Falcons Blank Indiana State, 3-0

Saturday, August 11

Bowling Green, OH

12:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Indiana State (scrimmage)

Demy Whitaker vs Indiana State - John Enright photo

Demy Whitaker (9) scored BGSU's third goal in the win over ISU (photo by John Enright, BGSU Athletic Communications)

August 11, 2012 | Women's Soccer

BGSU scores twice in first 15 minutes in exhibition win at Cochrane Field

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team scored twice in the first 15 minutes of the match en route to a 3-0 win over Indiana State University Saturday afternoon (Aug. 11). The scrimmage was held at Cochrane Field on the BGSU campus.

BGSU 3, ISU 0 - PDF Boxscore
BGSU 3, ISU 0 - HTML Stats
PHOTO GALLERY - photos by John Enright, BGSU Athletic Communications
Scroll to the bottom of the page for video of the first two goals & postgame interviews

Senior Sarah VonderBrink and sophomore Sidney Huth staked the Falcons to that two-goal lead, and freshman Demy Whitaker closed the scoring midway through the second half to salt away the victory.

Both VonderBrink and Whitaker had a goal and an assist in the win, while fifth-year senior Leah Johnson had the primary assist on each of BGSU's first-half goals. Juniors Kaitlyn Tobin and Madeline Wideman each had an assist as well.

Fifth-year senior Becca Ison played the first 77 minutes in goal, making four saves, while freshman Lauren Cadel was in net for the final 13 minutes of the afternoon. Cadel did not face a shot attempt.

Indiana State had a slim 13-12 advantage in total shot attempts, while the Falcons put five shots on frame to the Sycamores' four. ISU 'keeper Erin Mitchell played all 90 minutes, making two saves.

The visitors had the first shot of the game, as a BG giveaway in the defensive end of the pitch resulted in an Aubrie Musselman effort with less than a minute gone. But, Ison made the stop. The Falcons then proceeded to fire five of the next six shot attempts of the day.

VonderBrink's goal came with 6:47 elapsed, the result of several short passes in the penalty area (see video below). Wideman slid a ball to her right, to an open Johnson at the top of the box. Johnson, in turn, played a ball to the charging VonderBrink on the right side of the area, and the BG senior placed her shot past Mitchell and inside the far post, giving the Falcons the lead for good.

Just under eight minutes later, Whitaker received a pass and in turn found Johnson, who played the ball to Huth on the left side of the pitch. Huth cut the ball back to her right and blasted a shot from approximately 20 yards out. The ball went over the outstretched arms of the leaping Mitchell and dipped just under the crossbar in the center of the net. With 14:45 gone, the Falcons had a two-goal lead.

Johnson, who missed all of the 2010 season and much of the 2011 campaign due to injury, came close to scoring twice on Saturday. Both shots came from the left side of the penalty area after a right-side corner kick. Each shot was played low through traffic, and each shot went just wide of the right post.

VonderBrink, like Johnson, was a thorn in the Sycamores' collective side all afternoon. Just after Huth's goal, Wideman came up with a steal and found the Falcon senior. VonderBrink blasted a shot that sailed just high.

Moments later, Ison made arguably her most acrobatic stop of the game, leaping to tip a Sadie Bauserman shot over the bar.

Each team had nine shot attempts in the first half, but the Falcons and Sycamores combined for only seven total shots in the second period. Sydney Lovelace fired a shot just wide for the visitors two-thirds of the way through the match. Then, Huth got her head on a diagonal ball from Wideman with 23 minutes left, but Mitchell was able to smother the shot.

The final goal came with just under 20 minutes remaining. Tobin made a nice run, eluding several ISU players before sliding a pass out wide to VonderBrink. The senior took several dribbles, then played a low right-side ball to the charging Whitaker, who easily one-timed it home to close the scoring.

VonderBrink had a total of three shot attempts on the day, while Huth put both of her shots on net. Wideman and Johnson each had two shots as well.

A total of 21 Falcons saw action in the match, with 19 of those players getting at least 30 minutes of playing time. Junior defender Alyssa Carmack led the way, playing all 90 minutes of Saturday's win.

For what it's worth, VonderBrink's three-point day continued a personal run of success against the Sycamores. VonderBrink, who had the game-winning goal at Cochrane Field in Saturday's scrimmage, also had the winner in the teams' last regular-season meeting, a 3-2 come-from-behind win in Terre Haute, Ind., on Sept. 19, 2010.

The Falcons now have nearly a week to prepare for the regular-season opener, when BG will welcome Michigan State to Cochrane Field. That match is set for Friday night (Aug. 17) at 7:00 p.m. BGSU's three-game season-opening homestand will continue with back-to-back Sunday afternoon matches vs. Cleveland State (Aug. 19) and IUPUI (Aug. 26).