Cian McDonald - Women's Soccer Coach - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Cian McDonald v Detroit - Aug 8 2018 - BGSU Ath Comm photo

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

Cian McDonald

Title:
Assistant Women's Soccer Coach
Email:
cianm@bgsu.edu
Phone:
419-372-9617

Cian McDonald is in his fifth year as a member of the Bowling Green State University women's soccer coaching staff in 2019. He joined the program as a volunteer assistant coach in 2015 and was promoted to a full-time assistant coach in June 2016.

McDonald was retained in 2017 as an assistant to new head coach Matt Fannon and helped lead a women's soccer renaissance at BGSU. The Falcons returned to the upper echelon of the Mid-American Conference in that '17 season, and BG steamrolled through the MAC en route to one of the finest seasons in program history in 2018.

That 2018 campaign saw BGSU win both the MAC regular-season and tournament titles, tying the school record for overall wins and shattering the program mark for conference victories.

The 2018 Falcons went 14-5-3 overall and 10-1-0 in MAC regular-season play. BGSU captured the league regular-season crown for the second time in history, and won the league tournament title for the third time ever.

BGSU had a school-record five players named to the All-MAC First Team and the Ohio Collegiate Soccer Association All-Ohio First Team in 2018. That quintet included seniors Morgan Abbitt and Erica Hubert and juniors Kathleen Duwve, Maureen Kennedy and Chelsee Washington.

Those same five players all were named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region Team. Hubert became the first player in BGSU history to be named to the all-region first team, while the other four Falcons were voted to the second team.

BG had those five all-region team members in 2018 after having a total of four in the first two-plus decades of the program.

In the classroom, still more records fell. BGSU had a school-record 12 student-athletes named to the Academic All-MAC Team in 2018, breaking the school record of 10 such honorees, set the previous year. Four of those 12 student-athletes went on to be named MAC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes, tying for the highest total in the MAC. That group included Duwve, Kennedy, Washington and senior Elisa Baeron.

Three of those Falcons – Duwve, Kennedy and Washington – each were named to the USC Scholar All-Region Team, and Baeron was named an Academic All-American. Baeron was named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America Team, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Baeron, who earned third-team honors, became just the second CoSIDA Academic All-America selection in program history.

Kennedy and Washington had joined Baeron on the Academic All-District Team, before Baeron went on to earn national honors.

On the pitch, the Falcons rolled through the rest of the conference en route to the 2018 titles.

BGSU broke the school records for most home wins in a season and most consecutive victories at home. The Falcons went 10-1-2 at Cochrane Stadium in 2018, breaking the previous single-season record of eight home victories (8-1-1 in 2008).

The Falcons captured nine-straight matches at Cochrane, breaking the mark of seven set by that 2008 team. The winning streak was snapped in the MAC Tournament's championship match, but BGSU takes an 11-match home unbeaten streak (9-0-2) into the 2019 campaign.

BGSU started the 2018 season with a 1-3-2 record before ending the non-conference portion of the schedule with a dominant 6-0 win over Youngstown State. Then, the Brown and Orange steamrolled their way through the MAC schedule, going 10-1-0. The Falcons won the first eight league matches before falling, 1-0, at Akron. BG outshot the Zips, 25-7, in that match, hitting the crossbar with a pair of shots, but nevertheless saw an overall nine-match win streak come to an end.

The Falcons bounced back in a big way, posting a 5-0 win at Buffalo to clinch the conference regular-season title. Then, BGSU proceeded to end the 2018 season for four consecutive opponents.

The Orange and Brown topped arch-rival Toledo, 2-1, to end the regular season. That result knocked the Rockets out of the MAC Tournament race. BG then dispatched Eastern Michigan and Ohio in the league tourney, before tying Ball State, 1-1, in the MAC Tournament final. BG trailed the Cardinals during most of the penalty-kick phase, but rallied back to advance past BSU and capture the league tourney crown.

The Falcons scored two or more goals in a match on 12 occasions in 2018, including 10 times in the 14 matches vs. MAC foes. BG allowed as many as two goals only twice, in a 2-0 loss at then-No. 15 Northwestern and a 4-1 setback at Penn State in the NCAA Championships.

Following that Northwestern match on Sept. 9, BGSU never trailed at any point in any game until Akron scored with just 1:41 left in the teams' contest on Oct. 18. BG went a total of 1008:19 – nearly 17 hours of match time – without finding themselves behind on the scoreboard.

BGSU led the league in a veritable plethora of categories in 2018. In MAC play, BG paced the league in goals, assists, points, shots, shot percentage, fewest goals allowed, shutouts and lowest goals-against average.

The Falcons had 30 players on the 2018 roster. Hubert was named the MAC Offensive Player of the Year, while Kennedy took home MAC Defensive-Player-of-the-Year honors. Washington was named the United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Week on Sept. 25, and Abbitt and Duwve joined that trio on the All-MAC and all-region teams.

But, BG's success was the result of valuable contributions from a host of players on that 30-woman roster. Baeron was named MAC Tournament MVP after BGSU captured the title, and Nikki Cox, Nikhita Jacob and Jennifer Reyes joined Baeron on the MAC All-Tournament Team.

In 2018, BG scored 43 goals, tying the school record set the previous season. Four Falcons – Hubert, Washington, Kennedy and Cox – each had at least five goals and 19 points. Duwve was on a school-record pace for lowest GAA in a season prior to the NCAA Tournament match at PSU, and ended the year with a GAA of just 0.79.

Duwve had a miniscule GAA of 0.49 in MAC play, as she allowed only five goals in 927-plus minutes in league regular-season action, and had a saves percentage of .878. She led the MAC in GAA and saves pct., both overall and in MAC matches only.

Overall, Kennedy had 10 assists to tie Hubert for the team lead. The 2018 season marked the first time in program history that BG had two players with 10 assists each.

The incredible success of the 2018 team came on the heels of a 2017 campaign which marked the return of the BGSU program as a force in the MAC and the region. The Falcons posted a 13-7-1 record and won six MAC contests in 2017, the most overall wins and MAC wins for the Falcons since 2008. The team recorded a five-match unbeaten streak in the middle of the schedule, winning an October contest on the road against eventual MAC regular-season champion Kent State and qualifying for the MAC Tournament for the first time in nine years.

When tourney play began, BGSU earned a comeback victory at home in the quarterfinal against Buffalo, then went topped number-one seed KSU on the road for the second time in a matter of weeks to advance to the championship match for the first time since 2007. The Falcons fell in overtime in that final, but bounced back with the uber-successful 2018 campaign.

With Fannon, McDonald has helped develop an aggressive playing style on both ends of the pitch that led to some of the best offensive and defensive statistics in team history. BGSU led the MAC in goals and assists in 2017; the 43 goals set a school record (a record that BG tied in 2018), and the 49 assists ranked eighth nationally. On defense, the team set school records for fewest shots and shots on goal allowed and posted the second-best opponent scoring average in team history.

In McDonald's first season on the BGSU women’s soccer staff in 2015, the Falcons posted seven overall wins on the year, which was more than the previous two years combined, and finished tied for eighth overall in the MAC, just missing a league tourney bid..

McDonald came to BGSU after playing for four years on the pitch at Northern Kentucky University under head coach John Basalyga. He played in a total of 69 matches for the Norse, starting 57 contests, including all 20 games as a senior in 2014.

Originally from Ireland, McDonald totaled 10 goals and 10 assists over his four-year career at NKU. After battling back from an injury-filled season as a junior in 2013, McDonald led the team with five goals and four assists in 2014 as a senior where he was named to the All-Atlantic Sun Second Team. He also earned a spot on the 2014 Atlantic Sun All-Tournament Team in his final season at NKU.

Prior to his time as an intercollegiate student-athlete at Northern Kentucky, McDonald was a 2011 graduate of Templeogue College in Dublin, Ireland. He was also a key member of the Shelbourne FC U-17 team.

McDonald returned to the pitch as a player in the summer of 2019, joining Toledo Villa FC of the National Premier Soccer League.