Jill Conover’s first goal of the season gave BG a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh Friday in Columbus, while the Falcons dropped the second game of the Ohio State tournament, 1-0 to Missouri.

After getting a split in two non-conference games this weekend at Ohio State, the women’s soccer team was pleased with how it played.

“I think we played pretty well overall,” said Nikki Pucillo. “We are playing as a team and we have a lot of confidence.”

The Falcons defeated Pittsburgh 1-0 on Friday, and then fell to Missouri on Sunday 1-0. The Falcons record is now 3-2-1 as they head into a stretch of mainly conference games. BG has a conference record of 1-0.

In the game against Pittsburgh, senior Jill Conover scored her first goal of the season to help the Falcons win. On Sunday, BG fell behind Missouri early and never found the net. Strong play by Erika Flanders at goalkeeper helped to keep Bowling Green in the game.

Falcons coach Andy Richards was pleased with the play of the two seniors, especially with Kristy Coppes not playing as much due to injury.

“We were looking for certain players to step up with Kristy not at 100 percent,” Richards said. “One of those players was Jill. Erika Flanders also had the top 45 minutes of the season against Missouri.”

Flanders’ play also impressed some of her teammates. “Erika was awesome and kept us in the game,” Pucillo said. “If we played the second half the way we played the first, we could have won.”

Another player who impressed Richards was freshman Natalie Sampiller. Richards had talked last week about getting her time during the weekend games, and Richards praised her performance.

“Natallie was excellent,” Richards said. “She suffered more than anyone else after the Michigan State game and not deservedly so. She has a place to play on this team.”

Sampiller was happy to get out on the field.

“It felt nice,” Sampiller said. “I was waiting for my chance to play and gave it everything. It went pretty good.”

As the team prepares for it’s game against Miami on Friday, it will also be resting a few injuries. Megan Rapp, Leah Eggleton, Pucillo and Coppes have been dealing with minor ones while Samantha Meister is out with a broken nose.

Aside from Meister, who will be out a few weeks, all are expected to play on Friday.

While the Falcons deal with their health, Richards said it’s not a major concern because of the team’s improved depth this season.

“We have come together very well as a team,” Richards said. “We have done a good job of getting a lot of people a lot of time. Our depth is the key to it all.”

Richards hopes the team will be aggressive in upcoming games.

“I thought we played a little scared against Missouri, and we must not fear anyone,” Richards said. “We have no reason to.”

Richards said he believes that Missouri was tougher than anyone in the conference. Before the season, Missouri was ranked 46th in the country. No one in the MAC was ranked as high.

The Falcons will play Miami on Friday at home at 5p.m.