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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, August 17
Bowling Green, OH
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Michigan State
Falcons Home Twice This Weekend to Begin 2012 Season
August 16, 2012 | Women's Soccer
BGSU faces Michigan State, Cleveland State at Cochrane Field
BGSU WOMEN'S SOCCER NOTES - PDF
LIVE STATS for this weekend's matches
Then, on Sunday (Aug. 19), the Brown and Orange will return to Cochrane for a 1:00 p.m. contest against Cleveland State. Admission for both matches, and for all Falcon soccer home matches, is free.
Both matches will be televised in the Toledo area by BCSN. The station will air Friday's match live, and will show Sunday's match on a tape-delay basis.
Additionally, live stats for both matches, and for all BGSU home (and probably all away) games this season, will be available via BGSUFalcons.com.
The Falcons' lone dress rehearsal was a successful one, as BGSU posted a 3-0 win over Indiana State in a scrimmage at Cochrane on Saturday (Aug. 11). Senior Sarah VonderBrink and sophomore Sidney Huth staked the Falcons to a two-goal lead within the first 15 minutes of the match, and freshman Demy Whitaker closed the scoring midway through the second half.
VonderBrink and Whitaker each had a goal and an assist in the win, while fifth-year senior Leah Johnson had the primary assist on each of BGSU's two first-half goals. Juniors Kaitlyn Tobin and Madeline Wideman each added an assist.
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 shutout. Cadel did not face an ISU shot attempt during her stint.
Evans and assistant coach Bubby Leasure hope that the Falcons' three-goal outburst is a harbinger of things to come. Last year's club scored a total of just 15 goals on the season. The 2011 Falcons had two goals in a game five times, one goal on five other occasions, and BGSU was held scoreless in 10 matches last fall.
On Tuesday (Aug. 14), VonderBrink was named to the Preseason All-Mid-American Conference First Team by College Sports Madness. VonderBrink, the lone Falcon listed by the web site, led the returning BGSU players with six points a year ago.
Friday's opponent, Michigan State, was picked to tie for sixth in the Big Ten Conference this season in the league's preseason coaches' poll, released Tuesday. The Spartans went 14-6-1 in 2011, finishing third in the league, but head coach Tom Saxton saw a 10-member senior class depart. MSU went on the road and picked up a 1-0 win over Milwaukee in the team's lone scrimmage Saturday (Aug. 11).
BGSU has faced Michigan State more than any other non-conference opponent. The teams have played a regular-season game every season since 1997, the first year the Falcons fielded a program, and the schools also met in the NCAA Championships in 2005. MSU holds a 13-1-2 advantage in the series, including 2-0 wins over the Brown and Orange in each of the last two years. BGSU's lone series win came in the regular-season opener at Cochrane Field back in 1999, a 3-2 overtime victory.
Cleveland State opens the season with a home match vs. Kent State on Friday night, before heading to BGSU for Sunday's match. The Vikings played three exhibition matches last week, losing at Michigan (5-0, Aug. 7) and at home to Buffalo (1-0, Aug. 12). The middle exhibition was a 1-1 tie against visiting Oakland (Aug. 9). The Vikings were picked to finish fifth in the Horizon League's preseason poll. Last year's CSU team posted a double-digit win total for the first time in program history, going 10-7-2.
The Falcons have gone a perfect 4-0-0 in series meetings with CSU. BGSU outscored the Vikings by a combined 11-1 score in the teams' first two meetings, which came in the first two seasons CSU fielded a program (2004 and '05). Each of the last two seasons has seen the Falcons post narrow one-goal wins, with VonderBrink scoring the game-winning goal in both 2010's 2-1 win at Cochrane and last season's 1-0 victory in Cleveland. Ison made six saves in goal in last year's win, for the first complete-match shutout of her collegiate career.
Following this weekend's matches, the Falcons will play just once next weekend. The season-opening three-match homestand concludes with a game against IUPUI on Sunday, Aug. 26, at 1:00 p.m. Then, BGSU hits the road for the first time this season, playing a pair of matches in Minneapolis, Minn. The Brown and Orange will face Minnesota on Aug. 30, and will meet Western Kentucky two days later (Sept. 1).
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