Lindsay Basalyga - Women's Soccer Coach - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Lindsay Basalyga

Title:
Head Women's Soccer Coach
Email:
lbasaly@bgsu.edu
Phone:
419-372-9602

Lindsay Basalyga is in her fourth season at the helm of the Bowling Green State University women's soccer program in 2016. Basalyga's hiring was announced on Dec. 13, 2012, and she began her day-to-day duties in early January of 2013.

Under Coach Basalyga’s tutelage, the Falcons have increased their total in wins, goals and assists in each season since she took over the program prior to the 2013 season. The team has also posted four shutouts in each of the last two seasons under Basalyga.

The BGSU women’s soccer program continued its improvement in 2015, as the Falcons posted seven overall wins on the season, which is more than the previous two years combined, and finished tied for eighth overall in the Mid-American Conference, improving from 10th-place in 2014 and 12th place in 2013.

The Falcons registered a number of key wins in 2015. Bowling Green snapped two series' losing streaks in 2015, recording its first wins over Buffalo, the 2014 MAC Champions, and conference foe Eastern Michigan since 2011. BGSU’s victory at home on Aug. 21 against Chicago State was the team's first win in a season opener since 2004. The Orange and Brown also had a record-setting crowd of 803 at the season opener against Chicago State.

BGSU notched 29 goals in 2015, more than the last two seasons combined, after scoring 15 in 2014 and nine in 2013. The 29 goals scored is the most in a single season since 2008 (38). The Falcons’ 28 assists on the years is more than the previous two years combined (21).

The Falcons also scored 12 goals in MAC play in 2015, the most conference goals since 2010 when the team scored 16, and only allowed 30 goals overall, which is the least allowed since 2009 (28).

The Falcons finished with 18 home goals, the most since 2008, while BGSU netted a goal in seven straight contests, spanning from Aug. 21 against Chicago State to Sept. 13 against Valparaiso, for the first time since that same 2008 season.

Bowling Green opened the season 2-0-0 for the first time since 2000 in 2015 and shutout its first two opponents in Chicago State (4-0) and IPFW (3-0) for the first time in the program’s history.

Individually in 2015, Erica Hubert was named to the All-MAC Freshman Team. Hubert recorded a team-high 17 points and eight goals, the most by a single player in a season since Alyssa Zuccaro recorded 22 points and eight goals in her stellar 2010 campaign.

Sophomores Sklyar Fleak and Mikaela Couch's team-high five assists were the most by a single player since Alyssa Zuccaro's six in 2010.

Hubert was named the MAC Offensive Player of the Week in August, while Lauren Cadel was tabbed the MAC Defensive Player of the Week twice on the season, once in September and again in October.

In between the pipes, Cadel posted over 100 saves for the third straight year, leading the conference with 113 regular season saves in 2015, which ranked in the top-20 nationally among all NCAA Division I goalkeepers. She also set a school record with 19 saves in BGSU's 1-1 2OT draw with Valparaiso and sits atop of the BGSU women’s soccer record books with a total of 15 career matches with double digit saves.

In 2014, Basalyga saw her team make huge strides within their process of returning the BGSU women’s soccer program back to MAC Championship contenders as the Falcons quadrupled its win total from the previous season and posted back-to-back conference wins for the first time since the 2010 season. The Falcons’ 15 goals on the season were the most posted by a BGSU team since the 2011 team totaled 15 goals as well for the year.

BGSU posted three wins over Ohio, Akron and Kent State in MAC play on the year. The win over Ohio on Oct. 17 was the first win over the Bobcats since Oct. 26, 2007. The win over Akron on Oct. 5 was the first win over the Zips since Oct. 5, 2008, while the victory over Kent State on Oct. 19 was the first win over the Golden Flashes since Sept. 26, 2010.

The Falcons also posted an 8-0 win at Chicago State in which the eight goals were the third most for a Falcons’ team in a single game in the program’s history.

Individually, goalkeeper Lauren Cadel led the MAC with a new BGSU school record of 146 saves on the season, which ranked third in the nation among all NCAA Division I women’s soccer goalkeepers. Cadel’s .834 saves percentage was the fourth highest saves percentage by a goalkeeper in a single season in BGSU’s history, while her six games of double digit saves increased her career total to 12 games with double digit saves, also a new BGSU program record.

Freshman Skylar Fleak’s team-high 11 points was the most by a single player since the 2010 season, while her team-high five goals was the most for an individual in a single season since 2011.

Senior Sidney Huth was named to the 2014 Capital One Academic All-District District 5 Second-Team, the first Falcon to be named Academic All-District since Alicia Almond (First-Team) and Keely Chandler (Third-Team) in 2010.

The 2013 season saw Basalyga and her staff lay the groundwork as the Falcons looked to make the climb back to the top of the MAC. BGSU saw 20 different players see time on the pitch for the Falcons on the year, as Basalyga continued to instill her style of play throughout the year that saw a number of players improve as the season wore on.

An Ohio native, Basalyga assumed the BGSU helm after eight seasons at Eastern Kentucky University. Prior to starting the EKU program, she spent just over three years as an assistant at the University of Toledo.

The only head coach the Colonels had ever known, Basalyga was hired at EKU in October of 2004 and was involved in every facet of preparing the program for its first season on the pitch in 2005. That first season, the Colonels finished 10th in the Ohio Valley Conference, but Basalyga’s team gradually improved, turning the corner in 2008 with a 5-3 conference record and a number-two seed in the program’s first-ever appearance in the OVC Tournament. EKU finished second in the league in both 2008 and 2010, and third in 2012.

The 2012 EKU team finished at 10-7-3, posting the first winning record in program history, and setting school records for overall wins, conference victories (six), goals, assists, points and shots. The Colonels went undefeated at home for the first time in program history, posting a home record of 8-0-1. The 2012 team also earned a fifth consecutive berth in the OVC Tournament, the longest active postseason streak in the conference at the time.

In the classroom, EKU received an NSCAA Team Academic Award after posting a cumulative grade-point average of 3.15 during the 2011-12 academic year.

In 2010, Basalyga received EKU’s prestigious Coaches Academic Enhancement Award for the second consecutive year. The award is given annually to the coach who most honors their commitment to recruiting dedicated student-athletes and placing a high emphasis on academics within their program. Basalyga coached three OVC Medal of Honor winners, seven Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society inductees, 20 Presidential Scholars and over 50 Colonel Scholars.

Additionally, Basalyga’s teams earned the OVC Sportsmanship Award on five occasions. That award is given to the program deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.

Prior to EKU, Basalyga spent four years working with the Toledo women’s soccer program. She joined the Rockets’ staff in 2001 as a graduate assistant and, two years later, was promoted to the top assistant position. While at UT, Basalyga aided in all aspects of the program, gaining experience in on-field coaching, implementing of practice plans and recruiting. The team’s 2004 recruiting class was ranked 14th in the Great Lakes Region.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Basalyga was a standout soccer player at both Turpin High School and the University of Maryland. She helped the Terrapins advance to the NCAA College Cup in each of her four seasons. A three-year starter, Basalyga had 25 points on eight goals and nine assists during her career. During her senior campaign, she set the school records for most goals (four) and points (nine) in an NCAA Tournament.

Basalyga is the daughter of John and Linda Basalyga. Her father is the head men’s soccer coach at Northern Kentucky University, where he led the Norse to the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2010 and was named the Division II National Coach of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Basalyga’s parents are both BGSU graduates and met on campus. Her father played baseball for the Falcons, and was a member of the 1972 team that won the program’s first-ever MAC Championship and was ranked 13th in the nation in the final Collegiate Baseball poll.

Basalyga received her bachelor’s degree in art studio from the University of Maryland in 2001, and earned a master’s degree in recreation and leisure studies from Toledo.

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