After dominating a clearly inferior Cleveland State squad 6-0 Friday, the BGSU women’s soccer team found themselves at the other end of the scoreboard, losing 2-0 to Indiana on Sunday.
Friday’s match proved to be a full-squad effort, as multiple Falcons logged minutes in the game. Five different players scored for the Falcons.
“It’s nice to get a lot of different goal-scorers,” BGSU coach Andy Richards said. “It’s nice to be able to get some people on the field and give them an opportunity to show what they’ve got because it helps us learn a lot about what other players we have on the team as we go into the second half of the season.”
Britt Anderson led the way for the Falcons, scoring 3:17 into the game when she sent a free kick over CSU keeper Erin Withrow to give BG an early lead.
At 26:12, freshman Corbie Yee notched her first collegiate goal, heading in a corner kick from Julie Trundle. Two minutes later, Samantha Meister sent a ball into the box, finding Lindsay Carter, who knocked it in from about three yards out.
Continuing to bombard the Viking goal, Tiernay Tilford’s shot on goal rebounded to teammate Kristin McDonald, who found the net to make the score 4-0 entering halftime.
Despite the score, Richards had some concerns to address at the break.
“We talked at halftime about [how] we were winning, but we weren’t winning because we were a better soccer team, we were winning because we were just better players,” Richards said. “The collective effort wasn’t as good as we had hoped for. The second half, I think the collective effort was much better.”
When the game resumed, it was Anderson who once again opened a half with a goal. She headed in a ball from Ashley Wentzel just :31 into the period. Fifteen minutes later, Wentzel found Meister for another header to put the Falcons ahead 6-0.
“Even though we didn’t score as many goals [in the] second half, we played better,” Richards said. “We scored some good goals, rather than just beating them because.”
Sunday’s game notwithstanding, Richards is happy with how far the team has come in non-conference play.
“I’m happy with the way the team is progressing,” he said. “We’re playing at a higher level than we were playing a few weeks ago – and that’s encouraging.”
Despite the Falcons forward progression, the Hoosiers strong-armed the Falcon offense.
“They were a very aggressive, physical team, overly so at times,” Richards said.
Richards said BG played and defended well throughout the first half, but the Hoosiers needed less than 20 seconds to seal the match.
Hoosier Robin Barker scored off a corner kick from teammate Molly Kruger to give IU the lead. Eighteen seconds later, Megan Pipkens scored off a ball from Lindsay McCarthy.
“They scored two goals in 20 seconds,” Richards said. “Those mental lapses cost us [dearly].”
The squad, now an even 4-4, will look to shake off Sunday’s loss and focus on preparing for Mid-American Conference play, which begins next weekend with games at Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.
