Rockets Strike Twice in Second Half for 2-0 Win

Sunday, October 13

Bowling Green, OH

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

0-11-1, 0-5-1MAC

Toledo

5-9-0, 2-4-0MAC

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

October 13, 2013 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The University of Toledo scored a pair of goals less than a minute apart, breaking a scoreless tie and going on to a 2-0 win over the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team Sunday afternoon (Oct. 13). The Mid-American Conference match was held at Cochrane Field on the BGSU campus.

FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
Scroll down for video of the post-match interview with Lindsay Basalyga

With the victory, the Rockets improve to 5-9-0 overall and 2-4-0 in MAC play. The Falcons are now 0-11-1 and 0-5-1, respectively.

Rachel MacLeod scored in the 72nd minute of the match, and Kiersten Johnson doubled the visitors' lead just 32 seconds later.

On the afternoon, the Rockets held a 14-4 advantage in overall shot attempts, and UT put 10 shots on goal to two for the Falcons.

Redshirt freshman Lauren Cadel made eight saves in goal for the Falcons, including several impressive diving stops while the match was still scoreless. At the other end of the pitch, UT goalkeeper Sam Tiongson made two saves on the afternoon.

Things started well for the Falcons, as BGSU won a corner kick just 45 seconds into the match after senior Madeline Wideman hit sophomore Haley Parkinson with a long ball down the right side of the field. That corner kick was knocked out of bounds for a Falcon throw-in, and the home side nearly had a good scoring chance off of that throw.

Wideman received a pass from freshman Taylor Bucaro and hit a diagonal ball into the box. Wideman just barely missed connecting with senior Jenny Fowler, who was heading toward the far post.

The Rockets had a solid scoring chance with 11 minutes gone. After a corner kick by Kirsten Catloth was played into the box, a BG defender knocked it out of the area momentarily. The ball, however, went to Megan Connor just outside the box, and Connor took a quick touch and fired a low shot through a maze of legs and on target. Cadel seemed to see the shot all the way, however, and made a diving stop at the right goalpost.

Moments later, Cadel leaped to grab a header by Alexis Tice off of another Catloth corner.

Seventeen minutes into the match, the BG redshirt freshman stopped MacLeod, the Rockets' leading scorer, on a breakaway. MacLeod had taken a pass from Shelby Antonnacci, and she streaked toward goal and hit a shot from the right side of the bo. Cadel, however, charged off of her line and blocked the shot with a sliding effort.

Midway through the first period, Parkinson saved a teammate's pass from going out of bounds, nodding the ball forward with her head. The ball went to Bucaro, who was heading down the right side of the field. The freshman played a ball into the box, but again, Fowler just couldn't quite control it on the left side of the area, and a Rocket defender knocked the ball away.

Just over a half hour into the match, MacLeod had what looked to be another dangerous chance as she headed into the penalty area on the right side, but her shot was blocked by a BG defender.

Arguably BGSU's best chance of the match came with just over two minutes remaining in the period. After a foul on the Rockets near midfield, Falcon freshman Paige Amodio took the ensuing free kick and fired a long ball toward goal. The ball skimmed off of the top of the head of a leaping UT player in the penalty area, and Tiongson was forced to leap and tip the shot off the crossbar. After hitting the bar, the ball caromed up into the air, and the Rocket 'keeper was able to make the catch when it came down.

In the second half, the Rockets were awarded a free kick just outside the box with 37 minutes to go. Catloth took the free kick, and hit a hard shot toward the upper-right-hand corner of the goal. But, Cadel made an acrobatic leaping save to keep the match scoreless.

Midway through the period, the Falcons had one of their best stretches of possession time of the afternoon. After a Wideman steal deep in the UT end near the Cochrane Field scoreboard, the senior crossed the ball through the box, but no one was able to get on the other end of the cross. Senior Ivi Casagrande tracked it down near the far sideline, and after exchanging passes with junior Kaylee Draper, Casagrande played a diagonal ball toward the penalty area. Parkinson, at the top of the box, attempted to redirect the pass to a teammate, but the header was just offline and went out of bounds for a goal kick.

With 19 minutes to go, MacLeod raced into the box and got her head on a cross by Rio James, but Cadel was in perfect position to make the save.

Less than a minute later, however, MacLeod got her team on the board. She made a long run, heading down the right side of the field before cutting back toward the center. MacLeod brought the ball right to left across the top of the box, and fired a shot that sailed just past the outstretched fingertips of Cadel and into the left side of the net. That goal came at the 71:52 mark.

And, only 32 seconds later, the Rockets had doubled that lead. Brooke Maletic played a ball over the top to an open Johnson, who had gotten behind the BG back line. Johnson was able to fire a shot into the left side of the net before Cadel could get far enough off her line to cut down the angle.

Johnson's goal was the last shot attempt for either team, as the Rockets were content to maintain possession of the ball and occasionally take it toward the corner flag over the final 15 minutes or so.

The Falcons take to the road next weekend, heading East to meet Buffalo on Friday night (Oct. 18) and Akron on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 20). The UB match is set for a 5:30 start, while the UA game begins at noon.