-3 since the start of 2008 in matches in which the opponent scored first.

THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Central Michigan will enter Friday's BGSU match with an overall record of 13-3-0, and the Chippewas are looking to become the first team in MAC history to finish with an undefeated league mark ... CMU is 8-0-0 in MAC play ... Central has won 11-straight games, all by shutout, which is the NCAA's longest shutout streak in more than a decade ... it is the fifth longest shutout streak in NCAA history ... the Chippewas need just one more win to clinch the first MAC title in school history ... CMU's only losses all came on the road to Big Ten teams – Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State ... Central is 8-0-0 at home, having outscored opponents by a 16-0 margin at the CMU Soccer Complex ... last weekend, CMU won two 1-0 games on the road, downing Northern Illinois in overtime and Western Michigan in regulation ... individually, Laura Twidle leads the team with seven goals and 16 points ... Molly Gerst and Chelsi Abbott have 10 points apiece, with Gerst having scored five goals and Abbott four ... in goal, Shay Mannino has played in all 16 games ... she has 11 complete-match shutouts, 36 saves and a GAA of just 0.54 ... Tom Anagnost, after serving as CMU's interim head coach for the final 13 games of the 2008 season, is in his first year as the full-time head coach ... the Chippewas went 12-5-3 overall and 6-2-3 in MAC action a year ago ... 10 letterwinners, including eight starters, returned from that club ... the school's athletics web site is www.cmuchippewas.com.

The Falcons trail Central Michigan, 6-5-2, in the all-time series between the teams ... the Chippewas have won the last two meetings, including a 2-0 victory in Mt. Pleasant last Oct. 17 ... in that game, the Chippewas snapped BGSU's school-record shutout streak at over 606 minutes ... two years ago, CMU picked up a 2-1 win in double-OT at Cochrane Field (Oct. 5, 2007) ... Meagan Moran scored BG's goal that day ... the Falcons are 3-2-0 in road games in the series ... in fact, the home team has won only three times in series history.
THE BGSU-CENTRAL MICHIGAN SERIES
(CMU leads, 6-5-2)
Oct. 1, 1998 --- H --- W 4-3
Oct. 17, 1999 -- H --- L 1-2
Sept. 15, 2000 - A --- W 3-1

Oct. 14, 2001 -- H --- L 1-4
Oct. 11, 2002 -- A --- W 2-0
Sept. 12, 2003 – H --- T 2-2 (2-OT)
Nov. 7, 2003 -- N%# -- T 0-0 (2-OT)
Sept. 24, 2004 – A --- L 0-1
Nov. 7, 2004 --- N^ -- W 2-0
Oct. 21, 2005 –- A --- W 2-1
Oct. 20, 2006 –- H --- L 1-3
Oct. 5, 2007 --- H --- L 1-2 (2-OT)
Oct. 17, 2008 -– A --- L 0-2
% MAC Tournament Semifinal (Kalamazoo, Mich.)
# BGSU advanced, 4-3, on PKs
^ MAC Tournament Championship (Athens, Ohio)

Eastern Michigan will take a record of 8-3-5 into a Friday home match vs. Toledo, before hosting BGSU two days later ... the Eagles are 4-1-3 in MAC play, good for third place, and EMU is riding a three-game unbeaten streak ... last weekend, the Eagles battled host Western Michigan to a scoreless tie before picking up a last-minute win at Northern Illinois, 2-1 ... the Eagles have a home record of 5-2-1 this season, including a 3-1-0 mark in MAC home games to date ... Ashley Rodrigues leads the team in scoring ... she has seven goals and 15 points heading into the weekend ... Chelsea Detrick has nine points, including four goals, while Carissa Wilson and Paige Sheridan have eight points apiece ... in goal, Maggie Manville and Monique Budani each have played in eight matches ... Manville has five shutouts, 47 saves and a GAA of just 0.45 ... Budani has three shutouts, 55 stops and a GAA of 0.95 ... Scott Hall is in his 11th season as the Eagles' head coach ... he welcomed back 16 letterwinners, including eight starters, from the '08 team that went 13-5-5 overall and 6-2-3 in the MAC ... the school's athletics web site is www.emueagles.com.

The Falcons trail Eastern Michigan, 8-7-1, in that series ... in another series dominated by the visiting team, BGSU has won three of the last five meetings ... but, the Eagles picked up a 2-0 win in Ypsilanti last year ... the home side has won only six times in 16 meetings ... the Falcons are 4-4-1 in road matches vs. the Eagles.
THE BGSU-EASTERN MICHIGAN SERIES
(EMU leads, 8-7-1)

Sept. 28, 1997 – A --- L 0-1
Sept. 20, 1998 – A --- L 2-5
Nov. 3, 1998 --- A# -- W 1-0
Oct. 15, 1999 –- H --- L 2-4
Sept. 24, 2000 - A --- W 1-0 (2-OT)
Oct. 31, 2000 -- A# -- W 2-1
Oct. 12, 2001 -- H --- L 0-3
Oct. 13, 2002 –- A --- T 2-2 (2-OT)
Sept. 7, 2003 -- H --- L 0-1
Nov. 4, 2003 --- A# -- W 2-1
Sept. 26, 2004 - A --- L 2-3
Oct. 23, 2005 -- A --- W 2-1
Oct. 22, 2006 –- H --- W 1-0
Oct. 7, 2007 --- H --- L 0-2
Nov. 4, 2007 --- H# -- W 2-1 (OT)
Oct. 19, 2008 –- A --- L 0-2
# MAC Tournament Quarterfinal

FALCON NOTES
• Freshman Keely Chandler's goal on Sunday was her second game-winning goal of the year, tying her for the BGSU lead in that category ... sophomore Megan Amann also has a pair of GWG this year to date.

• Amann's assist on Chandler's goal increased her team-leading total to five this year ... Amann, just a sophomore, is the Falcons' active career leader in assists, with 13 ... in fact, she is tied for ninth in BGSU history ... her assist on Sunday moved her into a tie with Corbie Yee (2005-08) on that list.

• BGSU's total of 15 corner kicks on Sunday represented a season high, and was just two shy of the school record ... the Falcons had 17 CKs against Western Illinois 11 years ago (Sept. 5, 1998), then matched that total against Ohio six years later (Sept. 17, 2004).

• For redshirt Alexa Arsenault, Sunday's match vs. Buffalo marked her third complete-game shutout of the season, and the 20th of her career ... she extended her own BGSU career record in that category.

• The Falcons have posted six consecutive shutouts vs. Kent State ... BGSU has not surrendered a goal against the Flashes in the last 656:42 ... KSU's last goal from scrimmage vs. the Falcons came on Nov. 2, 2004, late in the first half of a MAC Tournament quarterfinal match in Kent.

• Arsenault has been in between the posts for the last three matches vs. the Flashes, and now has gone 290 minutes without allowing a goal in the series.

• Arsenault lowered her career goals-against average to 0.87 ... she has allowed a total of 44 goals in exactly 4552 minutes in her BGSU tenure.

WORKING OVERTIME
The tie vs. KSU Friday (Oct. 16) gives the Falcons an all-time record of 18-14-26 in overtime matches ... BGSU is now 9-11-11 all-time in OT games played at Cochrane Field ... a few other Falcon overtime facts ...

• Believe it or not, the Falcons have a record of 7-1-13 in OT matches on the road ... BGSU is 2-2-2 all-time in neutral-site OT affairs.

• BGSU is now unbeaten in the last 13 OT matches, having gone 4-0-9 in that stretch ... the team's last OT loss was the Falcons' only road OT setback, at Ball State on Oct. 19, 2007.

• BG went nearly four years without an overtime loss, going 5-0-5 in that time ... after an OT setback vs. Ohio State on Halloween of 2003, the Falcons did not allow a 'Golden Goal' until Sept. 14, 2007, vs. Wright State.

• Beginning with that WSU game, the Falcons were winless in four consecutive OT matches (0-3-1), before a win at Miami (Oct. 21, 2007) began the current 13-match unbeaten streak.

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