BGSU Women's Soccer to Face Pitt in Exhibition Play on Aug. 15

BGSU WOMEN'S SOCCER WEEKLY SCHEDULE (Preseason)
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME
8/15/15	at Pittsburgh	6 p.m.

Bowling Green (0-0, 0-0 MAC)
vs.
Pittsburgh (0-0, 0-0 ACC)
Exhibition Match
Saturday, August 15, 2015; 6:00 p.m. ET
Ambrose Urabanic Field at Peterson Sports Complex / Pittsburgh, Pa.
LIVE STATS

FOLLOW THE FALCONS ALL SEASON LONG
Follow the Falcons all season long on twitter @BGSUWSoccer or at @BGathletics. You can also find more information on the women's soccer program online at www.BGSUFalcons.com.

FOCUS ON THE FALCONS
Bowling Green and third-year head coach Lindsay Basalyga returns 10 starters and a total of 16 letterwinners from last year's team and added a redshirt-freshman and 10 new Falcons in the 2015 recruiting class. Despite the loss of only four letterwinners from a year ago, BGSU is still stacked with youth as 19 members of the 27 players on the 2015 roster are either sophomores or freshmen. However, of the Falcons' 15 total goals last season, 13 were recorded by a total of eight returners on the roster this season. BGSU also returns starting goalkeeper Lauren Cadel, who led the MAC and was third among all NCAA Division I goalkeepers with a BGSU single-season record 146 saves in 2014.

PREVIEW OF PITTSBURGH
The Panthers and fourth-year head coach Greg Miller return eight starters and 15 letterwinners from a season ago and add a nine-member recruiting class to the mix to round out the roster. Pitt remains one of the youngest teams in the ACC with only one senior, four juniors and 19 sophomores and freshmen heading into this year, but a great deal of last season's production is back. Of the Panthers' 17 total goals scored last year, 16 are accounted for on this season's roster. In addition, Pitt returns 90 percent of its points and 83 percent of its assist production as well.

FALCONS VERSUS THE PANTHERS ON THE PITCH
BGSU is 1-1-0 all-time versus the Pittsburgh Panthers on the pitch in women's soccer action. The Falcons defeated the Panthers 1-0 in the two teams first-ever meeting back on Sept. 13, 2002 in Columbus, Ohio at the Ohio State Invitational. However, Pitt won the last meeting between these two squads 2-0 back on Aug. 29, 2004 at the Falcon Classic hosted by BGSU at Cochrane Stadium.

COACH'S COMMENTS
"We are excited to compete against a quality opponent on Saturday and see where we are in our growth this preseason and what pieces we still need to sort out heading into our opening game against Chicago State. We came in really fit this year so we've been able to push the tempo in training, which has been a lot of fun. I'm hoping to see the components of the game we've been working on the last 10 days show themselves in a 90 minute game at a faster pace than this time last year." -- Coach Basalyga

EXHIBITION SEASON
Saturday night's match will be the lone exhibition contest for the Falcons this season. However, the friendly contest will be the second exhibition match for Pitt, as the Panthers fell to No. 16 Kentucky 4-1 in their first exhibition bout on Wednesday, Aug. 12.

PUTTING IN THE PRESEASON WORK
The Falcons as a whole have been putting in their work this preseason, as BGSU opened up its preseason practice schedule on Wednesday, Aug. 5. BGSU has had a total of 10 days together to prep for the exhibition contest versus Pitt on Aug. 15, which has included a number of two-a-day practice dates as well as several team meetings and team building sessions.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
The 2015 BGSU women's soccer roster boasts a total of 19 sophomores and freshmen out of the 27 player squad. In fact, of the 19 total underclassmen, 11 are either redshirt-freshmen or true freshmen who will be making their intercollegiate debuts this season.

A STRONG RETURNING CORE
The Falcons have a strong core of returners for the 2015 season, as Coach Basalyga's squad returns 10 starters and 16 total letterwinners. A total of 13 of the 16 returners logged over 500 minutes on the field for the Falcons in 2014, while eight of the returners accounted for a total of 14 goals last year. BGSU returns its leading goalkeeper in Lauren Cadel (146 saves), its leading goal scorer in Skylar Fleak (5 goals) and its assists leader in Leah Runkle (4 assists), while 10 other returners all played in at least 16 matches for the Falcons last season.

YEAR THREE OF THE PROCESS
This season will be the third year under head coach Lindsay Basalyga who took over the Falcons program in January 2013. With the task of rebuilding the program which had won a total of only 16 matches in the four years prior to Basalyga's hiring, the Falcons have showed continued improvement towards the process of rebuilding the program over the last two seasons. BGSU has improved its when total over the last two years under Basalyga's leadership and have made huge strides in restoring the program back to when the Falcons made the MAC Women's Soccer Championship Tournament on a consistent basis.

ON TAP FOR THE FALCONS
The Falcons will kick-off its 2015 regular season slate at home versus Chicago State on Friday, Aug. 21, at 7 p.m. The match will take place at Cochrane Stadium on the campus of Bowling Green State University. BGSU will then turn around and host IPFW on Sunday, Aug. 23, at 1 p.m.

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Lauren Cadel

Skylar Fleak

Leah Runkle

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