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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Wright State (exhibition)
Falcons Open Exhibition Play with Two Road Tests this Week
August 12, 2013 | Women's Soccer
BGSU heads to Wright State, Indiana State for scrimmages
The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team will play three scrimmages to open the 2013 season, including a pair on the road this week. The Falcons of head coach Lindsay Basalyga will face Wright State University on Tuesday night (Aug. 13), with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at WSU's Alumni Field. Then, on Saturday afternoon (Aug. 17), the Brown and Orange will be in Terre Haute, Ind., for an exhibition against Indiana State University. That match is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. at ISU's Memorial Stadium.
BGSU WOMEN'S SOCCER RELEASE - PDF
ABOUT THE FALCONS
Basalyga and her staff – assistant coach Rhonda Gottschalk, volunteer assistant coach Ahmad Smith and student assistant coach Amanda Nelson – return 13 letterwinners, including eight starters, from a year ago. The 2012 club finished with an overall record of 1-17-1 and a Mid-American Conference mark of 0-10-1. Ten of the Falcons' losses, including six in conference play, came by a single goal.
BGSU's list of returning starters includes the team's two 2013 co-captains, Alyssa Carmack and Jenny Fowler. Carmack was one of just two players to start all 19 matches last fall, playing at a center-back position. Fowler, a fifth-year Falcon, started 17 times in 2012.
Junior Kaylee Draper started every game a year ago, while seniors Kaitlyn Tobin and Madeline Wideman made 18 and 17 starts, respectively. Other returning starters include redshirt junior Kylie Briem, true junior Ashley Garr and sophomore Haley Parkinson. Garr started 13 matches in 2012, while Parkinson was in the starting lineup 12 times in her first year as a Falcon. Briem started 14 of the first 16 matches of the year before suffering an injury in the Akron match on Oct. 14 and missing the remainder of the season.
Junior Sidney Huth is the top returning scorer, as she led the Brown and Orange with three goals and seven points a year ago. Wideman had a pair of goals and five total points in 2012, while sophomore Jessica Jarvis also scored twice, totalling four points in her first year with the Brown and Orange. Other returning letterwinners include seniors Ivi Casagrande and Tracy Togba and sophomore Emma Norris.
Wideman has a career total of 19 points to lead active Falcons. She paces all members of the 2013 team with nine career assists, and has five goals at BGSU. Huth, who has nearly doubled her point total from last season, is tied with Wideman for the active career lead with five goals.
BGSU's goalkeeper in the regular-season opener at Cleveland State on Sept. 25 will be making her collegiate debut, no matter which of her three 'keepers Basalyga chooses. Redshirt freshman Lauren Cadel, the lone returnee among the group, did not see action in a regular-season match last year. The goalkeeping corps also includes true frosh Michelle Denley and Jenna DiTusa.
In addition to Cadel, fourth-year Falcon Kailey Paszko and redshirt freshmen Courtney Hendrix and Lexie Schmidt return to the roster. All three missed the 2012 campaign due to injury.
Denley and DiTusa are two of the nine freshmen on the roster this fall. That list also includes Paige Amodio, Taylor Bucaro, Sabrina Cisneros, Jessica Creech, Taylor Dackin, Haley Malaczewski and Melissa Needham.
THE COACHING STAFF
Lindsay Basalyga enters her first season at the BGSU helm, but she is certainly no stranger to the MAC or the state of Ohio. Basalyga, a native of Cincinnati, came to BGSU after spending eight seasons as the head coach at Eastern Kentucky University. Prior to starting the EKU program from scratch, she spent just over three years as an assistant at the University of Toledo.
Basalyga was hired at EKU in October of 2004 and was involved in every facet of preparing the program for its first season on the pitch in 2005. That first season, the Colonels finished 10th in the Ohio Valley Conference, but Basalyga's club gradually improved, turning the corner in 2008 with a 5-3 conference record and a number-two seed in the program's first-ever appearance in the OVC Tournament. EKU finished second in the league in both '08 and 2010 and third in 2012.
That 2012 team finished at 10-7-3, posting the first winning record in program history and setting school records for overall wins, conference victories (six), goals, assists, points and shots. In the clasroom, EKU received an NSCAA Team Academic Award after posting a cumulative grade-point average of 3.15.
Basalyga, who was a standout player at the University of Maryland, received her bachelor's degree in 2001 and earned a master's degree from UT. Her parents both are BGSU graduates, and her father, John, was a member of the 1972 BG baseball team that won the program's first-ever MAC Championship. He is the men's soccer coach at Northern Kentucky University.
Rhonda Gottschalk enters her first season on the BGSU staff after working at Youngstown State, Duquesne and Ashland. Last fall at YSU, she helped the Penguins to the best season in program history. Gottschalk, who primarily worked with the goalkeepers, helped both of YSU's two 'keepers better the previous school mark for lowest goals-against average in a season. A native of Greencastle, Ind., Gottschalk earned her bachelor's degree from Concord (W.Va.) in 2006 and her master's degree from Ashland in '09.
Ahmad Smith, a former BGSU men's soccer student-athlete, joined the program as a volunteer assistant in June. Smith, who has spent the last three-plus seasons working with the Perrysburg Soccer Club, was a four-year member of the men's soccer Falcons from 2006-09. A native of Jackson, Miss., he played in 38 total matches and had four career goals for the Brown and Orange. Smith graduated from BGSU in 2011.
After three seasons on the BGSU women's soccer roster, Amanda Nelson will serve as a student assistant coach on the 2013 team. Nelson, who saw her playing time severely limited due to injuries, played in a total of 19 matches over the last three seasons. A native of Overland Park, Kansas, Nelson played in 18 matches last season, making one start. That match, the first start of her collegiate career, also saw her record her first collegiate point, with an assist on a goal that gave BG the lead at eventual MAC champion Miami.
Complete biographies of each member of the coaching staff can be found on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.
FAMILIAR FACES ON THE OPPOSING BENCH
Falcon fans in attendance at this week's matches will see a pair of former BGSU goalkeepers on the opposite bench. Becca Ison, who was a fifth-year senior on the 2012 BG roster, has joined the Wright State staff as a volunteer assistant coach. Ison finished her career with a total of 143 saves, ranking fourth in BGSU history. She had three career shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.90. A 2012 co-captain, she earned Academic All-MAC honors in each of her last two seasons with the Falcons.
Indiana State head coach Erika (Flanders) True also is a BGSU graduate, and was one of the top 'keepers in Falcon history. She earned four letters from 1999-2002, and still holds the school career GK records for wins, matches played, matches started, minutes played and saves. True also is at the top of many BG single-game and single-season goalkeeping lists.
SCOUTING WRIGHT STATE
Wright State finished the 2012 season with an overall record of 9-5-6, and the Raiders went 2-2-3 in Horizon League play. Head coach Pat Ferguson returns his top-four scorers from last season, including Emilie Fillion and Ini Umotong, each of whom scored seven goals in 2012. In goal, all three 'keepers who saw action last fall return, led by senior Brooke McCurdy. She played all but 33 minutes last season, and had 104 saves and a goals-against average of just 0.65. As is the case with the Falcons, Tuesday's scrimmage is the first action of 2013 for the Raiders.
A LOOK AT INDIANA STATE
Indiana State returns six starters from a 2012 team that finished 8-10-3 overall and 2-3-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Head coach Erika True's club tied for fifth in the league regular-season standings, but advanced to the championship game of the MVC Tournament. The Sycamores host Northern Kentucky in exhibition play on Monday (Aug. 12) before facing the Falcons five days later. The team's top-five goalscorers from a year ago are back, including Taylor Reed and Sydney Lovelace. Each player scored four goals last fall, while three of their teammates had three goals apiece. Like the Falcons, ISU will be starting a newcomer in goal in 2013, as both 'keepers on the roster are true freshmen.
THE 2013 CAPTAINS
Seniors Alyssa Carmack and Jenny Fowler are the co-captains of the 2013 Falcons. Fowler, a fifth-year Falcon, is a team captain for the second-straight year.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following this week's scrimmages, the Falcons will play one final exhibition, hosting Case Western Reserve University next Thursday (Aug. 22) in a 7:00 p.m. kickoff at Cochrane Field. Then, the Brown and Orange will open the regular season with a match at Cleveland State on Sunday, Aug. 25. The home regular-season opener is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 31, against Butler.
