.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University
Michigan State
Women's Soccer Falcons Wrap Up Non-League Schedule This Weekend
September 15, 2010 | Women's Soccer
BGSU hosts Michigan State, heads to Indiana State
The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team wraps up the non-conference portion of the 2010 schedule with a pair of matches this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Andy Richards complete a three-game homestand with Friday's (Sept. 17) contest vs. Michigan State University ... kickoff for that match, the Falcons' second-straight Friday foray vs. a foe from the Big Ten Conference, is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. ... then, the Brown and Orange will head to Terre Haute, Ind., for a Sunday (Sept. 19) contest vs. Indiana State University ... that match is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. at ISU's Memorial Stadium.
BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF | MAC NOTES & STATS - PDF
FREE ADMISSION
As part of BGSU's Centennial celebration, admission to all home Falcon soccer regular-season matches in the 2010 season is free.
LIVE STATISTICS
Again in 2010, all BGSU home women's soccer matches, and most away contests, will have live statistics available on the web ... if you can't make it to Cochrane Field for the Falcons' home games this weekend, simply log on to BGSUFalcons.com ... 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 2010 schedule and choosing the corresponding match.
LAST WEEKEND
The Falcons put together a pair of solid performances last weekend at Cochrane Field ... BGSU dropped a 2-0 decision to #23 Minnesota on Friday (Sept. 10), before bouncing back for a 2-1 victory over Cleveland State Sunday afternoon (Sept. 12) ... on Friday, the Falcons and Golden Gophers were scoreless until a UM goal in the 68th minute ... the visitors added an insurance marker with just 3:30 remaining ... senior Alexa Arsenault made seven saves in goal for the home team ... on Sunday, sophomore Sarah VonderBrink's goal with just over six minutes left lifted the Falcons to victory over CSU ... senior co-captain Katie Stephenson had a three-point game ... Stephenson broke a scoreless tie in the 72nd minute, but the Vikings rallied to tie the score less than three minutes later ... VonderBrink, however, headed home junior Megan Amann's cross for what proved to be the winning goal ... Arsenault made two saves in net for the Falcons, who held a 15-8 advantage in shot attempts.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU enters Friday's Michigan State match with a record of 1-5-1 ... the Falcons' first five opponents have included two teams each from the Big East and Atlantic 10 conferences, along with one from the Big Ten ... BG is 1-4-0 at home and 0-1-1 on the road ... the Falcons' lone result over the first six matches was a scoreless tie at Niagara (Sept. 3) ... BGSU broke a nine-match winless streak, dating to last season, with Sunday's (Sept. 12) 2-1 win over Cleveland State ... senior co-captain Katie Stephenson leads the team with five points on the year, while junior Alyssa Zuccaro and sophomore Sarah VonderBrink have three points apiece ... junior Katelyn Turner and senior co-captain Alicia Almond have two points each ... Stephenson has a team-high two goals this fall, while Almond leads the Brown and Orange with two assists ... each of the team's three goalkeepers – fifth-year senior Alexa Arsenault, redshirt sophomore Becca Ison and true sophomore Laura Arnold – have started at least one match to date ... Arsenault has played 290 total minutes over four matches, and has started the last two ... she has a team-high 17 saves and a team-low goals-against average of 1.24 ... Arnold has made three starts, playing 225 minutes, and has 13 saves and a GAA of 2.40 ... Ison has played 147-plus 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 ... junior Megan Amann paced the Falcons with nine points last fall, including two goals and a team-high five assists ... Turner and Zuccaro scored eight and seven points, respectively, during their sophomore campaigns ... Turner tied for the team lead with three goals ... sophomore Keely Chandler also had three goals in her initial season at BGSU ... 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.
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 99-101-23, and a record of 53-49-12 in MAC regular-season play ... 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 FALCONS ARE ...
• 118-135-27 in the history of the program, which began in 1997;
• 52-49-13 overall in the last five seasons (plus seven matches);
• 60-66-16 in Mid-American Conference regular-season matches;
• 40-28-11 vs. MAC schools over the last six seasons (including regular-season & tourney matches), and 32-23-9 vs. league foes in the last five years;
• 62-57-11 at home, and 32-18-5 at Cochrane Field in the last five-plus seasons;
• 13-7-3 at Cochrane since the start of the '08 season;
• 48-68-14 in road contests in program history;
• 8-10-2 all-time in neutral-site matches;
• 47-53-10 in the month of September through the years;
• 1-3-0 in games played on Sept. 17 in the history of the program;
• 0-1-0 in home matches on that date, with the lone prior Sept. 17 game at Cochrane Field coming in 2004 (a 2-0 loss to Ohio);
• 2-0-1 in Sept. 19 matches;
• 0-0-0 in road games on the 19th of September;
• 48-1-2 in the last 51 games when scoring first (18-0-1 since the start of the 2008 season); and
• 0-23-3 since the start of 2008 in matches in which the opponent scored first.
THE SPARTANS / THE BGSU-MSU SERIES
Michigan State will bring a record of 4-2-1 to Cochrane Field on Friday ... the Spartans are riding a two-game unbeaten streak, with a scoreless tie vs. DePaul (Sept. 10) and a 3-0 win over Loyola (Ill.) (Sept. 12) last weekend ... MSU's lone losses have come against #1 North Carolina (0-3; Aug. 22) and Milwaukee (2-3; Sept. 5) ... the latter match is the Spartans' lone true road match this season to date ... two-time All-American Laura Heyboer leads the team with 10 points on the season, while Olivia Stander has nine ... Heyboer and Stander are tied for the team lead with four goals each ... Jill Flietstra has played every match in goal, and has 33 saves and a goals-against average of 0.82 ... Flietstra, who was named the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Week on Monday (Sept. 13), has blanked five of MSU's seven opponents this year to date ... Tom Saxton is in his 20th season as the head coach at his alma mater ... he welcomed back eight starters from last year's team that went 11-5-4 overall and 4-4-2 in the Big Ten ... the Spartans were picked to finish fourth in the BTC in '10, in the league's preseason coaches poll ... the school's athletics web site is MSUSpartans.com.
The Falcons trail Michigan State, 11-1-2, in the all-time series between the teams ... MSU is BGSU's most common non-conference opponent, with a regular-season meeting in each of the Falcons' first 13 years as a program, plus a matchup in the 2005 NCAA Championships ... last year, the Spartans picked up a 4-0 win in East Lansing (Aug. 30, 2009) ... State also posted a shutout win in the teams' last meeting at Cochrane Field, 3-0 two years ago (Aug. 31, 2008) ... the Falcons are 1-6-0 in home games vs. MSU ... BG's lone win in program history was a 3-2 overtime victory at Cochrane in the 1999 season.
THE SYCAMORES / THE BGSU-ISU SERIES
Indiana State is off to a 5-2-0 start this season, and the Sycamores – who have already matched the win total for all of last year – will take a five-match winning streak into a Friday game at IUPUI ... ISU has won three consecutive matches by a 2-1 final score, with all three coming at home ... last weekend, the Sycamores downed UMKC (Sept. 10) and Belmont (Sept. 12), with the latter win coming in double overtime ... Ashley Collins has a team-high total of three goals, and is tied for the ISU lead with seven points ... Alison Gasparovich also has seven points, on two goals and a team-high three assists ... Emily Lahay has played in all seven matches in goal so far, and has 14 saves and a GAA of just 0.58 ... Erika True, a BGSU graduate, is in her second year as head coach at ISU ... she welcomed back 12 letterwinners, including eight starters, from last year's club ... the 2009 Sycamores finished with an overall record of 5-10-3 and a Missouri Valley Conference mark of 2-3-1 ... the school's athletics web site is GoSycamores.com.
The Falcons lead Indiana State, 1-0-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... the lone prior meeting came last season (Aug. 28, 2009) ... Alyssa Zuccaro and Megan Amann scored goals as BG recorded a 2-1 win at Cochrane Field ... Laura Arnold and Becca Ison each played 45 minutes in their respective collegiate debuts, with Arnold saving an ISU penalty-kick try.
FAMILIAR FACE IN A DIFFERENT PLACE
Falcon head coach Andy Richards will see a familiar face when he glances at the other bench on Sunday ... Indiana State head coach Erika (Flanders) True is a BGSU graduate, and was one of the top goalkeepers in Falcon history ... she earned four letters from 1999-2002, playing the last three years under Richards ... True still holds the school career GK records for wins, matches played, matches started, minutes played and saves.
IT HELPS TO SCORE FIRST
Sunday's win over Cleveland State marked the first game this season in which the Falcons scored first ... the last time BGSU had scored the first goal in a match was also the last time the Falcons won prior to the CSU contest – last Oct. 18 vs. Buffalo at Cochrane Field ... on that day, Keely Chandler's goal just 5:36 into the match proved to be the only goal on the afternoon ... Chandler's goal represents the last time BGSU scored a goal in the first half of a match.
THE 89TH MINUTE (A FEW FINAL FALCON NOTES)
Sunday's win over Cleveland State marked the 99th victory of Andy Richards' head-coaching career ... all 99 of those victories have come at BGSU ... sophomore Sarah VonderBrink's goal vs. CSU was the second of her career and her first of the season ... it also was her first goal at Cochrane Field, and her first game-winning goal as a Falcon ... senior co-captain Katie Stephenson had the first three-point game of her career, with a goal and an assist vs. the Vikings ... Stephenson has surpassed her point total for all of last season ... she leads the Falcons with five points this fall, after scoring three points a year ago ... Stephenson has a career total of 21 points, tied for second among active Falcons ... she is second among current BGSU players in career goals and assists, with seven of each ... junior Megan Amann is BGSU's active career leader with 22 points ... Amann's assist on Sunday was the 14th of her career, moving her past Corbie Yee (13 from 2005-08) into sole possession of ninth place on the BG career list ... sophomore Emily Rothwell and freshman Morgan Burgner each picked up their first collegiate assists on Sunday ... for each player, the assist came in her second career start ... Burgner and Rothwell were in the starting lineup for the first time in Friday's (Sept. 10) Minnesota game.
THE 2010 CAPTAINS
Seniors Alicia Almond and Katie Stephenson are the co-captains of the 2010 women's soccer Falcons.
