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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Miami
Falcons Host Miami in Must-Win Game Thursday
October 26, 2010 | Women's Soccer
BGSU needs a win & an Ohio loss to qualify for the MAC Tournament
The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, with just one regular-season game remaining, still has a chance to qualify for the Mid-American Conference Tournament ... but, the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards must win that game to have a chance to continue playing in 2010 ... BGSU will take the pitch at Cochrane Field one last time this fall, hosting Miami University on Thursday afternoon (Oct. 28) ... kickoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ... should the Falcons qualify for the MAC Tournament, BGSU would make a short trip north for a league tourney quarterfinal match against the University of Toledo on Sunday (Oct. 31) ... more information about the Falcons' MAC Tournament scenarios can be found below.
BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF
MAC NOTES & STATS - PDF
LIVE STATS FOR THURSDAY'S GAME
THE FALCONS AND THE MAC TOURNAMENT RACE
With one game remaining in the MAC regular-season schedule, the Falcons are three points behind Ohio in the race for the final league tournament spot ... to qualify for the tourney, BGSU needs the following two things to happen:
• The Falcons need to defeat Miami on Thursday, AND:
• BGSU needs Akron to defeat Ohio
The Akron-at-Ohio game, like the BGSU-Miami contest, begins at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday ... if BGSU and Akron win their respective games on Thursday, the Falcons would tie Ohio, with 12 points apiece ... the first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition, and the Falcons and Bobcats played to a tie in their regular-season meeting ... the second tiebreaker is winning percentage vs. ranked conference teams (top to bottom, regardless of division) ... BGSU and Ohio both lost to Toledo, who will be the number-one seed for the tournament ... the scenario where the Falcons and Bobcats tie for the eighth spot would also see Akron winning the East Division winner and earning the #2 seed ... the Falcons tied UA, while Ohio lost to the Zips, which would give BGSU the tiebreaker and the #8 seed ... should BG qualify for the tournament, the Falcons' quarterfinal-round match would be Sunday (Oct. 31) afternoon at UT ... all four quarterfinals will be played that day at campus sites ... the MAC Tournament's semifinal round is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 5, at the site of the top remaining seed among the four quarterfinal winners ... the MAC Tournament's championship match will be Sunday, Nov. 7, at the semifinal site.
FREE ADMISSION
As part of BGSU's Centennial celebration, admission to all home Falcon soccer regular-season matches in the 2010 season is free ... as mentioned, Thursday's match vs. Miami will be the final BGSU soccer action at Cochrane Field this fall.
LIVE STATISTICS
All BGSU women's soccer matches in 2010, home and away, will have live statistics available on the web ... if you can't make it to Cochrane Field on Thursday, simply log on to BGSUFalcons.com at game time ... the live stats links can be found on the front page of the site (in the 'schedule' section) or by clicking on the women's soccer schedule and choosing the corresponding match.
LAST WEEKEND
The Falcons dropped a pair of 1-0 decisions on the road over the weekend ... BGSU fell to Western Michigan in Megan Matula's goal in the second overtime on Friday (Oct. 22) ... then, on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 24), Northern Illinois got a goal from Kelsey Passaglia early in the second half, which proved to be the difference ... Falcon senior goalkeeper Alexa Arsenault made five saves in Kalamazoo and had four stops in DeKalb.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• BGSU enters Thursday's Miami match with an overall record of 4-11-4, and the Falcons are 2-5-3 in Mid-American Conference play ... as mentioned, the Falcons need a win, coupled with an Akron win over Ohio, to qualify for the MAC Tournament, which begins Sunday (Oct. 31).
• The Falcons' non-conference opponents included two teams each from the Big East, Big Ten and Atlantic 10 conferences ... BGSU started the season with a mark of 0-5-1, then won four of the next five games before losing the next three games, then tying the following three ... last weekend, the Brown and Orange dropped a pair of 1-0 decisions, at Western Michigan and Northern Illinois ... BG is 3-6-2 at home and 1-5-2 on the road ... in MAC play, the Falcons are 2-1-2 at Cochrane Field and went 0-4-1 away from home ... entering the Miami game, the Falcons are 2-0-2 against MAC East Division foes this season, with all four games at home.
• Individually, junior Alyssa Zuccaro leads the team with 21 points on the year, including eight goals – nearly triple the total scored by any BGSU player last year ... freshman Madeline Wideman has 11 points, while senior co-captain Katie Stephenson has scored nine points ... Stephenson and Wideman each have three goals on the season ... junior Megan Amann and sophomore Sarah VonderBrink have seven points apiece ... Amann is tied with Zuccaro and Wideman for the Falcons' assists lead.
• Each of the team's three goalkeepers – fifth-year senior Alexa Arsenault, redshirt sophomore Becca Ison and true sophomore Laura Arnold – started at least one match in non-conference play ... Arsenault has started 15 matches, including each of the last 14 ... she leads the Falcons in minutes played (1428:31), saves (82), shutouts (three) and goals-against average (1.32) ... Arnold has played in five games, starting three ... she has 14 saves and a 2.97 GAA in 242-plus minutes ... Ison has played just over 147 minutes, and has seven stops and a 2.44 GAA.
• Head coach Andy Richards, in his 11th season at the helm, welcomed back a total of 17 letterwinners, including eight starters, from last year's club ... BGSU's returning players combined for over 81 percent of the team's goals and 76% of the assists a year ago ... eight of the top-nine scorers returned from a season ago ... Amann paced the Falcons with nine points last fall, including two goals and a team-high five assists ... additionally, all three goalkeepers returned from last season's roster ... Arsenault started 17 of the Falcons' 20 matches between the posts last fall, while Arnold made three starts.
LEADERS OF THE MAC
The Falcons are well-represented in the MAC statistics ... junior Alyssa Zuccaro is tied for first in the conference in goals (eight) and ranks second in points (21) ... senior Alexa Arsenault is fourth in the league in saves, with 82 ... in conference games only, Zuccaro is tied for third in both goals (five) and points (13), while Zuccaro, junior Megan Amann and freshman Madeline Wideman all are part of a tie for third in assists (three) ... Arsenault is second in saves in MAC games (56) and is tied for fifth in shutouts, with three against conference foes.
IT HASN'T HAPPENED VERY OFTEN
Friday's Western Michigan game marked just the second time in the history of the BGSU women's soccer program that the Falcons lost an overtime game on the road ... BG now has an all-time record of 7-2-15 in road games that require OT.
FALCON COACH ANDY RICHARDS
BGSU head coach Andy Richards, in his 11th 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 102-107-26, and a record of 55-54-15 in MAC regular-season play ... he picked up the 100th victory of his collegiate head-coaching career in the Falcons' 3-2 win at Indiana State earlier this season (Sept. 19) ... Richards' teams perennially play one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the MAC ... in his first 10 years in BG, he led the Falcons to the MAC Tournament on eight occasions, with the team advancing to the semifinals seven times ... BGSU is 10-5-5 in MAC Tournament matches during his tenure, and no coach has more trips to the league tourney title game than 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 ... a native of Warwick, England, Richards earned his Bachelor of Education degree from Sheffield City Polytechnic in 1989 ... he received his Master of Education degree from Oregon State in 1997.
THE REDHAWKS / THE BGSU-MIAMI SERIES
Miami enters the week with an overall record of 11-6-2, and the RedHawks will bring a 4-4-2 MAC record into Thursday's match at BGSU ... MU currently sits atop the MAC's East Division, one point ahead of Akron ... the RedHawks, like the Falcons, have seen four of their last five games go to overtime ... in fact, five of the team's last seven games have required at least one extra period ... MU is looking to snap a three-game winless streak, including a 2-1 loss at Northern Illinois Friday (Oct. 22) and a 1-1 tie in double-OT at Western Michigan Sunday (Oct. 24) ... the RedHawks began the year with a 9-2-0 record, capped by a six-game winning streak which included the first two MAC matches ... Miami is 13th in the nation in scoring, with 2.42 goals per game, a figure helped in no small part by a 15-0 victory over Alabama A&M in the regular-season opener ... individually, Jess Kodiak has 22 points on the year, pacing five double-digit scorers ... Kodiak leads the 'Hawks in both goals (seven) and assists (eight) ... Katy Dolesh has 15 points, including six goals ... Sara Dessfelt (13), Kayla Zakrzewski (12) and Sam Whitmore (10) all have 10 or more points on the year ... in goal, three players have seen time for the RedHawks ... Kris Gasparovic has played in 10 games overall, and has started eight of the 10 MAC matches ... she has 56 saves, four shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.01 ... Bobby Kramig, in his 14th season at the helm of MU's women's team, welcomed back nine letterwinners, including five starters, from last year's team ... the 2009 RedHawks went 12-8-1 overall and 6-4-1 in MAC play ... the school's athletics web site is www.MURedHawks.com.
The Falcons trail Miami, 9-7-0, in the all-time series between the teams, and the RedHawks won last year's meeting ... MU scored three times in the first 28 minutes en route to a 4-1 win in Oxford (Oct. 4, 2009) ... Alicia Almond scored the Falcons' goal in that match ... two years ago (Oct. 12, 2008), in the last meeting at Cochrane Field, the Brown and Orange picked up a 4-0 win ... Alyssa Zuccaro, Megan Amann and Katelyn Turner scored goals for the Falcons in that match, while Alexa Arsenault made seven saves ... among current Falcons, Katie Stephenson also has a goal against Miami, having scored in the second overtime for a 1-0 Falcon win in Oxford during her freshman year (Oct. 21, 2007) ... MU won the first eight series meetings, and BGSU then won seven-straight games over the RedHawks, prior to Miami's win last year ... the Falcons are 4-3-0 all-time in home games vs. MU, having won the last three meetings at Cochrane Field.
YOU CAN'T SPELL 'GOALZ' WITHOUT 'Z'
Junior Alyssa Zuccaro has become one of the top offensive threats in the MAC ... she has eight goals and 21 points this season, ranking among the conference leaders ... in MAC play, 'Z' has five goals and 13 points to date.
A FEW MORE NOTES ABOUT ALYSSA ZUCCARO
• Junior Alyssa Zuccaro leads the Falcons in both goals (eight) and points (21) ... she is tied for the team lead with five assists.
• Zuccaro's goal and point totals are the highest by a BGSU player since 2005 ... that season, Samantha Meister had eight goals and 22 points as the Falcons won the MAC regular-season and tournament titles.
• Zuccaro scored 10 points (four goals, two assists) in BGSU's first three MAC games of the season ... last year, no Falcon had more than four points in conference play, covering 11 games ... 'Z' has 13 points in eight league games this fall.
• 'Z' scored 15 points in a four-match span, a school record ... she had a then career-high five points in the Indiana State game (Sept. 19), then topped that total with six points on a hat trick vs. Buffalo (Sept. 24) ... Zuccaro assisted on the game-winning goal vs. Kent State (Sept. 26), and had a three-point match at Eastern Michigan.
• With her performances in the Indiana State and Buffalo games, Zuccaro became the first Falcon to score five goals over a two-game span in over six years.
• Zuccaro has shattered her goal and point totals for all of last season ... she totalled seven points in the 2009 season, with a pair of goals and three assists.
• Zuccaro has scored more than twice as many points as any Falcon did during all of '09 ... Megan Amann led last year's club with a total of nine points ... Zuccaro's total of eight goals on the year is nearly triple the total amassed by any BGSU player last fall (two Falcons had three goals apiece in 2009).
• Zuccaro, BG's active career scoring leader, now has 39 career points ... she sits in ninth place on the school's career list ... 'Z' ranks eighth on the BG list for career goals, with 15.
AND, A FEW NOTES ABOUT ALEXA ARSENAULT
• Senior goalkeeper Alexa Arsenault had a shutout streak of 260:15 before Western Michigan scored in the second overtime on Friday (Oct. 22) ... that marks the 10th-longest such streak in school history ... after allowing a goal midway through the second half of the Oct. 15 tie with Akron, Arsenault blanked Ohio through 110 minutes (Oct. 17), then had 106:15 of shutout ball in Kalamazoo before the Broncos scored.
• She has a total of 23 shutouts in her career, a school record ... Arsenault is six shutouts ahead of the second-place Falcon on that list.
• In addition to shutouts, Arsenault is also the career record-holder in goals-against average (1.00) and saves percentage (.830) ... she is second among BGSU goalkeepers in matches started (67) and minutes played (6131:30), tied for second in games played (70), and ranks third in school history in saves (332 - two saves shy of second) and wins (27).
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 121-141-30 in the history of the program, which began in 1997;
• 62-71-19 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches;
• 42-33-14 vs. MAC schools over the last six-plus seasons (including regular-season & tourney matches), and 34-28-12 vs. league foes in the last five-plus years;
• 64-59-13 at home, and 34-20-7 at Cochrane Field in the last five-plus seasons;
• 15-9-5 at Cochrane since the start of the '08 season;
• 49-72-15 in road contests in program history;
• 8-10-2 all-time in neutral-site matches;
• 50-63-14 in the month of October through the years;
• 45-43-11 in October games in the Andy Richards Era;
• 50-1-4 in the last 55 games when scoring first (20-0-3 since the start of 2008); and
• 1-29-3 since the start of the '08 season in matches in which the opponent scored first (with the win coming at Indiana State earlier this season).
THE 2010 CAPTAINS
Seniors Alicia Almond and Katie Stephenson are the co-captains of the 2010 women's soccer Falcons.
