BGSU Jumps on Top Early in 3-1 Win over KSU

Friday, October 12

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

9-3-2, 7-0-0MAC

Kent State

8-6-1, 4-3-0MAC

Kent State

Bowling Green

October 12, 2018 | Women's Soccer

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Falcons top MAC preseason favorite to improve to 7-0-0 in the league

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Junior Chelsee Washington's goal less than three minutes into the match gave the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team an early lead, and the Falcons went on to a 3-1 win over Kent State University Friday night (Oct. 12). The Mid-American Conference match was held at a rainy Cochrane Stadium.

With the win, the first-place Falcons improve to 9-3-2 overall and 7-0-0 in MAC play. The Golden Flashes, the defending MAC regular-season champion and the preseason pick to win the league in 2018, are 8-6-1 and 4-3-0, respectively.

Washington scored two goals on the night, while redshirt sophomore Nikki Cox also found the back of the net. Washington's first goal came at the 2:51 mark, and Cox doubled the BG lead with just under 26 minutes gone.

Washington headed home her second goal of the night in the 70th minute to give the Brown and Orange a three-goal lead. Paige Culver got the Flashes on the board, scoring on a free kick with exactly seven minutes to go.

Junior Kathleen Duwve made seven saves in goal for the Falcons. KSU's Faith O'Neill had two stops on the night.

The win was the Falcons' eighth in a row, tying the school record. BGSU is undefeated in the last nine matches (8-0-1).

NOTE OF THE NIGHT
• The Falcons are 7-0-0 in the MAC for the first time in program history. BGSU has outscored the opponents, 17-2, in conference matches to date.
• Prior to this season, no BGSU team had ever started MAC play with more than three consecutive wins.
• With 21 points, the Falcons are seven points ahead of the second-place team (Sunday's opponent, Ohio).

FIRST-HALF HIGHLIGHTS
• 2' | Redshirt sophomore Nikki Cox took a pass from senior Erica Hubert and hit a hard shot from just outside the penalty area, forcing KSU goalkeeper Faith O'Neill into a diving save. O'Neill deflected the ball out of play for a BGSU corner kick.
• 3' | GOAL | Hubert took that corner kick, and junior Chelsee Washington rose to meet the ball in the center of the box. From the six-yard line, Washington headed the ball down, and it bounced past O'Neill and into the net to give the Falcons the lead.
• 4' | Less than a minute after the goal, the Falcons threatened again. Washington brought the ball past midfield and into the KSU end, and slid a pass to Hubert on her left. Hubert cut across the top of the 18 and hit a shot that was blocked. Cox smashed the rebound toward goal, but that shot was blocked by a KSU defender as well.
• 11' | Senior Alexis Fricke served a ball toward the box from the right side. Cox redirected the ball toward goal, striking it well, but the shot whizzed wide of the right post.
• 18' | The Flashes got the ball to Isabelle Mihail, but her chip shot sailed over the goal.
• 26' | GOAL | The Falcons played a long ball forward. A KSU defender got a boot on it, hitting it into the air, and another Golden Flash also struck it high into the air. The ball bounced, and Cox settled it down, facing away from goal with a defender at her back. Cox faked one way, then went the other way to create space, and the redshirt sophomore lofted a shot over O'Neill's outstretched arms and into the upper half of the net from approximately 30 yards out.
• 32' | Cox and the Falcons had another solid scoring chance. Sophomore Sophia Barnes got her head on senior Morgan Abbitt's long ball forward. Barnes headed the ball to freshman Sarah Allen, who took the ball to the end line, cut it back and hit a low cross from the right side. Cox's first touch was a beauty, as she created space between herself and a pair of defenders, and she hit a hard shot from about 12 yards out. O'Neill got her fingertips on the ball, but it hit the left goalpost and bounced back across the goalmouth where the KSU 'keeper gratefully fell on it.

SECOND-HALF HIGHLIGHTS
• 56' | The visitors threatened, as Paige Culver's free kick was blocked by the Falcons, but the ball caromed to Cameron Shedenhelm. Shedenhelm hit a turnaround shot from the top of the 18, but junior Kathleen Duwve was there to make the save.
• 62' | Mihail did some solid work on the left side of the pitch, and got the ball to Vital Kats. The KSU sophomore hit a hard shot from the 18-yard line, but the rocket was hit directly at Duwve, who grabbed the ball without allowing a rebound.
• 64' | BGSU won a free kick on the right side, and junior Maureen Kennedy struck it well, but the rising shot continued to rise, and sailed over the goal, thwacking into the fence at the north end of the Cochrane complex.
• 68' | Cox, who was a thorn in the Flashes' collective side all night long, took the ball to the end line and nutmegged a would-be defender before poking a cross into the six-yard box. But, O'Neill was able to grab the ball by the near post before Allen could arrive.
• 70' | GOAL | Allen stole the ball in the KSU end of the field and was immediately fouled. Kennedy took the ensuing free kick, putting the ball into the danger zone, and Washington headed it home for her second goal of the night, giving the Falcons a three-goal advantage.
• 80' | Duwve saved a long shot off the boot of Maddie Holmes.
• 83' | GOAL | The Golden Flashes got on the scoreboard when Culver converted a free kick from distance. KSU would have two more shot attempts on the night, but Duwve saved a Katie Kovacs shot, and another Culver effort was well wide of the target.

STATISTICS
• Kent State had 18 total shots to the Falcons' 12, and the Flashes had an 8-5 advantage in shots on goal.
• KSU had two corner kicks to the Falcons' one, but BGSU scored off of that lone corner,
• Redshirt sophomore Nikki Cox led the Falcons and tied for game honors with five shots, including three on goal. In addition to her goal, she saw another one of her efforts deflected off of the goalpost.
• Junior Chelsee Washington had three shots on the night, including two on frame. Both of her shots on goal wound up in the goal.
• KSU was led by Vital Kats, who had five total shots. Both Kats and Maddie Holmes put two shots on frame.

A FEW FALCON NOTES
• BGSU, as mentioned, is now 7-0-0 in the MAC. The seven conference wins is tied for the second-highest total in school history.
• BGSU has won eight-straight games dating to the final non-league match of the season, and the Falcons are unbeaten in the last nine matches (8-0-1).
• The Falcons' current winning streak is tied for the longest in school history. The 2005 team, after beginning MAC play with a 1-2-0 record, won eight-straight matches to end the regular season, en route to a league regular-season title.
• During the eight-match winning streak, the Falcons have outscored the opponents, 23-2. In fact, three players – junior Chelsee Washington (8), senior Erica Hubert (7) & sophomore Nikki Cox (3) – each have singlehandedly outscored the opposition in that time.
• The nine-match unbeaten streak is the second longest in program history. The school record is an 11-match unbeaten streak (9-0-2) in 2005, beginning with the aforementioned eight-straight wins.
• After scoring the first goal of the match just once in the first five contests of the season, the Falcons have scored first in each of the last nine matches.
• Washington has scored the first goal of the match five times in the last nine contests.
• On the year, BGSU is now 9-0-1 when scoring first, and the Falcons are 0-3-1 when the opponent scores first.
• Friday's win was the Falcons' 22nd victory since Matt Fannon was named head coach prior to the 2017 season. BGSU has an overall record of 22-10-3 in that time.
• The Falcons are now 13-4-1 in MAC regular-season matches and 15-5-1 in all games vs. conference foes since Fannon assumed the BG helm.
• In the Fannon Era, BGSU is a perfect 21-0-0 when scoring at least two goals, and the Falcons are 1-10-3 when being held to fewer than two goals.
• Washington now has eight goals this season, tying her with Hubert for the team lead. Friday marked Washington's third two-goal match of the season and the fourth of her career.
• Two of those four multiple-goal matches have come against Kent State. Last season, Washington found the back of the net twice in the Falcons' regular-season win over the Golden Flashes in Kent (Oct. 22, 2017). Just like Friday night, BGSU won that match by a 3-1 score.
• Hubert had the primary assist on Washington's first goal, and now has team-high totals of seven assists and 23 points on the year. Washington has six assists and 22 points.
• Two other Falcons, Cox and junior Maureen Kennedy, have reached double figures in scoring this season. After scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal on Friday, Cox now has five goals and 11 points in her first season as a Falcon.
• Kennedy, with the lone assist on Washington's second goal of the night, now has 10 points on the season, including six assists.
• In her collegiate career, Hubert now has 12 assists and 82 points (along with 35 goals). She is second in school history in both goals and points, and is two assists away from moving onto that BGSU list.
• Hubert has scored 13 points over the last six matches, and she has 20 points during the Falcons' nine-match unbeaten streak.
• Washington now has 12 career goals, and has tied Julie Trundle (2002-05) for 11th place on that school list. She has a total of 35 career points.
• Kennedy's assist was the 20th of her career. She is fifth in school history, just one behind fourth-place Megan Amann (21 from 2008-11). Trundle holds the school record with 33 career assists.
• Cox now has collegiate totals of 12 goals, 27 points and three game-winning goals. She played at UNC Wilmington prior to transferring to BGSU in time for the Spring 2018 semester.
• Cox has had the GWG in back-to-back matches. She scored the lone goal in Sunday's (Oct. 7) win over Eastern Michigan.
• Junior goalkeeper Kathleen Duwve allowed a goal for just the second time in seven MAC matches this season. She has a goals-against average of just 0.58 this season, and a career GAA of 0.95 in over 2500 minutes.
• In MAC play, Duwve's GAA is a miniscule 0.31. She has allowed just two goals in 585 MAC minutes, and has a saves percentage of .929 in conference contests this season.
• The Falcons have a record of 6-1-1 at home this season, and BGSU is 11-1-1 at Cochrane Stadium in the last 13 matches. In that time, the Falcons have outscored the opponents, 34-8, at Cochrane.

WHAT'S NEXT?
• The Falcons wrap up a three-match homestand on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 14). First-place BGSU hosts second-place Ohio in a 1:00 p.m. start at Cochrane Stadium.
• Ohio has lost just once in seven MAC matches this season to date.
• Admission is free to all BGSU regular-season home soccer action.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• For more information on the women's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Twitter (@BGAthletics and @BGSUWSoccer), Instagram (bgsuwsoccer) and Facebook (bgsuwsoccer) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.