Friday's First-Half Flurry Keeps Falcons Unbeaten in the MAC

Friday, September 28

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

5-3-2, 3-0-0MAC

Northern Illinois

1-10-0, 0-3-0MAC

Northern Illinois

Bowling Green

The Falcons celebrate a goal by Sarah Allen (center) late in the first half

Photo by: Larry Clapper

September 28, 2018 | Women's Soccer

Box Score Final Statistics (PDF)BGSU-NIU Photo Gallery (Larry Clapper)Rewatch the BGSU-NIU Match

Freshmen score a pair of goals in BGSU's 3-0 win over NIU

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team continued a recent trend on Friday evening (Sept. 28), and that trend led to success once again, as the Falcons picked up a 3-0 victory over Northern Illinois University. The Mid-American Conference match was held at Cochrane Stadium.

For the fourth-straight match, BGSU got on the board early, and for the fourth consecutive contest, the Falcon defense kept a clean sheet. Two of the three goals came from freshmen, as Mackenzie Reuber opened the scoring with her first collegiate goal, while Sarah Allen scored her first goal as a Falcon just before halftime.

Junior Maureen Kennedy also scored as BGSU increased the team's winning streak to four matches and the Falcons' unbeaten streak to five contests (4-0-1).

Junior Kathleen Duwve and redshirt junior Victoria Cope each played 45 minutes in goal to combine on the team's fourth-straight shutout.

BGSU had a 19-8 advantage in shots, including a 13-2 lead in that category in the first half.

HIGHLIGHTS

NOTE OF THE NIGHT
• BGSU is 3-0-0 in the MAC for just the second time in school history. The only other Falcon team to win three-straight games to start the conference campaign was the 2000 club.
• That team won three road matches, then dropped the next three contests, all at home, before rebounding to advance all the way to the championship match of the MAC Tournament.

FIRST-HALF HIGHLIGHTS
• 2' | The Falcons got off to a dominant start on Friday night. Redshirt sophomore Nikki Cox fired a pair of shots within the game's first 40 seconds, and senior Erica Hubert got through on goal with just 75 seconds gone. On the latter play, senior Jennifer Reyes crossed the ball to classmate Marissa Swindell in the center of the field at the top of the 18. Swindell, facing away from goal, was hit from behind, but still managed to slide the ball into the path of the onrushing Hubert. Hubert took a touch and fired a hard shot, but NIU starting goalkeeper MacKenzie Lee was able to make a point-blank save.
• 2' | Less than a minute later, BG got the ball back, and junior Chelsee Washington – the reigning United Soccer Coaches Player of the Week – hit a gorgeous diagonal ball into the path of Hubert, but the play was whistled dead due to an offside call.
• 8' | Hubert sent the ball out wide to an open Reyes, who delivered a left-side cross into the box. The ball was mere inches out of reach of the leaping Swindell, and sailed through the box and out the other side.
• 12' | Hubert knocked the ball away from a Huskie player at midfield, and the Falcons quickly attacked. Cox picked up the ball and found Swindell, but Swindell's shot was blocked out of play.
• 13' | GOAL | After a Cox shot was deflected over the end line, a BG corner kick sailed into the box and bounced off of several players. The ball was deflected toward freshman Mackenzie Reuber near the top of the 18, and Reuber blasted a shot into the upper right corner of the goal. Reuber's first collegiate goal, coming at the 12:43 mark, would also prove to be her first game-winning goal as a Falcon.
• 16' | GOAL | Just over two minutes later, the Falcons struck again, and the goal again came after a corner kick. Washington got her head on the ball, and junior Maureen Kennedy then redirected it on frame. An NIU player's lunging effort just before the ball reached the goal line was not enough to keep it out of the net, and the Falcons had a two-goal lead.
• 17' | CROSSBAR | Less than two minutes after Kennedy's goal, Cox very nearly increased the BG lead. Cox played the ball out wide to Reuber, who hit a cross from the right side. The ball was blocked by an NIU defender and trickled out of the box. Cox ran onto it and scorched a shot from distance. The rising blast beat Lee, but rang off of the crossbar.
• 28' | Freshman Sarah Allen stole a Huskie goal kick, took the ball into the penalty area and won a BG corner kick, but the visitors were able to successfully deal with that corner.
• 39 | Redshirt sophomore Rachel Muller hit a right-side cross to Allen, who laid the ball into the path of junior Kristin Tveit, but Lee was able to make a diving stop of Tveit's subsequent shot.
• 42' | Senior Alexis Fricke's long diagonal ball was hit with pinpoint accuracy, finding the head of the onrushing Allen on the left side of the penalty box. Allen's shot went just wide of the far post, but the play was nullified due to another offside call on the Falcons.
• 44' | GOAL | Just over a minute later, though, Allen struck for her first goal as a Falcon. Freshman Lynsey Spotts played a ball into the box, and an NIU player headed it away. Allen, however, kept the ball from leaving the penalty area, settling it down, taking one touch to her left and hitting a shot across her body. The ball found the net just inside the far post, and the Falcons had a three-goal advantage at the intermission.

SECOND-HALF HIGHLIGHTS
• 48' | Swindell's right-side crossing ball was met by Cox on the near side of the six-yard box, but Cox's one-time effort was wide.
• 50' | NIU's Trudy Quidzinski hit a shot from distance, but redshirt junior Victoria Cope made a difficult save, tipping the ball over the crossbar for a corner kick.
• 51' | CROSSBAR | Off of that corner, however, Haley Hoppe's shot was blocked at the near post, and Amanda Czerniak charged the ball and rifled a shot that rang off the bar and bounced away.
• 58' | Hubert made a long run and got a shot off, but the ball went wide of the right post.
• 61' | Moments later, Hubert uncorked a screamer from the top of the 18, but the blast went just inches wide of the left post.
• 77' | Cope made a save on Quidzinski, and after a shot by Kylee Hermeyer was blocked just over a minute later, BG did not allow another shot attempt over the game's final 12-plus minutes.

STATISTICS
• The Falcons held advantages of 19-8 in total shot attempts, 8-4 in shots on goal and 8-6 in corner kicks.
• Junior Kathleen Duwve made one save in the first half, while redshirt junior Victoria Cope had three stops as the Falcons kept a fourth consecutive clean sheet. MacKenzie Lee made four saves for the Huskies, while Megan Donnally worked a scoreless second half for NIU, making one stop.
• Redshirt sophomore Nikki Cox had a game-high five shots, including a blast that hit the crossbar. Senior Erica Hubert fired three shots, including one on goal.
• The teams combined for just nine fouls, with the Falcons whistled for only three.

FALCON NOTES
• BGSU is now 3-1-1 at home this season, and the Falcons are 10-3-1 at Cochrane Stadium since Matt Fannon became head coach prior to the 2017 season. BG has outscored opponents, 34-12, in home matches in that time.
• The Falcons have three shutouts in five home matches in 2018, after keeping two clean sheets at Cochrane during the 2017 campaign.
• Overall, BGSU has now scored two or more goals in 18 of the 31 matches since Fannon assumed head-coaching duties.
• In the Fannon Era, BGSU is a perfect 18-0-0 when scoring at least two goals, and the Falcons are 0-10-3 when being held to fewer than two goals.
• Friday marked the fourth consecutive match that BGSU scored within the first 21 minutes, and the third time in as many MAC games that the Falcons got a goal within the first 13 minutes.
• Freshmen Mackenzie Reuber and Sarah Allen each scored the first goal of their respective collegiate careers.
• Reuber's goal was her first game-winning goal as a Falcon.
• Reuber now has a two-game point streak. She had an assist on BG's first goal in Sunday's (Sept. 23) win at Ball State.
• Junior Maureen Kennedy's goal was her second of the season and the seventh of her career. She now has 32 career points as a Falcon.
• Kennedy has a four-game point-scoring streak, with a goal and four assists during that time.
• Junior Chelsee Washington now has a five-match point streak. She has a team-leading 15 points this season, including 14 over the last five games.
• Washington has scored 13 points over the last four matches. She had the game-winning goal in each of BG's previous three contests, scoring the first goal in shutout wins over Youngstown State, Miami and BSU.
• Washington now has career totals of 28 points on nine goals and 10 assists. Friday night marked her 50th match as a Falcon.
• Senior Erica Hubert's assist vs. NIU increased her career total to 73 points, moving her into a tie with Samantha Meister (2002-05) for second place on that BGSU list.
• Junior Kathleen Duwve and redshirt junior Victoria Cope combined on the shutout, BGSU's fourth in a row. The school record for consecutive shutouts is five, and that streak began exactly 10 years ago (Sept. 28 to Oct. 12, 2008).
• As a team, the Falcons have not allowed a goal in 361:54, the fifth-longest shutout streak in program history.
• Duwve's personal shutout streak stands at a career-long 271:54. That ranks as the eighth-longest such streak by an individual.
• Duwve now has a goals-against average of just 0.62 this season, and a career GAA of 1.03 in nearly 2200 minutes.
• Cope has not allowed a goal this season. She lowered her career GAA to 1.21 in over 1860 minutes in a BG uniform.

WHAT'S NEXT?
• The Falcons are back at Cochrane Stadium on Sunday (Sept. 30), facing Western Michigan in a battle of MAC unbeatens. BGSU and the Broncos, both 3-0-0 in conference play, will meet in a 1:00 p.m. start on Dog Day Afternoon – bring your canine companions to Cochrane!
• Admission is free to all BGSU regular-season home soccer action.
• Following the WMU match, BG will head to Mount Pleasant, Mich., for a Thursday (Oct. 4) contest vs. Central Michigan. Then, the Brown and Orange will return home for the next three matches, taking on Eastern Michigan (Oct. 7), Kent State (Oct. 12) and Ohio (Oct. 14).

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.