BG Battles Valparaiso in Friday's Home Opener

Friday, August 30

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Valparaiso

Kennedy Kenna White Zoe Hudson - August 2019 practice

Photo by: Mallory Hiser, BGSU Athletics

August 28, 2019 | Women's Soccer

BGSU Notes Valparaiso Notes Coach Fannon Interview (Aug. 28)

Defending MAC champions return to Cochrane Stadium

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

FALCONS vs. VALPARAISO – Friday, Aug. 30
7:00 p.m. | Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio
• Video/Web Stream: WBGU-TV (YouTube)
• Audio: Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization
• Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com | Twitter: @bgsuwsoc

MATCH DAY / FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Links to any live audio/video/stats will be available on the women's soccer schedule page at BGSUFalcons.com on match day

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UP NEXT IN FALCON SOCCER
• The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team opens the home portion of the 2019 regular season this weekend. Head coach Matt Fannon and the Falcons, the 2018 Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament champions, will face Valparaiso University on Friday evening (Aug. 30). The match will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium, and admission is free.

BGSU WOMEN'S SOCCER LINKS
Falcons Picked to Capture Conference Crowns
One Last Look at the 2018 Championship Season
2019 BGSU Women's Soccer Releases/Notes
2019 Women's Soccer... Schedule | Roster | Media Guide/Record Book
Join the Falcon Club Today!

MENTION OUR NAME AT THE DOOR AND GET IN FREE!
• Again this season, admission is free to all Falcon men's and women's soccer home regular-season matches.

GIVEAWAYS / PROMOTIONS / EVENTS
• As if free admission was not enough, there are a veritable plethora of additional reasons to come watch the Falcons in action. Friday's match will be Youth Soccer Night at Cochrane Stadium, and the team will be signing autographs after the match.

• The first 500 fans through the gates will receive a commemorative stadium cup honoring the Falcons' 2018 MAC regular-season and tournament championships.

• A banner unveiling will take place prior to the match, as the 2018 MAC Championship banner will be revealed. Members of last season's senior class are expected to be on hand at Cochrane to participate in the ceremony.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• If you can't make it to Cochrane Stadium, live stats are scheduled to be available for each home match via BGSUFalcons.com. And, periodic twitter updates for all women's soccer action will be available via @bgsuwsoc.

• All seven of the Falcons' home matches are scheduled to be streamed, free of charge, by WBGU-TV and available via YouTube.

• Additionally, the audio for most, if not all, of BG's home matches will be available through the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO).

• As always, all of the pertinent information re: Falcon soccer coverage can be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com on the day of the match.

FIVE FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• Coming off of a championship season in 2018, the Falcons have been picked to win the Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament titles in 2019.

• For the first time in program history, the Falcons returned three First-Team All-MAC Team members. Seniors Kathleen Duwve, Maureen Kennedy and Chelsee Washington all were named to the all-league first team in 2018.

• Head coach Matt Fannon and his staff welcomed back a total of 17 letterwinners, including six starters, from a year ago. BGSU finished the 2018 season with an overall record of 14-5-3 and a MAC mark of 10-1-0, and the Falcons won both the conference regular-season and tournament crowns.

• The Falcons went 10-1-2 at home last season, and BG was 4-4 on the road and 0-0-1 in neutral-site matches. BGSU outscored opponents, 43-17, including 31-7 in the 14 total contests against conference competition last fall.

• BGSU scored two or more goals in a match on 12 occasions in 2018, including 10 times in the 14 matches vs. MAC foes. The Falcons allowed as many as two goals only twice, in a 2-0 loss at then-No. 15 Northwestern and a 4-1 setback at No. 14 Penn State. The latter match came in the NCAA Championships.

HOME IS WHERE THE RECORDS ARE (BROKEN)
• The 2018 Falcons broke the school records for most home wins in a season and most consecutive victories at home.

• BGSU went 10-1-2 at Cochrane Stadium last fall, including two wins and a tie in the MAC Tournament. The old record for home wins in a season was held by the 2008 team, which went 8-1-1. Three previous BG teams, including Matt Fannon's first BG team in 2017, posted seven wins at home.

• The Falcons' double-overtime loss to Xavier last Sept. 6 snapped a six-game home winning streak, just one shy of the school record. But, BGSU proceeded to begin another streak. After tying DePaul one week later (Sept. 13), the Falcons won nine consecutive matches at Cochrane, breaking the mark of seven set by that 2008 team. That streak was snapped in the league tourney title game (a tie vs. Ball State), but the Falcons take an 11-match home unbeaten streak into Friday night's Valparaiso contest.

• The Falcons outscored opponents, 28-7, in home games last season. In Fannon's two years with the Falcons, BGSU has a record of 17-3-2 in home games. In those 22 contests, BGSU has outscored the opposition, 49-17.

• In home matches (regular-season and tournament) against MAC foes, BG is 13-1-1 over the last two seasons, and BGSU has outscored the opposition by a 34-12 count. The Falcons are unbeaten in the last 14 home matches vs. MAC opponents (13-0-1) since a 2-1 loss to Ball State on Sept. 22, 2017.

A FEW THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons, as mentioned, returned 17 letterwinners from last year's MAC Championship team. BGSU's 2018 MAC regular-season title was the second in program history, and the Falcons went on to capture the MAC Tournament title for the third time ever.

• BGSU's total of 14 wins last year tied the school record, and the 2018 team finished the season with the fewest losses and the highest winning percentage in program history. The Falcons shattered the school record for conference victories, with 10.

• The Falcons are off to an 0-1-1 start this season, after a 3-3, double-overtime draw at Kentucky and a 2-1 loss at Xavier. The 2018 team also was 0-1-1 after the season's opening weekend, and last year's club got off to a 1-3-2 start before reeling off a nine-match winning streak.

• Four different Falcons scored goals in last weekend's two matches. That list includes senior Maureen Kennedy, redshirt junior Nikki Cox and a pair of freshmen. Katie Cox, Nikki's younger sister, scored less than six minutes after Nikki had found the back of the net in the UK match. Then, at Xavier, fellow freshman Kennedy White scored the Falcons' lone goal.

• Nikki Cox, who assisted on White's goal, leads the team with three points, while Katie Cox, Kennedy and White each have two points and senior Chelsee Washington one.

• Senior Kathleen Duwve played all 200 minutes in goal last week, and was credited with six saves. Duwve stopped a penalty kick in the first minute of the Xavier match. She has a 2.25 goals-against average this season to date.

• In addition to Duwve, Kennedy is the lone Falcon to have played all 200 minutes so far this year. Duwve and Kennedy were joined in the starting lineup by Nikki Cox, Washington, senior Kristin Tveit, juniors Sophia Barnes and Nikhita Jacob, sophomores Sarah Allen and Ruby Linton and freshmen Lena Kovar and Audrey Shea.

FALCON FIRSTS
• As mentioned earlier, a pair of freshmen were among the goal-scorers in the season's first week. Katie Cox scored her first collegiate goal in the Kentucky match, while Kennedy White opened her account at Xavier.

• The Falcons' starting lineup at UK featured two freshmen, Lena Kovar and Audrey Shea. In addition to Kovar and Shea, sophomore Ruby Linton made her first collegiate start that evening, while classmate Sarah Allen made her second.

• Katie Cox, White and Jasmijn Disselhof all made their respective debuts in that match as well, while Makenzie Ortman made her BG debut at Xavier.

• In the Kentucky contest, Katie Cox became the first Falcon to score in her BGSU debut since ... Nikki Cox. The elder Cox, a transfer from UNC-Wilmington, scored in her first BGSU match, against Loyola Marymount, last August.

SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE BROWN AND ORANGE FOR YOUR BROADCAST, WEB STREAM, ARTICLE OR MYSPACE PAGE
• In head coach Matt Fannon's first two-plus years, the Falcons have posted an overall record of 27-13-5 and a league mark of 16-5-1. BG is 20-6-2 in all games (regular season and tournament) vs. MAC foes in that time.

• The Falcons' 17 returning letterwinners include three players – seniors Chelsee Washington and Maureen Kennedy and redshirt junior Nikki Cox – who scored at least 19 points apiece last season. Washington had nine goals, nine helpers and 27 points in 2018, and she scored a team-leading four game-winning goals. She was named the United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Week on Sept. 25.

• Kennedy and Cox had 20 and 19 points, respectively. Cox scored eight goals to rank third on the team, and she had three game-winning goals last season.

• Kennedy also had three GWG last fall, and tied for the team assists lead with 10. That assist total tied the school record, a record which she already shared. Kennedy, the MAC Defensive Player of the Year, was also one-third of a veteran back line that helped BG to nine shutouts last year, including seven clean sheets in 14 matches vs. MAC opponents.

• Junior Kathleen Duwve started all 22 matches in goal last season, and had 81 saves and a goals-against average of just 0.79. She posted six complete-match shutouts and combined on three others. Duwve had a GAA of just 0.49 in MAC matches, allowing only five goals in over 927 minutes during league regular-season play.

• In MAC games only, Washington finished second in the league in both goals (seven) and points (19). Kennedy was second in the entire conference in assists (seven), and also was ranked among the top 10 in points (13).

• Duwve had a saves pct. of .878 in conference clashes last season. She led the MAC in GAA and saves pct., both overall and in league games only.

• Not surprisingly, the Falcons led the entire league in a veritable plethora of categories during conference play, including goals, assists, points, shots, shot percentage, fewest goals allowed, shutouts and GAA.

• BGSU outscored MAC opponents, 31-7, in 14 regular-season and tourney matches vs. conference competition last fall. The Falcons scored at least two goals in 10 of those 14 matches, and never allowed more than one goal in a match vs. a MAC opponent.

• In addition to that 31-7 scoring advantage against MAC foes, the Falcons hit the post or the crossbar with 10 additional shots. The opponents hit the post/bar a total of two times in those 14 matches.

• The 2019 season marks the 23rd year of BGSU women's soccer. The Falcons have a winning percentage of .427 in MAC regular-season matches since the inception of the program in 1997, but BGSU ranks third among MAC schools with a .643 winning pct. in MAC Tournament matches.

• Matt Fannon, now in his third season at BG, is the fifth coach in the history of Falcon women's soccer. He joins Tom Piccirillo (1997-99), Andy Richards (2000-11), Kellie Evans (2012 - interim coach) and Lindsay Basalyga (2013-16) on that list.

• Fannon – the MAC Coach of the Year in both 2017 and '18 – led the Falcons to a second-place finish in the MAC's East Division in his first season. BGSU then advanced all the way to the championship game of the conference tournament. Last year, of course, the Falcons burst out to an 8-0-0 start in league play, en route to winning both the regular-season and tourney crowns.

• The Falcons defeated Oakland, 3-0, in the team's lone 2019 scrimmage (Aug. 14). Sophomore Alexis Miller and freshmen Kennedy White and Jasmijn Dijsselhof accounted for the goals, while Duwve, senior Monica Florez and freshman Becky Moss all saw time in net.

A FEW FINAL FALCON FUTBOL FACTS
• BGSU has had a total of 16 MAC regular-season victories, going 16-5-1, since Matt Fannon took the helm prior to the 2017 season. During the prior eight seasons (2009-16), BG had won a total of 15 MAC regular-season matches, going 15-61-12 in league play in that stretch.

• Last Thursday night at Kentucky marked the first time since head coach Matt Fannon took the helm that the Falcons scored two or more goals in a match and did not win. BGSU is now 25-0-1 when scoring at least two goals in a match since the start of the 2017 season. In that span, the Falcons are 2-13-4 when being held to fewer than two goals.

• Last year, BGSU was 13-0-2 when scoring first, and the Falcons were 1-5-1 when the opponent scored first. The opponent has scored first in each of BG's first two matches this season.

THE 2019 CAPTAINS
• Seniors Kathleen Duwve and Chelsee Washington and redshirt junior Nikki Cox are the captains of the 2019 Falcons.

THE OPPONENT
• Valparaiso is 0-2-0 after a pair of 1-0 home losses last weekend, to Green Bay and Oakland. Georgia Henkel played all 180 minutes in goal, and had five saves and a GAA of just 1.00. Defender Ali Quillen also played all 180 minutes last weekend, and has played every second of every match for VU since September of 2017. Coach John Marovich, in his 12th season, welcomes back 13 letterwinners, including five starters, from a year ago. The 2018 club went 5-8-3 overall and 2-4-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Valpo was picked to finish seventh in the MVC in 2019, according to the preseason coaches poll.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads Valparaiso, 4-2-1, in the all-time series between the teams, and BG won the last meeting, 1-0 at Cochrane Stadium, two years ago. BG is 3-1-0 in home games and 1-1-1 on the road vs. the Crusaders.

• It should be noted – or maybe it shouldn't? – that the Falcons and Crusaders have twice had matches washed away due to thunderstorms. In both 2003 and last season, inclement weather forced the cancellation of BGSU-VU matches in Northwest Indiana.

DOWN THE ROAD...
• Following the Valparaiso contest, the Falcons will conclude a two-match homestand with a matchup vs. Dayton on Thursday, Sept. 5. First touch is set for 7:00 p.m.

• Then, BGSU will end the non-conference portion of the schedule with four-straight road games, vs. Michigan, Michigan State, DePaul and West Virginia.

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