Falcons Head to Cleveland for Sunday Matchup with Vikings

Sunday, September 8

Cleveland, Ohio

1 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Cleveland State

Isabelle Gilmore at Duquesne - Aug 25 2024

Photo by: Nicki Vukas

September 06, 2024 | Women's Soccer

BGSU Notes CSU Women's Soccer 2024 Media Guide / Record Book Support BGSU Women's Soccer

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BGSU at CLEVELAND STATE
Sunday, Sept. 8 | 1:00 p.m.
Krenzler Field | Cleveland, Ohio
Video/Web Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: CSUVikings.com

• The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team wraps up a three-game road swing this weekend, heading to downtown Cleveland for a Sunday afternoon (Sept. 8) matchup. Head coach Chris Fox and the Falcons face Cleveland State University in a 1:00 p.m. start at Krenzler Field.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Sunday's CSU match will be streamed via ESPN+. Live stats and periodic Twitter updates (@BGSU_Wsoccer) will also be available during the match.

• Links to live audio/video/stats for all 2024 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.

FAMILIAR FACE ON THE OTHER BENCH
• Sunday's match will be a reunion of sorts for the two head coaches. BGSU coach Chris Fox and Cleveland State coach Mark Sappington took over their respective programs in the winter of 2023-24, after coaching together for two years at Morehead State. Sappington was Fox's assistant coach in the 2022 and '23 seasons, as the Eagles went 16-13-9 overall after the program had posted a total of 18 wins in the previous five years.

• Fox, Sappington and Company won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Championships in 2023.

• BGSU assistant coach Kate Larbes and sophomore Michelle Hochstadt each were coached by both Fox and Sappington. Larbes played five years at MSU, the last two under the two aforementioned coaches, while Hochstadt was a freshman for the Eagles in 2023 before transferring to BGSU.

• Larbes scored the match-winning goal for MSU in last year's OVC Tournament semifinal-round win, while Hochstadt scored the winner in the tourney championship match, lifting the Eagles to the national tournament.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the CSU match with a record of 2-2-0. BGSU picked up home wins over Detroit Mercy and Findlay on back-to-back Thursdays, outscoring those foes by a combined 6-1. The Falcons are looking to bounce back from losses at Duquesne (2-0, Aug. 25) and Loyola Chicago (1-0, Sept. 1).

• Freshman Lauren Mahoney leads the Falcons in scoring, with two goals and four points, while Brynn Gardner has three points on a goal and an assist. Three other Falcons – Emme Butera, Lexi Czerwien and Emily Hollar – have one goal apiece.

• In goal, Madison Vukas has played all 360 minutes to date, and has 15 saves, a goals-against average of 1.00 and one clean sheet. Vukas, who played 45 minutes in every match last season, picked up her first complete-game shutout in the win over Findlay.

• Along with Vukas, Butera also has played all 360 minutes this fall, while Isabelle Gilmore and Taylor Green have been on the field for 348 and 345 minutes, respectively.

• The Falcons returned 17 letterwinners, including seven starters, from last season's club. The 2023 team went 10-6-2 overall, and BGSU finished the MAC regular-season schedule with a record of 8-1-2, good for second place in the 12-team league (and just one point shy of first-place Western Michigan).

• Chris Fox is in his first season at the BGSU helm after two highly-successful seasons leading Morehead State. Assistant coaches Kerry Edwards and Kate Larbes round out the coaching staff.

• The Falcons lost seven letterwinners from last year's squad, but the returning players combined to score 19 of the team's 26 goals last season.

• Brynn Gardner is back after leading the 2023 team with 16 points, while Ellie Pool was second with 13 points. Emma Stransky had nine points in her freshman campaign to rank among the top-five scorers on the '23 squad.

• Brynn Gardner scored a team-high six goals in '23, with Pool having found the back of the net four times and Stransky three. Pool led the team with five assists, while Brynn Gardner had four and Stransky and Emilie Gardner three apiece.

• Vukas played in all 18 matches in goal a year ago, as she split time with the graduated Lili.Berg – as mentioned, each 'keeper played 45 minutes in each game. Vukas ended the season with a goals-against average of 1.11.

• In MAC matches, Brynn Gardner finished with 14 points, while Pool had 10 and Czerwien five.

• Vukas had a GAA of just 0.55 in MAC games, and led the entire conference in saves percentage in MAC matches (.889). She and Berg combined to post seven shutouts last fall, with six coming against league foes.

• A total of 24 different players saw action in at least one match last season, with 18 players starting at least once.

• This season, through four matches, a total of 21 Falcons have seen action. Sixteen of those players have made at least one start in 2024.

SUCCESSFUL AT HOME
• After the win over Findlay, BGSU now has a record of 46-11-9 at home since the start of the 2017 season. The Falcons are 35-6-6 against MAC teams at Cochrane Stadium in that time, having outscored the opposition, 90-32, in those 47 matches.

SUCCESSFUL ON THE ROAD
• The Falcons have a record of 28-6-3 on the road against MAC opponents since the start of the 2017 season. BG is 25-3-2 in league road contests since the beginning of 2018, having outscored the opponents by a 76-18 count. In those 30 matches, BGSU has scored at least two goals 24 times, and at least three goals on 14 occasions.

• BGSU is 22-2-2 in the last 26 MAC road contests, dating to late in the 2018 season.

• Overall, the Falcons are 17-13-3 in true road games over the last four-plus years. No fewer than eight of those 12 road losses have come against opponents from Power 5 conferences, with a ninth coming to a team (Xavier in 2022) that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championships that season.

96 PERCENT OF THE TIME, SCORING TWO GOALS WORKS EVERY TIME
• It would stand to reason that scoring goals increases a team's chances of winning. For the Falcons, that is most certainly the case.

• Since the start of 2017, BGSU is 67-1-3 when scoring at least two goals in a match. In that time, the Falcons are 12-38-15 when being held under two goals.

• The Falcons are undefeated in the last 38 home matches (37-0-1) when scoring at least twice. The last time BG scored two or more goals at Cochrane Stadium and lost was on Oct. 20, 2016 (4-3 loss to Western Michigan).

THE OPPONENT
• Cleveland State enters Sunday's BGSU match with a record of 0-4-1. The Vikings posted a 1-1 draw against Saint Francis (Pa.) last Sunday. Four of the team's first five matches have been played on the road. Individually, Mayra Sesmas leads the team in scoring with three points, while Bella Delfino and Sophia Cucchetti have two points apiece. In goal, Madison Ott has played every second of the first five matches and has 32 saves and a 2.60 GAA. The Vikings were picked to finish 10th in the Horizon League, according to the preseason coaches' poll. Head coach Mark Sappington, as mentioned earlier, is in his first season with the Vikings, who went 4-10-3 overall and 1-6-3 in the Horizon League in 2023.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads Cleveland State, 4-3-0, in the all-time series, but the Vikings have captured the last three meetings, all by 2-1 scores. The teams have not met since playing in five consecutive years from 2010-14. BGSU won the first four matchups by a combined score of 14-2, before CSU's current streak. The Falcons are 2-2-0 at home and 2-1-0 on the road vs. the Vikings through the years.

UP NEXT
• The CSU match is the last of three road contests on as many Sundays for the Falcons. BGSU will return home to wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule on Thursday (Sept. 12), facing Oakland in a 7:00 p.m. start at Cochrane Stadium.

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.