Falcons Flock to Western Michigan and Northern Illinois for Weekend Action

Friday, September 29

Kalamazoo, MI

4:00PM

Bowling Green State University

Western Michigan

Photo by: Larry Clapper

Falcons Flock to Western Michigan and Northern Illinois for Weekend Action

September 27, 2017 | Women's Soccer

By: by Matthew Daley, Athletic Communicationis Assistant

LINKS
BGSU Women's Soccer Game Notes (.pdf)
Live Stats (vs. WMU)
Live State (vs. NIU)
BGSU-Ball State Game Recap
BGSU-Miami 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 plays its first two road matches of the MAC season this weekend with trips to Western Michigan and Northern Illinois. On Friday, the Falcons will head to Kalamazoo, Mich. for a 4:00 p.m. match with the Broncos (6-3-0; 1-1-0 MAC). On Sunday, BGSU travels to DeKalb, Ill. for a 2:00 p.m. kickoff against the Huskies (5-3-1; 2-0-0 MAC). BGSU is 3-1 on the road in 2017.

The Falcons are 6-3-0 in 2017 and 1-1-0 in the young MAC season. BGSU features the MAC's top scoring offense (2.22 goals per game) and the league leaders in goals and points (Skylar Fleak), as well as assists (Maureen Kennedy).

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.

SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN
The Broncos split a pair of 2-0 decisions on the road last weekend. WMU was shut out at Buffalo despite taking 17 shots, as they gave up goals in the 44th and 87th minutes on just five Buffalo shots on goal. WMU was called for 17 fouls and was handed three yellow cards. At Akron, the Broncos took 20 shots and scored their first goal of the weekend on a Victoria McCartney shot at the 73:41 mark. Ashleigh Garcia scored a second just four minutes later. Stephanie Heber saved six Bulls' shots. Grace Labadie leads the Broncos in goals (3) and points (7), while Heber has started all nine games with a save percentage of .824 and an 0.98 goals against average.

WMU head coach Lauren Sinacola is 19-10-1 in her second season at the helm of the Broncos. She is 7-5-1 against the MAC, including a 6-4-1 mark in 2016.

SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS
The Huskies got off to a perfect start to MAC play last weekend by winning 2-1 at Akron and 2-0 at Buffalo. Against the Zips, NIU had just two shots on goal in the first half but both of them found the net on goals from Haley Hoppe (22') and Kyleigh Dominguez (37'). Akron scored early in the second half but NIU held on for the win. The Huskies earned goals from Taylor Sarver and Natalie Yass in the first 7:25 of the second half, while Amy Annala saved eight shots to preserve the shutout. Sarver leads the team with three goals but ten different Huskies have at least one. Lauren Gierman is the team leader with four assists. Annala has started all nine games in goal with a 0.98 goals against average and a .809 save percentage.

NIU head coach John Ross is in his seventh season in DeKalb and owns a 33-57-18 record with the Huskies. Last season, they were 5-11-5 overall and 3-6-2 in the MAC.

LAST WEEK
Bowling Green split a pair of home matches last weekend to begin the MAC portion of their schedule. The Falcons fell in the MAC opener to Ball State, 2-1. BGSU held the two-time defending MAC regular season champs scoreless through 60 minutes and had the game tied 1-1 with 15 minutes left. However, a Cardinals' goal in the 80th minute led to the less. On Sunday, BGSU rebounded with a 4-1 rout of Miami. Skylar Fleak scored two goals and earned five points, while Marissa Swindell and Sophia Barnes scored the first goals of their MAC career. At 6-3-0, the Falcons are tied for the most wins through nine games in school history.

FANTASTIC FLEAK
Senior forward Skylar Fleak (Sunbury, Ohio) continues to be a critical asset in the MAC's best scoring offense (2.22 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 now leads the MAC and ranks in the top ten nationally for points (20), points per game (2.22), goals (8) and goals per game (0.89). She has a point in six of nine games, a goal in four of nine, two multi-goal games and two games of five-or-more points. Fleak is currently on pace to break the BGSU single-season record for total points (38) and 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 last weekend and now has an active streak of five straight games with an assist and six straight games with a point. She is now tied with Julie Trundle (2002) for the longest assist streak in BGSU hsitory and one game shy of Trundle's school-record points streak. Her seven assists in 2017 rank fourth nationally, and she is fifth in the country with 0.78 assists per game.

With nine games to go, Kennedy is just three assists shy of tying the single-season BGSU record. In just 28 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.

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 eight of nine games this year and more shots on goal in six of the nine. For the season as a whole, they've outshot their opponents by nearly a 2:1 margin (156-92). Through half of the schedule, BGSU is on pace for its most shots (312) and goals (40) since 2004, its fewest-ever shots allowed (184), and its fewest goals allowed since 2008 (20).

HOORAY FOR HUBERT
Redshirt junior Erica Hubert launched a barrage of shots at Robert Morris goalkeeper Sydney bruckner on Sept. 15 in BGSU's 2-1 win over the Colonials. Her nine attempts were a season high, and she scored her third goal of the season from the right side of the box in the 26th minute. That score gave the Falcons a lead they would not give up. Hubert is now tied with Michelle Lisy for eighth in BGSU history with 18 career goals. She currently leads the 2017 Falcons in shots (38) and shots on goal (17).

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Defenders rarely get scoring opportunities, so when those arrive, it's special. Senior Rachel Winters scored against Chicago State less than a month into her BGSU career in 2014 but did not even get a shot during her sophomore and junior seasons. Two games into her final campaign with the Falcons, Winters earned two shots (both on goal) against Morehead State. She buried oen in the net in the 55th minute for the first game-winning goal of her career. Winters only had to wait two weeks for another chance. On Senior Day against Wright State, she scored her second goal (and game-winner) of 2017 off a set piece in the 22nd minute during BGSU's 2-0 win.

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.