Falcons Host NIU on Thursday Afternoon in Regular-Season Finale

Thursday, October 26

Bowling Green, Ohio

3 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Northern Illinois

Jaden Frigerio at Ball State - Oct. 22, 2023

Photo by: Samantha Blankenship, Ball State Athletics

October 24, 2023 | Women's Soccer

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Second-place BGSU battles third-place Huskies with an outside chance at a MAC title

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BGSU vs. NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Thursday, Oct. 26 | 3:00 p.m.
Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio
Video/Web Stream: WBGU-TV (YouTube)
Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com

• The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team, having clinched no worse than second place in the Mid-American Conference standings, enters the final day of the regular season hoping to capture the regular-season crown. Head coach Jimmy Walker and the Falcons meet Northern Illinois University, one of the hottest teams in the conference, on Thursday afternoon (Oct. 26), with first touch set for 3:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Thursday's NIU match will be streamed on YouTube, and produced by WBGU-TV. Live stats and 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.

THE FALCONS AND THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
• BGSU enters the final day of the regular season in second place in the MAC, just one point behind Western Michigan. The Falcons and Broncos have clinched the top-two seeds for the MAC Tournament, and are the only two teams with a chance to win the league's regular-season title.

• The Falcons host third-place Northern Illinois on Thursday afternoon, while Western Michigan hosts seventh-place Toledo. A Bronco win or a BGSU loss would give WMU the MAC regular-season crown outright. BG needs a win over NIU to have any chance of earning the number-one seed and hosting the tournament. The scenarios are...

• IF BGSU DEFEATS NIU – A BGSU win, coupled with a WMU loss or tie, would make the Falcons the league champions.

• IF BGSU TIES NIU – The Falcons could still share the MAC title with WMU if the Broncos lose to UT. In this scenario, while the teams would be declared co-champions, a tiebreaker would be utilized to determine the tournament's number-one seed. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head results, and BGSU and WMU played to a scoreless draw back on Sept. 24.

• The second tiebreaker is goal differential in conference games. WMU enters Thursday with a goal differential of +16, while BGSU has a +10 goal differential.

• So, If BGSU plays to a draw with NIU, the Broncos would win the tiebreaker unless they lose to Toledo by six or more goals.

IF BGSU LOSES TO NIU – The Broncos are regular-season champions.

BG: BRYNN GARDNER SCORES B!G GOALS FOR BOWLING GREEN
• Sophomore Brynn Gardner scored a pair of goals in Sunday's (Oct. 22) 2-1 win at Ball State, including the winner with just 28 seconds remaining in the match. It marked the third time in less than a year that Gardner found the back of the net in the 88th minute or later in a tie game.
BRYNN GARDNER – LATE-GAME GAME WINNERS
Time   Date and Opponent Score *   Result
88:39  Oct. 27, 2022, at Northern Illinois   1-1      W, 2-1
87:59  Oct. 8, 2023, vs. Eastern Michigan    2-2   W, 3-2
89:32  Oct. 22, 2023, at Ball State 1-1      W, 2-1
* Score at time of Gardner's goal

FUN FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons are 9-5-2 on the season, and BGSU is currently 7-1-2 in the MAC. BG is in second place in the league, one point behind first-place Western Michigan. The Falcons have won two-straight matches, including last Thursday's (Oct. 19) 5-1 home win over Central Michigan and Sunday's (Oct. 22) 2-1 victory at Ball State. Maya Dean scored just 13 seconds into the CMU match, while Brynn Gardner's winning goal at BSU came only 28 seconds before the final whistle.

• 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 game, 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 16 points, while Ellie Pool has 13 and Lacee Bethea seven. Gardner has scored six goals, with Pool and Bethea having found the back of the net four and three times, respectively. Pool has a team-leading four assists, with Brynn Gardner adding four helpers and Emilie Gardner three.

• 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.

• Emilie Gardner leads the Falcons in minutes played, with 1,211, while Isabelle Gilmore (1,170), Cox (1,107), Dean (1,067) and Makenzie Ortman (1,020) 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 16 matches. Each has played 720 minutes, and Vukas has 37 saves while Berg has 35. Vukas currently has a goals-against average of 1.00 and Berg sports a 1.63 GAA.

• In MAC matches, Brynn Gardner has 14 points, Pool 10 and Czerwien and Dean five each. Vukas has a GAA of just 0.60 in conference competition, with Berg at an even 1.00. 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 16 games so far, while Brynn Gardner, Emilie Gardner and Ortman each have made 15 starts, Pool 14 and Gilmore 13.

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

THE OPPONENT
• Northern Illinois is 8-6-3 on the year, and the Huskies are 6-3-1 in MAC play, good for third place. NIU is one of the hottest teams in the conference, having won six of the last seven games, including three-straight wins over Kent State, Ball State and Central Michigan. The Huskies have six MAC wins in the month of October after recording a total of seven in the previous five seasons combined. NIU has clinched a MAC Tournament berth for the first time since 2017. Individually, Tyra King and Lea Gruennagel lead NIU's balanced attack with six points apiece. No player has more than three goals (King), but 11 different Huskies have at least one. Sadie McGill has started all 17 matches in goal, and has 60 saves, eight shutouts and a GAA of just 0.89. Head coach Michael O'Neill and the 2022 team went 6-8-4 overall and 3-6-2 in the MAC.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads Northern Illinois, 12-11-3, in the all-time series. Last season, the Falcons rallied for two late goals to pick up a 2-1 win in DeKalb (Oct. 27, 2022). The teams' last meeting at Cochrane saw the Huskies post a win by that same 2-1 score (Sept. 26, 2021), snapping a four-match series winning streak for the Falcons. BGSU is 5-7-1 at home, 7-3-2 on the road and 0-1-0 at neutral sites against NIU through the years.

UP NEXT
• Following the NIU matchup, BGSU will prepare for the MAC Tournament. The Falcons will finish either first or second in the final regular-season standings, meaning that BG gets a quarterfinal-round bye.

• The Falcons will face an opponent to be determined in semifinal-round action on Thursday, Nov. 2. Both semifinals along with the final (Sunday, Nov. 5) will be played at the site of the regular-season champion.

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.