Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Announces 2009 Women's Soccer Schedule
April 03, 2009 | Women's Soccer
April 3, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Bowling Green State University women's soccer head coach Andy Richards has announced the team's schedule for the 2009 season. The Falcons are slated to play a total of 20 regular-season games, including a pair against Big Ten Conference foes.
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 eight home matches on the season.
"I am excited about our 2009 schedule," said Richards, who enters his 10th season at the BGSU helm. "We have some tough non-conference tests within the region, including a pair of road games against Big Ten Conference opponents, and we also have a trip to California which will enable us to see how we match up against teams outside our region.
"As always, we hope our non-conference schedule will prepare us for the MAC regular season, which in turn will prepare us for the MAC Tournament."
The schedule begins on Friday, August 28, when the Falcons host Indiana State. That game will be the Falcons' first-ever matchup against a team coached by a BGSU women's soccer alumna. Erika (Flanders) True, one of the top goalkeepers in program history, begins her first season with the Sycamores. The game at Cochrane Field will mark her first-ever regular-season game as a collegiate head coach.
"It will be exciting to face Erika's team in the season opener," said Richards. "Erika was one of the finest players we have ever had, and has been working her way up the coaching ranks since her graduation from BGSU."
After the ISU game, the Falcons will hit the road for the next two contests, heading to the state of Michigan. BGSU will face Michigan State on August 30, before meeting Detroit in the Motor City the following weekend (Sept. 4). The MSU game continues BGSU's longest-running non-conference series. The Falcons have met the Spartans more than any non-MAC foe, with regular-season meetings in each of BGSU's first 12 years as a program, plus a matchup in the 2005 NCAA Championships.
The Falcons return home for a three-match homestand, welcoming IPFW (Sept. 6), St. Bonaventure (Sept. 11) and Youngstown State to Cochrane Field. The YSU game will be BG's last home action for nearly a month, as the team then plays seven consecutive contests on the road.
That lengthy stretch begins with a Tuesday (Sept. 15) trip to Ohio State. The Falcons battled the Buckeyes to a 1-1 tie in Columbus last season.
Then, the Brown and Orange will head to California for a pair of games to close the non-conference portion of the schedule. BGSU will meet two Big West Conference teams, facing UC Riverside (Sept. 18) and UC Irvine (Sept. 20). Those are two of three first-time opponents on the Falcons' schedule, with Indiana State being the third.
BGSU's conference schedule sees the team play just four of the 11 games inside the friendly confines of Cochrane Field.
For the fifth consecutive season, the Falcons' MAC schedule begins with games vs. Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. The Brown and Orange will head to the league's `West Coast' for a Sept. 25 game vs. the Huskies, then will face the Broncos two days later (Sept. 27).
The Falcons remain on the road for one more weekend, beginning October with trips to Ball State (Oct. 2) and Miami (Oct. 4). Finally, BGSU returns to Northwest Ohio for a season-long four-game homestand. Ohio (Oct. 9), Akron (Oct. 11), Kent State (Oct. 16) and Buffalo (Oct. 18) all will pay visits to Cochrane Field during that time, with the UB game serving as `Senior Day' for the Falcons' large class of fourth-year team members.
BGSU then returns to the road for three tough tests to close the regular-season schedule. The Falcons will head north to face Central Michigan (Oct. 23) and Eastern Michigan (Oct. 25), before closing the regular-season schedule by facing Toledo (Oct. 29). The arch rivals meet in the regular-season finale for the fifth consecutive year.
BG and UT have met no fewer than 16 times during the Falcons' first 12 years as a program. The teams have played eight times over the last four seasons, having met in the MAC Tournament in each of those years. The home team has won only three times in the 16 games.
The 2009 MAC Tournament will begin on Sunday, Nov. 1, 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. 6 and the championship game on Nov. 8. The MAC Tournament winner earns the conference's 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 for the second-straight year," said Richards. "We have played well on the road in past years, and we hope that our past experiences, as well as our tough non-league road tests in 2009, will help us during the MAC portion of the schedule.
"With only four home games during the grueling conference season, we hope that we are playing well enough by early October to have some success during that stretch, hopefully putting us in position to host one or more additional games in November."
The Falcons finished 12-6-4 in 2008, setting a school record for fewest losses in a season. The team's total of 12 wins tied for second on the BGSU list, and the Falcons' .636 winning percentage is the second highest in the 12-year history of the program. A total of 22 players on last season's 28-woman roster are slated to return in 2009.
The complete 2009 schedule follows, with teams' 2008 records and series information listed as well ...
2009 BGSU WOMEN'S SOCCER SCHEDULE
August
Fri., 28 - INDIANA STATE (5-15-0, 1-5 Missouri Valley) - First meeting
Sun., 30 - at Michigan State (14-7-3, 5-4-1 Big Ten) - MSU leads, 10-1-2
September
Fri., 4 - at Detroit (8-9-1, 4-4-0 Horizon) - UDM leads, 4-2-0
Sun., 6 - IPFW (0-18-1, 0-8-1 Summit) - BGSU leads, 1-0-0
Fri., 11 - ST. BONAVENTURE (11-8-1, 6-4-1 Atlantic 10) - BGSU leads, 1-0-0
Sun., 13 - YOUNGSTOWN STATE (1-18-1, 0-8-0 Horizon) - BGSU leads, 4-0-0
Tue., 15 - at Ohio State (8-10-2, 5-5-0 Big Ten) - OSU leads, 4-1-1
Fri., 18 - at UC Riverside (8-10-2, 2-5-1 Big West) - First meeting
Sun., 20 - at UC Irvine (8-9-2, 2-4-2 Big West) - First meeting
Fri., 25 - at Northern Illinois (9-6-5, 5-4-2 MAC) - NIU leads, 7-6-0
Sun., 27 - at Western Michigan (7-11-1, 6-4-1 MAC) - WMU leads, 8-7-1
October
Fri., 2 - at Ball State (9-10-1, 5-5-1 MAC) - BSU leads, 6-3-2
Sun., 4 - at Miami (6-12-1, 5-6-0 MAC) - MU leads, 8-7-0
Fri., 9 - OHIO (5-10-3, 4-5-2 MAC) - OU leads, 8-2-2
Sun., 11 - AKRON (7-9-2, 2-7-2 MAC) - BGSU leads, 7-1-0
Fri., 16 - KENT STATE (6-11-1, 3-7-1 MAC) - BGSU leads 9-3-3
Sun., 18 - BUFFALO (4-10-4, 0-9-2 MAC) - BGSU leads, 8-4-1
Fri., 23 - at Central Michigan (12-5-3, 6-2-3 MAC) - CMU leads, 6-5-2
Sun., 25 - at Eastern Michigan (13-5-5, 6-2-3 MAC) - EMU leads, 8-7-1
Thu., 29 - at Toledo (16-5-1, 8-2-1 MAC) - BGSU leads, 7-5-4
November
Sun., 1 - MAC Tournament Quarterfinals (campus sites)
Fri., 6 - MAC Tournament Semifinals (site of highest-remaining seed)
Sun., 8 - MAC Tournament Championship (semifinal site)
HOME matches held at Cochrane Field
