BGSU Women’s Soccer Releases 2015 Fall Slate

Complete 2015 Women's Soccer Schedule

Bowling Green, Ohio – Bowling Green State University women's soccer head coach Lindsay Basalyga has announced the 2015 fall schedule for the Falcons, which includes nine home matches inside the friendly confines of Cochrane Field.

The 2015 fall slate consists of non-conference match ups versus 2014 foes in Chicago State, Morehead State, Detroit and Butler, but will also see old regional foes in games versus IPFW, Eastern Illinois and Valparaiso.

"We had a great spring season and moved our process along quite a bit over the last academic year and I'm excited about the waves we can make in 2015," commented Coach Basalyga. "We are going to be extremely young this season with 11 freshmen and eight sophomores, so I think this schedule will stretch us a bit while also preparing us tactically, mentally and physically for a tough MAC season."

The Falcons will open up the season with an exhibition game on the road at Pittsburgh out of the Atlantic Coast Conference on Saturday, Aug. 15.

Coach Basalyga's squad will open up regular season play with two straight games at home against Chicago State on Friday, Aug. 21, and IPFW on Sunday, Aug. 23. The Falcons are a perfect 4-0-0 versus the two regional foes, which includes a record setting 8-0 road win over the Panthers of Chicago State last year in which seven different players notched a goal for the Falcons. BGSU is 3-0-0 overall versus IPFW all-time, as the two teams last met back in a 1-0 shutout win for the Falcons back in 2011.

Following the two-game home stand, Bowling Green will hit the road for four straight matches at Morehead State (Friday, Aug. 28), at Detroit (Wednesday, Sept. 2), at Eastern Illinois (Friday, Sept. 11) and at Valparaiso (Sunday, Sept. 13).

The Falcons will look to avenge a 2-1 loss to Morehead State last season in the two teams' first-ever meeting on the pitch, as the Eagles scored in the 82nd minute to escape Cochrane Field with a non-conference win. BGSU will also look for revenge against the Titans of Detroit, who defeated the Falcons 3-0 in 2014.

With the road contest at Eastern Illinois on Sept. 11, the Falcons and the Panthers will meet for the first time since 2007 after playing each other every year from 2002 to 2007. BGSU is on a three-match winning streak over the Panthers, having won in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and sits at 3-2-1 all-time versus Eastern Illinois.

The four-game road trip will conclude with perhaps the toughest non-conference contest of the year for the Falcons at Valparaiso on Sept. 13. Valpo is coming off a strong 2014 season in which the Crusaders went 14-2-4 overall and won both the Horizon League regular season title at 8-0-0 overall and the Horizon League Championship Tournament. The Crusaders suffered a 1-0 first round loss to No. 12/11 Notre Dame in the 2014 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer College Cup.

After three weeks away from Bowling Green and Cochrane Field, the Falcons will return home for a five-match home stand, their longest of the season.

The home stand will wrap up their non-conference slate with a home contest versus the Butler Bulldogs (Thursday, Sept. 17), who blanked BGSU last season 5-0 in Indianapolis, before opening off Mid-American Conference play versus Miami (Friday, Sept. 25) and Ball State (Sunday, Sept. 27) to close out the month of September.

Miami posted an overall record of 14-3-2 and recorded a second-place MAC finish at 8-2-1 in 2014, while Ball State placed fourth in the MAC with a conference record of 7-5 and an overall record of 11-7-2 on the season.

The Orange and Brown will continue its home stand, as the Falcons will play host to both Akron (Friday, Oct. 2) and Buffalo (Sunday, Oct. 4) to start the month of October.
BGSU will look to post back-to-back wins over Akron for the first time since 2007 and 2008, as the Falcons used an overtime goal from Fleak in the 95th minute to defeat the Zips last season to give the Falcons their first win over Akron since 2008 and snap a five-match winless streak.

The Falcons will look for a little payback versus the Buffalo Bulls, who will be the defending MAC Women's Soccer Champions, as BGSU was tied at 1-1 with Buffalo on the road before surrendering two second half goals in the 3-1 loss to the eventual 2014 MAC Champions.

The Battle of I-75, which will take place on Friday, Oct. 9 in Toledo, will jump-start a second four-game road swing for the Falcons, only this time all four matches will come in MAC regular season play against the Rockets (Friday, Oct. 9), at Central Michigan (Sunday, Oct. 11), at Kent State (Friday, Oct. 16) and at Ohio (Sunday, Oct. 18).

Both Toledo and Central Michigan escaped Cochrane Field last season with 1-0 wins over the Falcons, as the Rockets scored in the 77th minute to pick up the 1-0 win, while Central Michigan posted a goal in the 104th minute in the second overtime to emerge with the 1-0 victory.

With a 1-0 win over Kent State at home last year, BGSU will look to make it two straight wins over the Golden Flashes for the first time since recording wins over Kent State in both 2007 and 2008, and post its first road win at Kent State since a 3-0 shutout victory in 2007.

The Falcons will also look to register their second straight win over Ohio for the first-time in the program's history, as BGSU used two second half goals from Madison Schupbach and Leah Runkle to record a 2-1 come from behind win over the Bobcats last year at home on Alumnae Weekend.

Both Northern Illinois (Friday, Oct. 23) and Western Michigan (Sunday, Oct. 25) will come to BG and Cochrane Field to conclude the Falcons' home schedule, before BGSU will hit the road for its regular season finale at Eastern Michigan on Thursday, Oct. 29.

The Falcons have played the Huskies to two straight scoreless double overtime draws over the last two years, while the Broncos of Western Michigan held off the Falcons for a 2-0 win in Kalamazoo, Michigan last October.

For the second straight year, the Falcons and the Eagles will meet on the last day of the regular season with BGSU looking to even the score with Eastern Michigan who defeated the Falcons in last year's regular season finale 3-0 at Cochrane Field.

The first round of the 2015 MAC Women's Soccer Championships will take place on Sunday, Nov. 1, with the semifinals slated for Friday, Nov. 6. The MAC Championship game will be held on Sunday, Nov. 8.

The 2015 season will be Basalyga's third as BGSU's head coach. The Falcons return 10 starters and 16 letterwinners from last year's squad and adds a 10-member recruiting class.

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