The BGSU women’s soccer team put their best foot forward this weekend, winning their two matches against Northern Arizona and Boise State at the La Quinta Inn ‘amp; Suites Mountain Classic hosted by NAU.
The Falcons came back from a 1-0 deficit to beat the host Lumberjacks 2-1 on Friday. Sunday, BGSU shut out Boise State 1-0.
The squad headed into this tournament 0-2 on the young season and was dedicated to stepping up their level of competition to even out their record. Their competitive spirit seemed to be the deciding factor this weekend.
‘The biggest difference was the level of competition,’ BGSU coach Andy Richards said of the team’s change in performance from last weekend.
The Falcons did not see immediate results on Friday, as they found themselves at the lesser end of a 1-0 score against NAU. The Lumberjacks’ Karla Lee crossed a ball to Stephanie Smith, whose header past BGSU keeper Ali Shingler put them up by one at 20:44.
Fifteen minutes later, the Falcons answered back by way of a Kristin McDonald goal. Leah Eggleton had the assist.
With the score tied heading into the second half, both teams came out hungry for the go-ahead score. BGSU’s Julie Trundle delivered for the Falcons when she sent a free kick past NAY keeper Andrea Berra with less than seven minutes remaining in the match. NAU was unable to answer back, giving the Falcons their first victory of the 2005 season.
Richards said the comeback win shows the resilient nature of the squad.
‘The previous weekend, we’d gone down a goal and you’d see heads drop,’ he said. ‘[The comeback] was a big confidence booster.’
Their second victory was not far behind. Samantha Meister played a ball from Trundle, finding herself one on one with Boise State keeper Kim Parker. Parker challenged the ball, allowing Meister an opening to score at 18:36. Her goal provided all the scoring necessary for the win. Shingler had seven saves in the shutout to go along with the seven she had in the previous match.
Another bright spot in Sunday’s match was the return of Britt Anderson, a forward who was out with an ankle injury, played nearly the whole 90 minutes against BSU.
The team’s competitive play over the weekend paid off as two Falcons garnered individual tournament honors. Trundle was named the tournament’s offensive MVP and Shingler was named most valuable keeper of the tournament.
Richards and the rest of the squad come out of the tournament with a sense of relief. The two early season wins have bolstered the squad’s confidence as they prepare to play Michigan State and Eastern Illinois this weekend.
‘We knew that both teams were going to be very good,’ Richards said. ‘We were fearful we were going to be 0-4 going to Michigan State, and that’s pretty daunting in itself.’
Instead, the Falcons have a solid 2-2 overall record and will look to add to the win column in the future.
