No. 23 Minnesota Gets Past Falcons, 2-0

Friday, September 10

Bowling Green, Ohio

5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

0-5-1

Minnesota

6-1-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Minnesota	0	2	2
Bowling Green	0	0	0

Redshirt freshman Jenny Fowler wins possession of the ball during Friday's match (photo by Brad Phalin)

September 10, 2010 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Steph Brandt's goal in the 68th minute broke a scoreless tie and lifted the nationally-ranked University of Minnesota to a 2-0 victory over the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team Friday (Sept. 10). The non-conference match was held at Cochrane Field on the BGSU campus.

FINAL STATS - HTML | BOXSCORE - PDF | PHOTO GALLERY
(photo gallery courtesy Brad Phalin, BGSU Photo Services)

With the win, the Golden Gophers -- ranked No. 23 in this week's Soccer America poll -- improve to 6-1-0 on the year, and UM has won six consecutive matches. The Falcons drop to 0-5-1 on the season.

The Gophers possessed the ball for most of the match, and had a clear majority of the shot attempts in Friday's match. Still, the contest was deadlocked before Brandt scored at the 67:36 mark. Tamara Strahota added an insurance goal with just 3:30 left in the second half.

The visitors had a scoring chance in the first minute of the match, as Shari Eckstrom's pass put Brandt through. Brandt hit a hard shot, but it was right at BGSU senior goalkeeper Alexa Arsenault, who made the stop.

It was the Falcons' turn to threaten just a few moments later. With fewer than three minutes gone in the match, a corner kick by junior Megan Amann sailed through the box. Freshman Morgan Burgner tracked down the ball on the left side of the penalty area and played a pass back to senior co-captain Alicia Almond. Almond fired a hard turnaround shot, but Minnesota 'keeper Cat Parkhill was able to parry it.

Brandt, who had a game-high three shots on goal, nearly scored a fluke goal in the eighth minute. After a teammate's cross rolled into the box, a BG defender attempted to clear the ball out of the area. The clearance, however, hit Brandt, who was only a few yards away from goal. Somehow, the ball caromed up and over the crossbar.

The home team had another chance, off of another Amann corner kick, midway through the half. This time, Amann's inswinger looked as if it had a chance to go into the net, but Parkhill grabbed it at the last minute.

With eight minutes before halftime, Eckstrom received a backpass and hit a hard shot, but a Falcon defender was able to block it out of play. Despite having a 9-3 advantage in shot attempts in the first 45 minutes, the Gophers went to the intermission locked in a scoreless draw with the Brown and Orange.

The visitors had 15 shots in the second half, but went nearly one-half of the way through the period before finally getting on the board. Ten minutes through the period, a dangerous-looking cross by Allie Phillips rolled through the box without finding a UM teammate.

Just a minute later, Brandt hit a one-timer off of a soft, low crossing ball. The shot was cleared off the line by a Falcon defender for the rare 'team save.'

BGSU nearly had a scoring chance with just under 30 minutes left in the period. Katelyn Turner and a Minnesota defender raced for a ball that had been played into space by a Falcon midfielder, as Parkhill left the safety of the penalty area to attempt to clear the ball. Parkhill's clearing try, though, was blocked by Turner, and Parkhill fell down on the play. Unfortunately for the Falcons, Turner fell as well, and the Gopher defender was the first one to the ball. Turner blocked another would-be clearance by UM, but the deflection went to another Minnesota player as Parkhill scrambled back into the penalty box.

Finally, midway through the period, the Gophers got on the scoreboard. A giveaway near midfield gave UM's Phillips possession of the ball, and she found Eckstrom with a pass. Eckstrom's through ball was perfectly slotted between a pair of Falcon defenders, and Brandt ran onto it on the left side of the penalty area. Brandt hit her shot in stride, and found the lower part of the net for a 1-0 Gopher lead.

UM added some insurance with only three-and-a-half minutes left. A corner kick by Katie Bethke went past three Gopher teammates in the box, but the ball bounded toward Strahota, who blasted a shot into the upper-right portion of the goal.

Minnesota wound up with a 24-3 advantage in total shot attempts, and put 10 of those shots on frame to the Falcons' two. Parkhill made two saves in her complete-match effort.

For her part, Arsenault had seven saves, and broke up several other seemingly dangerous scoring chances.

The Falcons will remain at home to face Cleveland State University on Sunday (Sept. 12). Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at Cochrane.

FALCON NOTES
* Two Falcons, freshman Morgan Burgner and sophomore Emily Rothwell, were in the starting lineup for the first time in their collegiate careers ... a total of 22 players on the BGSU roster have started at least one game, including 19 different players this season to date.

* Four field players -- seniors Alicia Almond, Katie Stephenson and Jackie Tamerlano and freshman Alyssa.Carmack -- played all 90 minutes in Friday's match ... co-captains Almond and Stephenson are the lone Falcons to have played more than 500 minutes this season to date ... Almond has played a team-leading 565 of BG's 572-plus minutes this fall, while Stephenson has been on the pitch for 537 minutes..

* Senior goalkeeper Alexa Arsenault also played all 90 minutes vs. Minnesota ... Arsenault has a team-high total of 15 saves this fall, along with a team-low goals-against average of 1.35.