Falcons Meet Cardinals in Thursday's MAC Tournament Semifinal Round

BGSU vs. BALL STATE – Thursday, Nov. 3
MAC TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL
7:30 p.m. | UB Stadium | Buffalo, N.Y.
• Video/Web Stream: ESPN+ •
• Live Stats: UBBulls.com | Twitter: @bgsuwsoc •

FIRST TOUCH
• The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team heads to Western New York for the semifinal round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. Head coach Jimmy Walker and the Falcons, the number-three seed for the tournament, will meet second-seeded Ball State University on Thursday evening (Nov. 3). First touch for the match, the second semifinal of the evening, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at UB Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Thursday's BSU matchup will be streamed via ESPN+. Live stats, as well as periodic Twitter updates (@BGSUwsoc), will be available as well.

• Links to live audio/video/stats for all 2022 matches can be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com (on the women's soccer schedule page and at the top of the main page) on game day.

WHITE NAMED MAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
• On Tuesday (Nov. 1), the MAC office announced the All-MAC Team and specialty-award winners. Kennedy White was named the 2022 MAC Offensive Player of the Year. White is the fifth Falcon in the last six years to win that award.

• Maya Dean and Mackenzie Reuber joined White on the All-MAC First Team, while Brynn Gardner was named to the MAC's All-Freshman Team.

THE FALCONS AND THE MAC TOURNAMENT
• BGSU enters the BSU match with an all-time record of 21-7-7 in MAC Tournament matches after a 2-0 victory over Western Michigan in Sunday's (Oct. 30) quarterfinal match at Cochrane Stadium. The Falcons' .700 winning percentage is the highest among all MAC schools, and BG's total of 21 MAC Tournament victories ranks second in the conference (Miami has 22).

• The 2022 season marks the first time the Falcons have ever been the number-three seed for the MAC Tournament. BGSU has been the number-one seed six times, including in five-straight seasons from 2017-21, and the Falcons have been the fourth seed on four occasions. BG was the sixth seed once, the seventh seed once and the eighth seed twice.

• Entering the 2022 tourney, BGSU has advanced to the MAC Tournament final a league-record 10 times.

• BGSU qualified for the MAC Tournament just twice during the first five years of the program, before making the tourney in seven-straight seasons from 2002-08. The Falcons advanced to at least the semifinal round in six of those seven years.

• In 2004, the Falcons – seeded eighth – won the first MAC Tournament crown in program history. Each of BGSU's other five MAC Tournament titles came when the Falcons were a number-one seed.

• After making the MAC Tournament in seven-straight seasons (including the 2005 season when BG won the title), the Falcons then went eight years in a row (2009-16) without qualifying. The Falcons returned to the league tournament in 2017, advancing to the final, then captured the tourney crown in 2018, 2019, 2020(-21) and last fall.

• BGSU is 13-1-4 at home, 5-3-1 on the road and 3-3-2 in neutral-site matches in the MAC Tournament. The Falcons are 11-1-1 in the quarterfinal round, 7-3-2 in the semifinals and 3-3-4 in championship-match appearances.

• Seven of BGSU's MAC Tournament matches have required penalty kicks, and the Falcons advanced past the opponent in six of those seven matches, meaning that BG has survived and advanced in 27 of 35 league tourney contests.

THE FALCONS VS. BSU IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
• BGSU enters Thursday's match with a record of 1-0-2 vs. Ball State in the MAC Tournament, including a 1-0-1 mark at home and an 0-0-1 record on the road. Thursday marks the teams' first-ever meeting at a neutral site.

• The fourth-seeded Falcons battled the top-seeded Cardinals to a scoreless draw in Muncie in the semifinal round of the 2007 tournament. BGSU advanced to the final via penalty kicks.

• The teams have met twice at Cochrane Stadium within the last four years. In 2018, the top-seeded Falcons and second-seeded Cardinals battled to a 1-1 draw in the league tourney championship match, before the Orange and Brown again advanced via PKs.

• In the spring of 2021, the Falcons and Cardinals again met in the final at Cochrane Stadium. This time, the match was settled in the regulation 90 minutes, as a second-half goal by Katie Cox lifted BG to a 2-1 victory. Kennedy White also scored in that match, with an assist from Jasmijn DIjsselhof.

FASCINATING FALCON FACTS & FIGURES
• BGSU enters the BSU match with an overall record of 9-5-4, and the Falcons went 6-2-3 in MAC play to finish third in the conference. Last week, the Falcons ended the regular season with an improbable come-from-behind win at Northern Illinois on Thursday (Oct. 27). BGSU got a goal from Ellie Pool with 2:12 on the clock, before Brynn Gardner scored just 51 seconds later.

• Then, on Sunday (Oct. 30), goals by Alaina Uncapher and Maya Dean lifted the Orange and Brown to a 2-0 win over Western Michigan in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament. Lili Berg made five saves in goal as she and the BG back line kept a clean sheet.

• Berg has recorded three shutouts in four career MAC Tournament matches.

• BGSU has won four-straight matches. And, the Falcons are unbeaten (4-0-1) in the last five contests and have gone 6-1-1 over the last three-plus weeks. In that eight-game span, BG has outscored the opponents, 20-3.

• BGSU went 2-3-1 in non-conference play. Those six opponents – Michigan State, Cincinnati, Tennessee, Detroit Mercy, Valparaiso and Xavier – have a combined record of 59-26-22 (.654) and went 36-10-12 (.724) in conference. Both MSU (Big Ten) and Valpo (MVC) won their league regular-season titles, with Xavier (Big East) earning the second seed and Cincinnati (AAC) the third seed for their respective conference tournaments.

• BG's three non-league losses came to teams (MSU, Tennessee and Xavier) with a combined record of 38-7-10 (.782).

• In league play, the Falcons outscored opponents, 24-9, in the 11 regular-season contests, and BGSU has a 26-9 scoring edge in all games vs. MAC foes in 2022.

• Senior Kennedy White – the MAC Offensive Player of the Year – leads the Falcons with 12 goals and 26 points this fall. White had 10 goals as a freshman in 2019 and is just the third player in BGSU history with multiple seasons of double-digit goals.

• The total of 12 goals ties White for third on the BGSU single-season list.

• White had a hat trick in the Falcons' win at Akron (Oct. 6), and is now tied for second in school history with nine career game-winning goals. She has four of BGSU's nine winners this season.

• White had nine goals in BGSU's 11 MAC matches. She leads the MAC in both goals and points, both overall and in conference games.

• With 27 career goals, White has moved into a tie for fourth place on that BGSU career list. And, with 63 career points, White is eighth on that school career chart.

• Brynn Gardner and Maya Dean have 17 and 16 points, respectively. Gardner had a goal and an assist in last Thursday's comeback win at NIU, and now has five goals and a team-leading seven assists this fall. Gardner is second on the team in points, and she and Dean are deadlocked for second on the Falcons in goals.

• Dean has five goals and six assists. She scored a goal in the quarterfinal win over Western, and was named the MAC Offensive Player of the Week twice in a three-week span in October. Dean joined White on the All-MAC First Team, while Gardner made the MAC's All-Freshman Team.

• Another freshman, Alaina Uncapher, has six points on the year, while Lacee Bethea, Abby Koly and Mackenzie Reuber all have five points. Uncapher scored the winning goal in Sunday's WMU match, which was her first collegiate goal. Reuber joined Dean and White on the all-conference first team.

• Lili Berg has started all 18 matches in goal, and has 72 saves and a 0.88 goals-against average. Berg has been part of 24 shutouts in 47 career starts with the Falcons.

• Berg has allowed just two goals over her last eight games.

• A total of 15 different players have started at least one match for the Falcons this season. Six Falcons – Berg, Dean, Reuber, White, Katie Cox and Lexi Czerwien – have started all 18 matches to date.

• Reuber set a new school record when Sunday's WMU match began. She has now appeared in a total of 91 games as a Falcon, breaking the BGSU career record for matches played. That record had been owned by Julie Trundle (90 matches played from 2002-05).

• A total of 23 players have seen action for the Falcons this fall, with no fewer than 21 of them having played in at least 10 matches to date.

THE OPPONENT
• Ball State has an overall record of 7-4-7, and the Cardinals went 6-1-4 in the MAC to finish in second place. BSU is unbeaten in the last five matches (2-0-3), including a 2-2 tie vs. Buffalo (Oct. 23) and a 2-1 win at Central Michigan (Oct. 27) to end the regular season. Avery Fenchel leads the Cards with 11 goals and 22 points on the season, while Delaney Caldwell has seven goals and 15 points. Bethany Moser has started all 18 matches in goal, and has 70 saves, four shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.24. Last year, coach Josh Rife's Cardinals went 6-9-2 overall and 4-5-2 within the conference.

THE SERIES
• BGSU trails Ball State, 16-6-4, in the all-time series, and the Cardinals captured this year's regular-season meeting, with a 2-0 triumph at Cochrane Stadium a month ago (Oct. 2, 2022). That snapped BG's two-match series winning streak. Thursday marks the first-ever neutral-site meeting between BGSU and BSU. The Falcons are 3-9-1 at home and 3-7-3 on the road vs. the Cardinals.

UP NEXT
• The BGSU-BSU survivor will advance to Sunday's (Nov. 6) MAC Tournament final, to face either top-seeded Buffalo or fifth-seeded Miami. The Bulls and RedHawks meet in Thursday's first semifinal, at 5:00 p.m.

• Sunday's final begins at 1:00 p.m. at UB Stadium.

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.

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