BGSU Falls At Home To Butler

Thursday, September 17

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

4-3-1

Butler

7-2-1

Butler

Bowling Green

September 17, 2015 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: By Alexx Klein, BGSU Athletic Communications

Box Score (PDF)
Box Score (HTML)
Season Stats (PDF)
Season Stats (HTML)
Postgame Interview: Haley Parkinson
Postgame interview: Lindsay Basalyga

Bowling Green, Ohio – Rounding out their 2015 non-conference schedule, the Bowling Green women's soccer team dropped a 2-0 decision to Butler on Thursday night at Cochrane Stadium. The game marks the first goals allowed and the first loss of the season at Cochrane Stadium.

"It felt great to be back at home," said senior Haley Parkinson, despite the disappointing loss. "I definitely think we have one of the best fan bases out of any conference we play. They are always supportive and we always have a huge student section behind us, so it's really awesome when we come out for warm ups and see the stands full."

The Falcons started eight underclassmen in the contest, with two additional freshmen seeing playing time off the bench. For the first time this season, junior Paige Amodio recorded minutes for BGSU.

"This was our last real opportunity before we get into MAC play and I think we saw our youth tonight," said head coach Lindsay Basalyga. "We had some really sharp moments and I think we had some good highs, but throughout the game we also had a lot of lows. All in all, I think we've done what we needed to do with our non-conference schedule to find confidence, figure out who we are as a team on both sides of the ball and also find solutions. Obviously our freshmen and our sophomores are a very important part to that."

BGSU was on the defense much of the contest, recording only two shots on goal on seven total shots.

The Falcons tried to attack early, but sophomore Madison Schupbach's shot in the second minute was blocked by a Butler defender. The Bulldogs dominated the next 30 minutes of play, not allowing another BGSU shot until the 34th minute, and firing off nine shots of their own in that span including a goal in the 19th minute.

Butler's Sophia Maccagnone dribbled around the middle of the box to break the Falcons' back line and put a shot past redshirt junior Lauren Cadel at the 18:15 mark.

Bowling Green had an opportunity to tie the game at one late in the first half, as Skylar Fleak recorded the team's first shot on goal attempt in the 34th minute. Seconds later, Fleak tried to find a streaking Morgan Abbitt, but the freshman was unable to track down the pass. The Falcons continued the pressure, and following a Juli Knapp cornerkick at the 36:00-minute mark, Jip Van Haaster put up a shot that went wide.

Possession for much of the second half stayed with the Bulldogs, as Butler outshot BG 9-3 in the period, including a Jenna Dorchock goal from inside the goal mouth in the 72nd minute to put BU up 2-0.

Senior goalkeeper Alexis Smith entered the match in the 74th minute, replacing Cadel, who finished the game with four saves.

However, the Falcons continued to search for their attack late in the game, as Paige Amodio fired off the Falcons' second and final shot on goal with just 18 second left to play.

"It's just fight," said Basalyga. "Since day one we are not a team that's going to quit on a game and give up on a game. I thought it showed a little bit of our character, but I think that energy came a little late. For me, I liked the energy, but in a game like this it was a little too late."

Schupbach and Fleak each posted two shots to lead the Falcons, while Erica Hubert, Van Haaster and Amodio's shots rounded out the seven shots on the evening for BGSU.

The Bulldogs, who were the aggressor for the majority of the game, held an 8-4 advantage in corner kicks and outshot BGSU 19-7 as the Falcons were unable to sustain a strong offensive attack for much of the contest.

The loss drops BGSU to 4-3-1 overall heading into league play, while Butler improves to 7-2-1 overall with the road win.

The Falcons open MAC play next weekend, with home matchups against Miami and Ball State.