Opportunistic Xavier Rallies Past Falcons, 3-2

Sunday, August 29

Bowling Green, Ohio

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

0-3-0

Xavier

2-2-0

Xavier

Bowling Green

Katie Stephenson's goal gave the Falcons a short-lived second-half lead

August 29, 2010 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Visiting Xavier University capitalized on several Bowling Green State University defensive lapses, posting a 3-2 victory over the Falcons Sunday afternoon (Aug. 29). The non-conference match was held at Cochrane Field.

FINAL STATISTICS - HTML | BOXSCORE - PDF

With the victory, the Musketeers improve to 2-2-0 on the season, while dropping the Falcons to 0-3-0.

Junior Katelyn Turner and senior co-captain Katie Stephenson scored less than eight minutes apart early in the second half to erase a 1-0 deficit. But, an own goal tied the score, and XU's Mariah Whitaker scored what proved to be the winning goal after a BGSU giveaway in the penalty area.

Alicia Almond, like Stephenson a senior co-captain, assisted on both BGSU goals with a pair of long passes forward. Her first such pass found Turner streaking down the left side of the pitch, resulting in a goal less than half a minute after the second half had begun.

Almond also played a ball forward to junior Alyssa Zuccaro, leading to Stephenson's goal. Zuccaro drew the primary assist on that score.

The lone goal of the first half came just 3:14 into the match, as XU's Leslie Twehues gave her team an early lead. The goal came against the run of play, as BGSU had had the ball in the Musketeers' end of the field for much of the first few minutes.

In fact, the Falcons had a scoring chance just seconds before Twehues' goal at the other end. The BG buildup saw Zuccaro play a nifty pass to senior Jackie Tamerlano. Tamerlano, in turn, put junior Megan Amann through on the left side, and Amann slid a cross through the six-yard box. But, the ball was just out of the reach of a lunging Zuccaro on the doorstep.

After the ensuing goal kick, an errant header by a BG defender resulted in the ball bouncing to Twehues in the center of the field. Twehues got a boot on the ball, popping it over Falcon goalkeeper Laura Arnold. The ball sailed into the net just under the crossbar, and XU had the lead.

Some solid BG passing, involving freshman Kylie Briem, Zuccaro and Tamerlano resulted in a Tamerlano shot on goal midway through the half. The low shot skipped on the ground before it reached XU goalkeeper Jennifer Perri. Perri blocked the shot, with the ball bouncing a few feet in front of her, but was able to corral the rebound before a BG forward could get a foot on it.

Several minutes later, Zuccaro whirled around to elude her would-be defender and fired a low cross thorugh the box, but no teammate could get on the other end of it.

Ashton Green had a grade-A scoring chance for the visitors with 12 minutes left in the half, but Arnold got her fingers on the shot to deflect it wide of the far post. Another XU chance, off the boot of Laura Rao, went just wide with under three minutes left before the intermission.

When the second half started, however, the Falcons scored almost before the fans could get settled back into their seats. Almond played a long ball ahead to Turner on the left side of the field. Turner trapped the ball, made a move to shake her defender and get into the 18-yard box, and fired a shot past Perri. Turner's goal came just 26 seconds into the half and knotted the score at 1-1.

Just two minutes later, sophomore Keely Chandler's cross was deflected by Perri, but the Xavier 'keeper knocked the ball directly to Zuccaro. The Falcon junior fired, but her shot was blocked by a defender.

With just over eight minutes gone in the half, though, the home team took the lead for the first time in 2010. Another Almond pass found Zuccaro on the left side of the pitch. 'Z' zoomed past one helpless defender and played a short crossing ball to Stephenson. The senior, stationed several yards away from goal, hit a one-timer that found the narrow opening between Perri and the near post, and the Falcons had a 2-1 advantage.

Just when it seemed like the momentum was going BG's way, the visitors tied the score. A Sydnee Fields cross hit the leg of a Falcon defender and caromed into the goal at the 55:18 mark.

Only three minutes after that goal, Zuccaro came inches away from untying the score. The Falcon junior, BGSU's active career scoring leader, ripped a long shot that rang off the crossbar.

Zuccaro was at it again several minutes later. She took a pass from Stephenson, made a move to free herself and took a close-range shot, but Perri made a point-blank save.

Midway through the half, a pass by freshman Madeline Wideman put Amann in past the XU defense. A Musketeers defender slid to knock the ball away from Amann, but it went to sophomore Sarah VonderBrink, who rifled a shot just wide of the target.

In the 77th minute, however, a BG defensive miscue gave XU's Whitaker the ball all alone in the penalty box. Whitaker took one dribble and fired the ball into the net past Falcon redshirt sophomore Becca Ison, who did not have time to try and cut down the angle. Whitaker's unassisted goal proved to be the winner.

With seven minutes left, Ison made an athletic diving save on a curving shot by Lauren Heap, XU's leading scorer, to keep the Falcons' deficit at a single goal.

Under three minutes remained when BG applied some pressure at the offensive end. Perri got to a ball in the box, but Zuccaro stole it from her feet. The Falcon junior attempted to find Chandler with a short pass across the six-yard box, but a Musketeer defender knocked the ball out to Morgan Burgner. The BG freshman hit a long one-time effort that was on goal, but was grabbed by Perri. That turned out to be the final shot of the match.

The Falcons had 14 total shot attempts to Xavier's 12. Perri made four saves to earn the win in goal. for the visitors. Arnold and Ison played 45 minutes each, with Arnold making one save in the first half, and Ison coming up with three stops in the second.

BGSU will take to the road for the next two contests, beginning with Friday's (Sept. 3) match at Niagara. The weekend swing to Western New York will also see BG face St. Bonaventure on Sunday (Sept. 5).

FALCON NOTES
* Sunday's game was broadcast live in the Toledo area by BCSN ... for those with Buckeye Cable in the greater Toledo area, BCSN will be re-airing the game on Sunday night at 11:00 p.m., Monday (Aug. 30) at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday (Aug. 31) at 5:00 a.m. and Wednesday (Sept. 1) at 4:00 p.m.

* Senior co-captain Alicia Almond's two-assist game was the first of her collegiate career ... additionally, it was the first two-assist contest by a Falcon since Leah Johnson had a pair of helpers in BGSU's win at Detroit last Sept. 4.

* The Falcons are off to an 0-3 start for the first time since 2003 ... that '03 squad began the regular season with four consecutive losses, but bounced back to advance all the way to the championship match of the MAC Tournament.

* Katelyn Turner's goal, as mentioned, came just 26 seconds into the second half ... that ranks fourth on the BGSU list of fastest goals to begin a half ... the record is 19 seconds, set by Corbie Yee the last time the Falcons played XU (Sept. 21, 2008) ... Yee's goal came in the first half of that BGSU win ... BG has scored just 22 seconds into the second half on two occasions (Jamie Eshleman vs. Kent State, Oct. 17, 1997; Kristy Coppes at Central Michigan, Oct. 11, 2002).

* Turner's goal was the seventh of her Falcon career ... she is second among active Falcons on that career list, trailing only classmate Alyssa Zuccaro (eight) ... Turner now has 16 career points, fourth among current BGSU players.

* Senior co-captain Katie Stephenson's goal on Sunday was the sixth of her career, ranking her third among current Falcons ... Stephenson now has 18 career points, the third-highest career total of the 2010 team members.

* Zuccaro and fellow junior Megan Amann are at the top of BG's active career scoring list with 21 points apiece ... Zuccaro's assist on Sunday afternoon was the fifth of her BGSU career.

* Redshirt sophomore Becca Ison has seen time in goal in all three matches this season to date ... Ison has played a total of 147:18 in 2010 ... she has nearly matched her totals for all of last season ... in 2009, Ison was in net for just under 159 minutes, playing in four matches.