Hubert Nets a Hat Trick Against Western Michigan Thursday Evening

Thursday, October 20

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

7-9-1 (2-6-1MAC)

Western Michigan

10-6-1 (4-4-1MAC)

Western Michigan

Bowling Green

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

Hubert Nets a Hat Trick Against Western Michigan Thursday Evening

October 20, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Jenna Jorgensen (Assistant Director of Athletic Communications)

Box Score

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green women's soccer program had a busy night at Cochrane Stadium in which the Falcons notched three goals in the first half, although ultimately fell to Western Michigan 4-3 in Mid-American Conference play.

The Bowling Green offensive strike was led by redshirt sophomore Erica Hubert, who marked all three goals for the Falcons in the first 45 minutes of play. Although Western Michigan got on the board first in the ninth minute, Hubert responded with a pair of back-to-back goals to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead just 15:20 into the match.

A native of Welland, Ontario, Hubert scored her fifth goal of the season by dodging the goalkeeper at the top of the box to slide the ball into the lower right corner of the net. She then followed up with her second goal just 1:26 later by picking up a through ball from senior Alexa Cheripko before finding the lower right corner of the net again.

"It was a crazy half, and we needed to do a better job disrupting the rhythm. We saw all of this rhythm and at some point we needed to take control and disrupt that rhythm and we didn't do that well in the first half," Bowling Green women's soccer head coach Lindsay Basalyga said. "We didn't problem solve in the first half and in the second half we defended really, really well and had some good opportunities as well but ultimately, they scored more goals than us tonight."

Although the Broncos tied up the score at twos 25:51 into the match, Hubert answered by completing her hat trick at 37:29. It was after freshman Sam Howshar took a shot on goal that Hubert picked up the rebound and found the back of the net near the left post. It made it the first time since Sept. 2010 that a Falcon has scored three goals in a game, and Hubert became the seventh Falcon to earn a hat trick in Bowling Green women's soccer history.

"We played with a lot of urgency in the counter and that is something that we focused on this week," said Coach Basalyga. "I thought Erica did an incredible job of taking over the game, but more so the people that linked up with her and played within their skill set and it was nice to finally score goals in the run of play; it's been awhile since we've done that. We felt like today was a must-win game and we challenged our character and there were players that rose to that challenge today and Erica was definitely one of them."

Defensively, freshman goalkeeper Kathleen Duwve made her ninth start of the season and faced a total of 22 attempted shots from the Broncos. With 21 minutes remaining in the first half, the Sylvania, Ohio native was tested and made a big diving save on the low left side of the goal to save the Falcons 2-1 lead. Duwve ultimately earned six saves on the night, and tallied four of those through the first half of heavy offensive action.

Western Michigan was able to come back with a goal to tie the game at 3-3 just over 40 minutes into the match off a ball headed in off the corner kick. It was looking like the game would go into halftime tied, although the Broncos were able to find the lower right corner of the net with just 10 seconds remaining on the clock to score its final goal of the game and the match winner. The second half then stood scoreless for the pair of conference foes.

The Mid-American Conference match was the highest scoring game the Falcons have seen this season, and with the hat trick, Hubert becomes the team's leading scorer of the 2016 campaign. In addition to her three goals, Hubert tallied a breakaway shot after receiving a through ball at center field, and had taken a shot high early in the game to kick start the Bowling Green momentum 14 minutes in. Ultimately, Hubert had a hand in seven of the Falcons 11 attempted shots on the night.

Other shots came from junior Skylar Fleak, who had two over the course of the 90 minute matchup, as well as Howshar and senior Kara Ross. Fleak was able to land her shot on goal 30 minutes into the game, while Howshar's attempt led to the completion of Hubert's hat trick.

Overall, Western Michigan held the edge in shots (22-11), shots on goal (10-6) and corner kick opportunities (6-1), although the Falcons were more disciplined and kept to five fouls, compared to the Broncos eight, and had more accurate attempts on the shots taken (.545-.454).

"I want to highlight Duwve, I think she did really well. This is a tough game for goalkeepers and even though she gave up four goals, she played like a beast," Coach Basalyga said of the freshman's performance. "Kara Ross hasn't played many minutes this year and I thought she did a really good job off the bench. I think our sixes, Chelsee Washington and Madison Schupbach overall did a good job for us on the attack as well."

The Bowling Green women's soccer program will continue Mid-American Conference play on Sunday, Oct. 23 as it hosts Eastern Illinois in a 1 p.m. matchup. The game will also serve as the Falcons Senior Day, with a special recognition session taking place prior to the start of the match for the five seniors on the team.