The BGSU women’s soccer team followed up Friday’s 1-0 shutout against Youngstown State with another decisive 2-0 victory Sunday over the Panthers of Eastern Illinois, the first road shutout for the Falcons since October of 2004.

The Falcons, 3-3-0, have won three of their last four as the Panthers drop to 2-3-1.

The game-winning goal came in the 13th minute when freshman Colleen Kordan put the free kick into the penalty area and an EIU defender tried to clear the ball, but put it off the side of her foot into the Panther’s goal.

This came as a different kind of surprise for BG coach Andy Richards.

A couple nights before the match, after a Chinese meal, Richards had a fortune cookie that said, “You will receive a pleasant surprise from an unexpected source.” After about 13 minutes into the game, Richards and the Falcons received a pretty impressive gift, an inadvertent goal which turned out to be the game winner.

“All I could think about was the fortune cookie and ‘Is this going to happen?'” Richards said.

In the second half, Gina Rossi scored her first goal of the season with just under 19 minutes left in the game.

“We talked about following up shots, and that’s what happened,” Richards said. “Gina was there to tap it in.”

After that, goalie Tiffany Hansen and the Falcon defense hung tough and held on to their shutout, the second of the season for Hansen.

Although the Panthers outshot the Falcons 19-3, they had only four shots on goal, compared to the Falcons’ three.

“We knew their goalkeeping was weak, and [we] tried to put as many shots into the danger area as we could,” Richards said.

Despite the fact the Falcons are young, with 11 freshmen and only one senior, Richards is optimistic about their progress.

“We’re young, but we’re taking lots of steps forward and improving every game,” Richards said. “To be 3-3 is a great credit because there were so many unknowns. Colleen had a tremendous game – they’re all starting to find their feet.”

The last weekend of non-conference play begins Friday when Michigan State travels to Cochrane Field in a much-anticipated rematch of the 2005 NCAA Championships first round game in which the Spartans defeated the Falcons 4-0. After that, BG will head to Wright State on Sunday for the final game before the Mid-American Conference opener at in Bowling Green against Northern Illinois on Sept. 22.