What To Watch For: BGSU Battles Buckeyes Before Opening Home Schedule Sunday

Thursday, August 26

Columbus, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

RV Ohio State

Mackenzie Reuber - Aug 7 2021 v Valparaiso

Photo by: Mallory Hiser, BGSU Athletics

What To Watch For: BGSU Battles Buckeyes Before Opening Home Schedule Sunday

August 25, 2021 | Women's Soccer

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Sunday's Oakland match will be Dog Day at Cochrane

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Athletics

FALCONS at OHIO STATE – Thursday, August 26
7:00 p.m. | Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium | Columbus, Ohio
• Video/Web Stream: Big Ten Network+ ($$) •
• Live Stats: OhioStateBuckeyes.com | Twitter: @bgsuwsoc •

FALCONS vs. OAKLAND – Sunday, August 29
2:00 p.m. | Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio
• Video/Web Stream: WBGU-TV (YouTube) •
• Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com | Twitter: @bgsuwsoc •

WHAT TO WATCH FOR...
• The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team's grueling 2021 schedule continues this week with a third consecutive road match to start the season. Head coach Jimmy Walker and the Falcons, the three-time defending Mid-American Conference champions, head to Columbus for a Thursday (Aug. 26) contest against the Ohio State University. First touch is set for 7:00 p.m. at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

• Then, on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 29), the Orange and Brown will begin the home portion of the schedule when Oakland University comes to town. That match will begin at 2:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Thursday's Ohio State matchup is scheduled to be streamed via Big Ten Network Plus (BTN+). Sunday's Oakland contest will be streamed on YouTube, and produced by WBGU-TV.

• Live stats for both matches will be available, and twitter updates will be available at @BGSUwsoc.

• Links to live audio/video/stats for all 2021 matches will be available on BGSUFalcons.com (on the women's soccer schedule page and at the top of the main page) on game day.

FUN FALCON FACTS
• Sunday is Dog Day at Cochrane Stadium, with fans encouraged to bring their four-legged friends to the Oakland match.

• Thursday's OSU match marks BGSU's second-straight contest against a Big Ten Conference opponent. The Falcons will face four Big Ten schools in a five-match span, with Michigan State and Illinois on the early-September schedule.

• BGSU dropped a pair of road matches last week, falling to Notre Dame by a 3-1 count in the regular-season opener (Aug. 19) before dropping a narrow 2-1 decision at Michigan (Aug. 22).

• Madi Wolfbauer scored the Falcons' lone goal in the Notre Dame game, a match that featured a weather delay of nearly two and a half hours.

• At Michigan, Lacee Bethea's goal gave the Falcons an early lead before the host Wolverines rallied. U-M scored what proved to be the winning goal with just over 15 minutes left.

• Bethea's goal, which came with just 50 seconds gone, was the second-earliest goal in a match in program history. Only Corbie Yee scored an earlier goal, as she found the back of the net just 19 seconds into a match at Xavier on Sept. 21, 2008.

• Mackenzie Reuber had an assist on the Bethea goal, the seventh of her career. Reuber ranks second among active Falcons in career assists, trailing only Nikki Cox. Cox picked up the other assist on the Falcons' goal at U-M, and now has 11 assists in her BGSU career to date.

• The Falcons returned 19 letterwinners, including all 11 starters, from last season's club. The 2020(-21) Falcons went 6-1-1 overall and 5-1-0 in MAC play, outscoring opponents by a 17-3 count in the spring.

• The returning players combined for 100 percent of the goals and 90.9% (all but one) of the assists in the spring, and goalkeeper Lili Berg played approximately 96% of the minutes between the posts.

• Berg and the Falcons tied for first in the entire nation in shutout percentage (.750) last season, recording six shutouts in eight matches. BG earned the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season.

• Berg made four saves in each of BGSU's first two matches, including a diving stop of a penalty-kick attempt against Michigan.

• BGSU was a perfect 4-0-0 at home last season, outscoring opponents, 10-1, at Cochrane Stadium. The Orange and Brown went 2-1-0 in true road matches and 0-0-1 in neutral-site contests.

• That neutral-site match came in the NCAA Championships, where BGSU battled Ole Miss to a scoreless draw before the Rebels advanced via penalty kicks.

• The Falcons were picked to finish second in the MAC's regular-season race in 2021. BGSU received 132 total points and five first-place votes. Buffalo was picked to win the conference, with 136 total points and seven first-place votes. BGSU received six votes to win the MAC Tournament, while UB garnered four.

• Nikki Cox and Madi Wolfbauer each returned after being named to both the All-MAC First Team and the USC All-Region First Team. Wolfbauer led the Falcons in scoring with five goals and 10 points in last year's eight matches.

• Cox is just the third player in program history to be named to the all-region first team on two occasions.

• Berg, Jasmijn Dijsselhof and Audrey Shea each were named to the All-MAC Second Team last season. Berg and Kennedy White each landed on the USC All-Region Second Team.

• White was second on the team in scoring with four goals and nine points, while Katie Cox had seven points, including three goals. Cox, the younger sister of Nikki Cox, scored the game-winning goal in three-straight matches late last season, including in the MAC Championship vs. Ball State. She has five career goals, and four have proven to be the GWG.

• Nikki Cox is the Falcons' active career leader in goals, assists and points. A two-time All-MAC First-Team selection at BGSU, she now has scored 47 points (18 goals, 11 assists) in 53 matches as a Falcon. Cox began her collegiate career at UNCW, and scored 16 points on seven goals and two assists in 23 total games for the Seahawks.

• Berg, in her first season as BGSU, had a miniscule 0.38 goals-against average. She earned four complete-match shutouts in her eight starts, and played at least 71 minutes of two other clean sheets.

• Entering the Ohio State match, BGSU is 47-21-8 overall, 31-7-1 in MAC regular-season matches and 38-8-3 in all games vs. conference foes since the start of the 2017 season.

• Since the beginning of the 2018 campaign, the Falcons are 34-14-7 overall, 25-3-0 in MAC regular-season action and 30-3-2 in all games vs. league opposition.

• 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.

THE OPPONENTS
• Ohio State enters Thursday night's match with a 1-1-0 record. The Buckeyes dropped a 3-0 decision at #15 BYU before downing Akron by a 4-1 count in Columbus. Emma Sears had a hat trick in the latter match. OSU returns 10 of 11 starters from last year's team, including Izzy Rodriguez, who was named the Big Ten's Defender of the Year and earned All-America third-team honors a year ago. The Buckeyes were picked to finish third in the Big Ten in 2021.

• Oakland also is 1-1-0, heading into a Thursday match vs. DePaul. The Golden Grizzlies bounced back from a 3-0 loss at Florida Athletic by defeating Stetson, 2-1. Macey Wierenga had a goal and an assist in the latter match. Oakland was picked to finish third in the Horizon League in the fall of 2021 after going 5-3-2 in a conference-only schedule in the spring.

THE SERIES
• BGSU trails Ohio State, 5-1-1, in the all-time series, but the teams have not met since 2009. OSU picked up a 2-0 win in the last meeting between the schools. BG's lone series win was also a 2-0 verdict, in Columbus in the 2001 season.

• The Falcons trail Oakland, 3-2-1, in that series, but BGSU has won the last two matchups, including a 3-0 victory at Cochrane Field in the teams' most recent meeting, in August of 2018.

UP NEXT
• Following the Oakland match, the Falcons will begin the month of September with a trip to Michigan State on Thursday, Sept. 2. That match will begin at 7:00 p.m.

• Then, BGSU will play back-to-back home matches on back-to-back Thursdays, facing Illinois (Sept. 9) and Xavier (Sept. 16) at Cochrane Stadium.

# BGSU FALCON SOCCER #