The Bowling Green women’s soccer team (3-2-1) dominated possession against Oakland (1-5-2) but failed to capitalize on opportunities, drawing the Golden Grizzlies in their non-conference finale on Thursday night at Cochrane Stadium, 0-0.
The Falcons controlled the match from the first to the 90th minute.
In the first 45 minutes of action, BG outshot Oakland 8-0.
By the end of the match, BGSU outshot the Golden Grizzlies 17-3, tallying seven shots on goal compared to Oakland’s one and leading OU in corner kicks 5-0.
Freshman forward/midfielder Lilly Boebel led the orange and brown with three shots on goal. She was at the center of a crucial moment in the contest, missing a wide-open opportunity to knock in a beautiful cross late in the second half.
Sophomore midfielder Michelle Hochstadt, senior defender Isabelle Gilmore, sophomore forward Emma Stransky and sophomore defender Christine Erdman all tallied one shot on goal.
Although the Falcons seemed destined to score, it never came to fruition. First-year head coach Chris Fox attributed the zero on the scoreboard to minor details.
“Minor details, things we’ve been talking about all season long since I started here, it’s just body shape, anticipation, first touches, finding the moments when we should be looking to play and when we should be looking to keep things simple; just playing with a purpose, like keeping things simple,” Fox said postgame.
Even though Fox thought the team played well for most of the night, he believed they would have found the back of the net if they could have corrected the minor details.
“It really just comes down to the minor details. We got in good areas, we created good chances,” he said. “I think we would have created more chances and gotten to better areas if we just got some of those little things right. I think we would have created better chances, more chances and likely found the back of the net.”
Along with missed opportunities, multiple momentum killers slowed the Falcons down in critical moments.
BG racked up six offsides, with numerous coming during crucial scoring opportunities. Bowling Green also finished with 12 fouls compared to Oakland’s six.
“There were plenty of momentum killers today. I think offsides are a big one, for sure. I think needless fouls can be a momentum killer,” Fox said. “One thing that irks me is like, we’ve done really well, and then we go to block clearances in the final third and give them throws, when it would probably be our throw…when the games muddied up a little bit, and things are slowed down, it doesn’t play in our favor.”
Fox and the Falcons will seek to return to the win column when they begin conference play against Ball State in Muncie, Indiana, on Thursday, Sept. 19.
