Falcons Head To Morehead State and Butler for Weekend Matches

LINKS
BGSU Women's Soccer Game Notes -- Week 2 (.pdf)
BGSU-Oakland Box Score (.pdf)
BGSU-Oakland Game Recap
TDS National Team of the Week Release
MAC Offensive Player of the Week Release
2017 BGSU Women's Soccer Stats
2017 MAC Women's Soccer Stats
BGSU Women's Soccer Record Book

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team seeks to build upon their emphatic 5-1 season-opening win over Oakland with a pair of matches this weekend. First, BGSU will travel to Morehead, Ky. to tangle with the Morehead State Eagles at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25. Then, the Falcons head to Indianapolis, Ind., where they will square off against the Butler Bulldogs. Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 27.

The Falcons began the 2017 season on Friday, Aug. 18 with a decisive 5-1 victory at Oakland. Skylar Fleak scored an incredible four goals, while Madison Schupbach and Marissa Swindell each provided two assists. Alexis Fricke added her first career goal. Victoria Cope saw her first collegiate action and started in goal. She played all 90 minutes and saved two of Oakland's three shots on goal.

COACH SAYS
BGSU head coach Matt Fannon said, "We got right back at it on Saturday and have been working hard. I know the team is ready to get back on the field to compete, and we are looking forward to both matches this weekend."

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.

STARTING THE SEASON THE RIGHT WAY
BGSU captured its third consecutive season-opening victory on Friday, Aug. 18 with a dominating 5-1 effort in Rochester, Mich. against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. The Falcons dominated from the outset, as they scored two goals in the opening 13 minutes and never looked back. Bowling Green out-shot Oakland 11-8 and scored on five of their seven shots on goal. The win was BGSU's first-ever over Oakland and featured the Falcons' most goals in a match since an 8-0 win over Chicago State in 2014.

BGSU SEASON-OPENING WIN STREAK
Aug. 21, 2015 vs Chicago State (4-0)
Aug. 19, 2016 vs Eastern Illinois (1-0)
Aug. 18, 2017 at Oakland (5-1)
BGSU all-time record in season openers: 9-12-0

FANNON'S FIRST
Bowling Green head coach Matt Fannon won his first game at the helm of the Falcons when the team defeated Oakland, 5-1. Fannon arrived at BGSU last December following four successful years at Wittenberg, where he totaled a 40-26-10 record and won conference coach of the year honors in 2016. Fannon is the third of the five coaches in BGSU history to win their first career game, joining Tom Piccirillo (1-0 at Kent State, 1997) and Andy Richards (2-0 vs St. Bonaventure, 2000).

FLEAK'S FINEST
BGSU senior forward Skylar Fleak (Sunbury, Ohio/Big Walnut) had a day for the ages in the 5-1 victory at Oakland. She scored four goals and became the third player in Falcon history to reach that mark, joining Kristy Coppes (6, 8/27/2004) and Samantha Meister (4, 10/12/03). Her third goal, scored 2:07 into the second half, netted the tenth hat trick in team history. In addition, Fleak increased her career total to 20 goals. That moves her into a tie with Alyssa Zuccaro (2008-11) for third place on BGSU's all-time list. Only Coppes (52, 2001-04) and Meisster (28, 2002-05) have scored more.

FLEAK'S FOUR GOALS
#1: 8:57 (1) -- Shot from 5 yards out, went through keeper's hands (Kennedy assist)
#2: 12:19 (1) -- Shot from 10 yards out following turnover (Swindell assist)
#3: 47:07 (2) -- Shot from 6 yards out, beat three defenders (Swindell assist)
#4: 65:50 (2) -- Shot from 10 yards out following corner kick (Schupbach assist)

WEEKLY HONORS
Skylar Fleak earned conference and national recognition following her four-goal effort at Oakland. First, she was named the inaugural Mid-American Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the 2017 season. During the opening weekend, Fleak outscored every other MAC team, including nine that played twice. She was also named to the TopDrawerSoccer National Team of the Week. That team is comprised of 11 players from throughout the NCAA Division I ranks.

SWINDELL IS SWELL
Junior forward Marissa Swindell (Salem, Ohio/Salem) arrived at BGSU this summer after transferring from the University of Findlay. It took her no time to acclamate to her new team. She played 86 minutes against Oakland and set up two of Fleak's four goals. With a 1-0 lead, she caused an Oakland turnover in BGSU's offensive end, then passed to Fleak, who scored the game-winning goal. She followed that by starting the second half with a laser of a pass to Fleak for BGSU's fourth goal. She is the fifth active Falcon to record a multi-assist game. Swindell notched 11 goals and six assists in 34 career games at Findlay.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Midfielder Madison Schupbach began her final season with the Falcons by joining Swindell and three others on the team's list of active players with multi-assist games. Her contributions came on the team's third and fifth goals, when she sent corner kicks that were successfully sent into the net. Schupbach now has 20 career points and is one assist shy of her career high.

RETURNING STARTERS
BGSU returns ten of its 11 starters from the 2016 team for the 2017 season. Two of those returners contributed to the Falcons' win over Oakland. Alexis Fricke scored her first career goal and gave Bowling Green a 3-0 lead when she converted a Schupbach corner cross into a goal at the 29:36 mark of the first half. Maureen Kennedy, who posted four goals and four assists in 2016 as a freshman, posted an assist at Oakland.

SCOUTING MOREHEAD STATE
The Morehead State Eagles began the 2017 season with a pair of losses last weekend. The opened the season with a trip to Western Carolina, where they fell 3-1. Caitlyn Burdine broke the ice for a 1-0 lead 30:42 into the game, but the Eagles gave up three unanswered goals. Two days later, they returned home but lost 2-1 to Northern Kentucky. Once again, they scored first, this time on an NKU own goal 10:05 into the second half. NKU later scored twice in a five-minute span for the win. MSU returns ten of 11 starters from last year's 6-11-2 squad. Head coach Warren Lipka (70-73-22) is in his ninth season.

SCOUTING BUTLER
The Butler Bulldogs kicked off 2017 with a match at #18 Notre Dame. Butler fought the Fighting Irish to an impressive 110-minute scoreless draw. Butler was out-shot 15-6 and had only two shots on goal, but they permitted only four Irish shots to reach the goalkeeper. On Sunday, Aug. 20, Butler traveled to Athens, Ohio, where they lost 1-0 to the Ohio Bobcats. Ohio scored 3:57 into the match, and neither team could reach the net again. The Bulldogs had 19 shots, including six on goal. Butler went 11-7-2 last season and returns eight starters for co-head coaches Tari St. John and Rob Alman.

HOME OPENER
Good things come to those who wait! The home opener for the BGSU women's soccer team is just one week away, and the Falcons will be hosting the Big Ten's Michigan State Spartans! Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 1 at Cochrane Stadium. Bowling Green has two lifetime wins against Big Ten schools, and one of those came at Cochrane against MSU (3-2 OT victory in 1999).

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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Victoria Cope

Skylar Fleak

Alexis Fricke

Maureen Kennedy

Madison Schupbach

Marissa Swindell

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