Falcons Host Central Michigan on Sunday After Midweek Trip to EMU

LINKS
BGSU Women's Soccer Game Notes (.pdf)
Live Stats (at EMU)
Live State (vs. CMU) | Live Audio (vs. CMU) | Live Video (vs. CMU)
BGSU-WMU Game Recap
BGSU-NIU Game Recap
2017 BGSU Women's Soccer Stats
2017 MAC Women's Soccer Stats
2017 NCAA Women's Soccer Stats
BGSU Women's Soccer Record Book

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team reaches the midpoint of the 2017 Mid-American Conference season with a pair of matches this weekend. On Thursday (Oct. 5), the Falcons travel to Ypsilanti, Mich. for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff against Eastern Michigan. BGSU then returns home for the start of a three-match homestand st 1:00 p.m. on Sunday (Oct. 8), when the Falcons host Central Michigan at Cochrane Stadium.

These contests could ultimately prove cirtical to BGSU's chances of making the MAC Tournament. The Falcons are currently tied for seventh place with six points following their 2-2-0 start to MAC play. EMU and CMU are two of the four teams below the Falcons, with three and two points respectively. The top eight teams make the tournament field.

SCOUTING EASTERN MICHIGAN
Eastern Michigan owns a 4-8-1 overall record and is now 1-3-0 in MAC play. The Eagles had three common non-conference opponents with BGSU. Like the Falcons, EMU defeated Oakland and lost at Butler. However, EMU lost 3-0 at Detroit Mercy 11 days after BGSU beat the Titans. In the MAC, EMU lost at Ohio (2-1) and Kent State (1-0) on opening weekend. They split home games last weekend with a loss to Buffalo (2-1) and a win over Akron (2-1). The Eagles have scored 11 goals and are tied for last with 22 goals allowed. Sabrina McNeill leads the team with two goals and six points; Madeline Olson also has two goals. Kaylin Williams has started all 13 games and has 60 saves against 82 shots. She owns a .732 save percentage and a 1.72 goals against average.

EMU head coach Scott Hall is now in his 19th season at the helm of the Eagles. His record stands at 171-140-47 overall and 108-65-25 in the MAC. He led EMU to the MAC Tournament championship in 1999 and owns three MAC regular season titles.

SCOUTING CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Central Michigan is currently 5-4-3 in 2017. The Falcons and Chippewas played three common non-conference opponents, and each went 3-0 in those games (Detroit Mercy, Oakland, Robert Morris). In MAC play, CMU dropped a pair of road matches on opening weekend against Kent State (2-1) and Ohio (3-0). Last weekend, they played to two home draws against Akron (1-1) and Buffalo (0-0). The Chippewas rank 2nd in the MAC to BGSU for scoring offense with 18 goals (1.50/game). Lexi Pelafas is tied with Skylar Fleak for the most goals in the MAC (8) and is second in points (17). Madison Pogarch leads the team with four assists. In goal, Zoie Reed has started all 12 games. She has saved 54 of 70 shots for a .771 save percentage and a 1.27 goals-against average.

CMU head coach Peter McGahey is in his fifth season and owns an overall record of 40-39-12. In MAC games, McGahey is 23-19-7. His 2016 team completed a 15-3-3 season and advanced the MAC Tournament semifinals.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Admission to all home BGSU men's and women's soccer matches at Cochrane Stadium is free. For those who cannot make it to a given match, live stats are available online via BGSUFalcons.com. Live game updates will also be provided on Twitter through @BGSUWSoccer. In addition, weekly game notes and updated statistics can be obtained through BGSUFalcons.com.

LAST WEEK
Bowling Green split their first two MAC road matches of 2017 last weekend. At Western Michigan, Paige Casto scored her first career goal in the 66th minute to tie the match at 1-1, but the Broncos scored with just 3:07 remaining on the clock to steal a 2-1 win. The Falcons rebounded on Sunday for a 2-1 win at Northern Illinois after BGSU scored twice in a span of 1:45 midway through the second half. Madison Schupbach scored in the 63rd minute, then posted an assist on Erica Hubert's game-winning goal. NIU added a score at the 72:28 mark before BGSU held on to win.

FIRST-TIME SCORERS
The Falcons feature eight first-year players on their 2017 roster, and four of them have scored their first career goal within the first ten games of the season. Casto's goal at Western Michigan was the first of her career, and she added her first career assist at NIU. Sophia Barnes and Marissa Swindell scored their first goals against Miami, and Nikhita Jacob scored at Detroit Mercy. Additionally, junior Alexis Fricke posted her first career goal in 2017, during BGSU's season-opening win at Oakland.

SCHUPBACH TO THE FUTURE
Madison Schupbach scored three points with a goal and an assist in BGSU's 2-1 win at Northern Illinois. This was her first game with a goal and an assist since Sept. 11, 2015 in a 3-2 win over Eastern Illinois. In her final year with the Falcons, she has an opportunity to produce personal season-highs in points, goals and assists. She has seven points, which is one shy of her previous best (8 in 2015). Her two goals in 2017 are also one shy of her 2015 total. With three assists, she has equaled her previous season best, which she established in 2016.

FANTASTIC FLEAK
Senior forward Skylar Fleak (Sunbury, Ohio) continues to be a critical asset in the MAC's best scoring offense (2.09 goals/game). Against Miami, Fleak scored twice in the first 20 minutes of the match to lead BGSU to a 4-1 victory. In addition to her seventh career game-winning goal, she also assisted on the final score of the match to earn a five-point game. She leads the MAC and ranks in the top 20 nationally for points (20), points per game (1.82), goals (8) and goals per game (0.73). She has two multi-goal games and two games of five-or-more points. Fleak is a two-time MAC Offnsive Player of the Week in 2017.

Fleak has already eclipsed her previous season best for points in a season (15). She has moved into a tie for fourth place on BGSU's all-time list with 57 career points.

MAUREEN THE ASSISTS MACHINE
By helping her teammates score goals, Maureen Kennedy is marching herself into BGSU history. Kennedy assisted on three of BGSU's five goals on the opening weekend of MAC play. Her streak of five straight games with an assist tied the BGSU record (Julie Trundle, 2002). Her six-game streak with at least one point was one shy of Trundle's school-record. Her seven assists in 2017 rank seventh nationally, and she is eighth in the country with 0.64 assists per game.

With seven games to go, Kennedy is just three assists shy of tying the single-season BGSU record. In 30 career games, she already has 11 assists, two away from BGSU's career top ten. Six of those 11 career assists came on game-winning goals.

HOORAY FOR HUBERT
Redshirt junior Erica Hubert earned her fourth goal of the season and the eighth game-winning goal of her career in BGSU's 2-1 win at Northern Illinois. Hubert took a crosser from Madison Schupbach and buried it to give BGSU two goals in a 1:45 span. She has goals in four of BGSU's seven wins in 2017 and has moved into a tie for fifth place on BGSU's career goals list with 19.. She currently leads the Falcons with 44 shots and is second in the MAC with a 4.0 shots per game average.

OFFENSE ON THE PROWL
There's no question that BGSU has ramped up their aggression on offense in 2017. The Falcons have had more shots than their opponents in ten of 11 games this year and more shots on goal in eight of the 11. For the season as a whole, they've outshot their opponents by nearly a 2:1 margin (185-109). Through 11 games, BGSU is on pace for its most shots (303) and goals (37) since 2004, its fewest-ever shots allowed (178), and its fewest goals allowed since 2008 (21).

FALCON OUTFITTERS AT COCHRANE
Falcon Outfitters will host a merchandise sales table at Cochrane Stadium in 2017. The table will be available for fans at men's soccer matches held on Saturdays and women's soccer matches held on Fridays.

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