Falcons Blank Kent State 1-0 on Senior Day

Sunday, October 19

Bowling Green, OH

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

4-11-0,3-5-0MAC

Kent State (Senior Day)

8-5-3, 3-3-2MAC

Team	1	2	Final F
Kent State	0	0	0
Bowling Green	1	0	1

Photo by: Larry Clapper

October 19, 2014 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Stats: Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
Video: Coach Basalyga | Rachel. Winters
Photo Gallery (Larry Clapper)

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team got a goal from freshman Skylar Fleak in the 27th minute and 10 saves in between the posts by redshirt-sophomore Lauren Cadel to shutout the Golden Flashes of Kent State 1-0 on Senior Day Sunday afternoon at Cochrane Stadium.

The 2014 seniors of Kylie Briem, Ashley Garr and Sidney Huth were honored pregame, while a number of BGSU women's soccer alumnae were recognized at halftime.

It is the second straight win for the Falcons who defeated Ohio 2-1 on Friday night at Cochrane Stadium.

"I'm really proud of the grind and the work that we have put in. I mean, this was a hard fought six points for us," commented head coach Lindsay Basalyga. "We definitely gained some more confidence I think Friday night in terms of how to manage the tail end of a game and you could see that in the tail end of today's game. But for them overall to finally feel the emotion that comes from the work and the process, and their commitment - to actually feel that, I am ecstatic for our team."

The Falcons' two wins this weekend marks the first time the women's soccer team has posted back-to-back MAC wins since 2010 when the Falcons defeated Buffalo 4-0 on Sept. 24 and Kent State 1-0 on Sept. 26. The last time the Falcons won two consecutive matches was in 2011, when BGSU won at Youngstown State 2-1 on Sept. 11 and then beat IPFW 1-0 at home on Sept. 16.

The win also pushes BGSU to 4-11-0 overall and 3-5-0 in MAC, while the loss drops Kent State to 8-5-3 overall and 3-3-2 in league play.

"I think it is very exciting for us as a team, as a program in general. We haven't had two wins back-to-back in a really long time. I think it is a really big step in our process and what we are trying to accomplish," added freshman defender Rachel Winters. "I think it was really important to get these (two wins). We had a really good weekend last weekend, but we fell short. I think we had a good week of practice. We kept finding the space that we have been working on and I think that really helped us with our success this weekend."

Kent State looked to get on the scoreboard first in the early minutes of the first half, as the Golden Flashes picked up three attempts from Abbie Lawson, two shots from Madison Helterbran, as well as a shot from Doni Capehart, over the first 20 minutes of play, only to see two fly wide, one sail high, another shot blocked and the other two stopped by Cadel to keep the match scoreless early.

During that time, BGSU's Fleak put not just one, but two headers online, one in the 10th minute and the second in the 18th minute, while fellow freshman Madison Schupbach took a shot from just outside of the top of the box in the 18th minute that was hauled in by Kent State goalkeeper Stephanie Senn.

After two stops by Cadel in goal in the 21st and the 24th minutes, the Falcons next shot came on a counter off of a Kent State corner kick, as Mikaela Couch played a cleared ball up the field, across the midline and through the Golden Flashes backline. The pass found a streaking Fleak racing down the field, who placed a shot just out of the reach of Senn and into the right top corner of the net to put the Falcons up 1-0 in the 27th minute.

The goal was Fleak's team-high fifth of the season, while the assist was Couch's second in an as many games.

Following a shot from Schupbach in the 30th minute, off a defensive mistake in the defensive third by Kent State, the Golden Flashes finished the final 15 minutes of play out with four unanswered shots of which three flew off target and the fourth was blocked by the BGSU defense.

Both teams would come out of the halftime break looking to score, as Kent State's Stephanie Haugh had a shot halted by Cadel in the 46th minute, while Schupbach's third attempt of the game was once again stopped by Senn in goal in the 47th minute to keep the score at 1-0 in favor of the Orange and Brown.

BGSU nearly doubled its lead minutes later, as Elisa Baeron played a cross from the left side of the field to the right front post to Couch, who came sliding in and chipped the ball just over the crossbar and out of play in the 49th minute.

Over the next 15 minutes, the Golden Flashes looked for the equalizer, as Capehart had a shot blocked in the 53rd minute and both Haugh and Briana Bartolone watched their scoring chances stopped by BGSU's Cadel, including a last second punch out of a ball that hit off the crossbar on Haugh's shot in the 54th minute.

Kent State refused to go away, however, as the Falcons' defense and Cadel stopped four straight shots in a two minute stretch, two of which were blocked and two of which were saved by Cadel, as the Golden Flashes begin putting pressure once again in the Falcons' defensive third.

Bowling Green's Huth placed a shot on frame in the 76th minute, a shot which was saved on the front near post, and another shot on target in the 80th minute on a ball that was played through the Kent State defense.

Fleak looked for her second goal of the game less than 20 seconds later on the rebounded save, yet put the contested shot into the arms of a waiting Senn.

With the second half winding down, the Falcons refused to relinquish the lead, as Kent State missed wide right in the 80th minute, wide left in the 82nd minute, had a shot blocked by Winters in the 87th minute and saw Cadel register her 10th save of the game in the 87th minute on a shot from inside the box.

Despite Kent State outshooting the Falcons 25-11 overall, both teams put 10 shots apiece on goal in the 90 minute contest. Kent State also held a huge 9-2 advantage in corner kicks over the Falcons; however, Bowling Green totaled 10 saves compared to the Golden Flashes' nine.

Both teams were called for eight fouls for the game.

Bowling Green will hit the road for its next MAC contest, as the Falcons will take on Western Michigan on Friday, Oct. 24, at 3 p.m. in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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