Falcons Head to Muncie for Sunday Showdown with BSU

Sunday, October 22

Muncie, Ind.

2 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Ball State

Lacee Bethea v Notre Dame - Sept 10 2023

Lacee Bethea scored a pair of goals just over 3 minutes apart on Thursday night

Photo by: Nathan Kubala, BGSU Athletics

October 21, 2023 | Women's Soccer

BGSU Notes (PDF)Ball State Women's Soccer 2023 Record Book (PDF)Support BGSU Women's Soccer

Second-place BGSU battles third-place Cardinals in penultimate regular-season match

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BGSU at BALL STATE
Sunday, Oct. 22 | 2:00 p.m.
Briner Sports Complex | Muncie, Ind.
Video/Web Stream: BSU All-Access
Live Stats: BallStateSports.com

• The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, currently in second place in the Mid-American Conference standings, hits the road to face the conference's third-place team in a Sunday (Oct. 22) showdown. Head coach Jimmy Walker and the Falcons meet Ball State University, with first touch set for 2:00 p.m. at the Briner Sports Complex in Muncie, Ind.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Sunday's BSU match will be streamed via BSU All-Access (one-camera feed). Live stats, as well as periodic Twitter updates (@BGSU_Wsoccer), will also be available.

• Links to live audio/video/stats for all 2023 matches can be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com (on the women's soccer schedule page and in the right column on the main page) on match day.

#MACTION
• BGSU is 6-1-2 in Mid-American Conference play entering Sunday's BSU battle, and the Falcons are just one point out of first place. The Falcons definitely have enjoyed more than their fair share of success in conference action over the last few years. BG finished third in the 12-team league in 2022, but earned regular-season and tournament titles in each of the previous four seasons.

• Since the start of the 2018 season, the Falcons have a record of 45-8-6 in MAC regular-season matches, good for a winning percentage of .814. BGSU has seven more wins than any other team during that span, and nine of the other 11 programs have at least twice the amount of losses as the Falcons in that time.

A RECORD-SETTING NIGHT FOR DEAN, FALCONS
• Maya Dean added her name to the BGSU record book in Thursday night's (Oct. 19) 5-1 win over Central Michigan. Dean opened the scoring just 13 seconds into the match, setting a new program record for earliest goal in a game.
BGSU RECORD BOOK – EARLIEST GOAL, START OF MATCH
1.   0:13   Maya Dean vs. Central Michigan, Oct. 19, 2023
2.   0:19   Corbie Yee at Xavier, Sept. 21, 2008
3.   0:50   Lacee Bethea at Michigan, Aug. 22, 2021
4.   1:00   Jill Conover at Northern Illinois, Sept. 18, 1999
5.   1:03   Nikki Cox vs. Eastern Michigan, Oct. 28, 2018

A PAIR OF BRACES
• After opening the scoring just 13 seconds into the Central Michigan match, Maya Dean went on to score a second goal just over 13 minutes later. Then, Lacee Bethea found the back of the net twice in a span of 3:14 in the second half. It marked just the fifth time in school history that at least two Falcons scored two or more goals in the same match.
BGSU RECORD BOOK – TWO (OR MORE) PLAYERS WITH TWO GOALS, MATCH
Date   Opponent Result Scorers (two goals unless noted)
Sept. 6, 1998 Robert Morris W 9-2   Tracy Gleixner, Krista Shamblin,
Erin Incorvaia
Oct. 3, 2001 Youngstown St. W 10-1 Kristy Coppes (3), Katie Piening,
Jill Conover, Tracy Gleixner
Sept. 16, 2018 Youngstown St. W 6-0   Chelsee Washington, Erica Hubert
Aug. 29, 2021 Oakland W 6-0   Madi Wolfbauer, Nikki Cox
Oct. 19, 2023 Central Mich. W 5-1   Maya Dean, Lacee Bethea

FUN FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons are 8-5-2 on the season, and BGSU is currently 6-1-2 in the MAC. BG is in second place in the league, one point behind first-place Western Michigan. The Falcons found the back of the net five times, the team's highest total in nearly 12 months, in Thursday's (Oct. 19) 5-1 victory over Central Michigan.

• The CMU game snapped a two-game winless streak, as BGSU had suffered a 2-0 loss to Kent State (Oct. 12) before playing to a scoreless tie at Buffalo (Oct. 15). The Falcons were shut out in two consecutive matches for the first time in almost exactly a year, before scoring just 13 seconds into the CMU contest.

• The Falcons went 2-4-0 in non-conference play. Three of those four losses came at the hands of nationally-ranked teams (#17 Michigan State, #21 Pittsburgh and #11 Notre Dame), and all four of those setbacks were against schools from Power 5 conferences (two schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference and one each from the Big Ten and Big 12).

• Prior to the KSU match, BGSU had put together a six-match unbeaten streak. That included a win at Toledo in the MAC opener, a scoreless draw with WMU at Cochrane Stadium, and four-straight victories against Akron, Ohio, Miami and Eastern Michigan.

• Brynn Gardner leads the team in scoring with 12 points, while Ellie Pool has 11 and Lacee Bethea seven. Pool and Gardner each have scored four goals, while Bethea has found the back of the net three times. Gardner has a team-leading four assists, with Pool adding three helpers this season to date.

• Maya Dean and Emma Stransky each have six points on two goals and two assists, while Katie Cox and Lexi Czerwien have five points apiece and Lizzie Bultynck four.

• Isabelle Gilmore played each of the first 1,170 minutes of the season before missing the Buffalo and CMU matches. She still leads the Falcons in minutes played, while Emilie Gardner (1,121), Cox (1033), Dean (997) and Makenzie Ortman (930) round out the team's top five in that category.

• Lili Berg and Madison Vukas have split time in net in each of BGSU's first 15 matches. Each has played 675 minutes, and Vukas has 36 saves while Berg has 34 stops this year to date. Vukas currently has a goals-against average of 1.07 while Berg sports a 1.60 GAA, and they have shared six shutouts.

• In MAC matches, Brynn Gardner has 10 points, Pool eight and Czerwien and Dean five each. Vukas has a GAA of just 0.67 in conference competition, with Berg at 0.89. Five of their six combined shutouts have come against league foes.

• A total of 24 different players have seen action in at least one match this season. That lengthy list includes all nine of the team's true freshmen. Just two Falcons – Cox and Dean – have started all 15 games so far, while Brynn Gardner, Emilie Gardner and Ortman each have made 14 starts and Gilmore and Pool 13 apiece.

• A total of 18 different Falcons have started at least one match this season.

• The Falcons returned 16 letterwinners, including eight starters, from last season's club. The 2022 team went 9-5-5 overall and 6-2-3 in MAC play, placing third in the 12-team league and advancing to the semifinals of the MAC Tournament.

THE OPPONENT
• Ball State is 7-6-3 on the year, and the Cardinals are 5-1-3 in MAC play. BSU was undefeated in the MAC prior to a 1-0 loss at Northern Illinois Thursday (Oct. 19), on a goal in the 90th minute. Ball State is unbeaten at home, with a 5-0-1 record at the Briner Sports Complex. Individually, Avery Fenchel and Lexi Fraley each rank among the top-three scorers in the MAC. Fenchel has 11 goals and 23 points, while Fraley's 19 points include eight goals. Bethany Moser has started all 16 matches in goal, and has 92 saves, one shutout and a GAA of 1.55. She leads the MAC in saves per game (5.75). Moser has set a career best for saves in each of the last three matches. Head coach Josh Rife and the 2022 team went 7-5-8 overall and 6-1-4 in the MAC.

THE SERIES
• BGSU has beaten every other member of the MAC at least 11 times, but the Falcons have just six wins over Ball State. BG trails the Cardinals, 16-6-5, in the all-time series. Last season, BSU picked up a 2-0 win at Cochrane in the regular-season meeting (Oct. 2, 2022). Then, the teams battled to a 1-1 draw in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament (Nov. 3, 2022), before the Cardinals advanced via penalty kicks. The teams' last meeting in Muncie saw the Falcons post a 2-0 win two years ago (Oct. 7, 2021). BGSU is 3-9-1 at home, 3-7-3 on the road and 0-0-1 at neutral sites against BSU through the years.

UP NEXT
• Following the BSU battle, BGSU will end the regular season with a home contest vs. fourth-place Northern Illinois on Thursday (Oct. 26). That match will begin at 3:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium.

• BGSU has clinched a berth in the six-team MAC Tournament, which begins with quarterfinal-round matches on Sunday, Oct. 29. The top-two teams in the final standings each earn a bye into the semifinal round, which is set for Thursday, Nov. 2. The final will be held on Sunday, Nov. 5.

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
• For more information on the women's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSU_WSoccer), Instagram (bgsu_wsoccer) and Facebook (bgsuwsoc) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.