BGSU women’s soccer (8-2-7, 3-1-6) will look to end its 2025 home slate in style on Sunday, Oct. 26, at 1 p.m. when it takes on the Akron Zips (4-9-3, 1-7-2 MAC) at Cochrane Stadium. The Falcons will be entering the match in confidence after a 0-0 result against the second-place Buffalo Bulls on a cold and windy night at UB Stadium.
A victory will be key for Bowling Green in their MAC Tournament hopes, as they currently sit in the sixth position in the MAC standings out of six teams that will head to Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, the day after Halloween.
An advancement in the standings seems unrealistic with Kent State holding a five-point lead over the Falcons with 1.82 points per game compared to 1.5 for BG, but the two-point gap to Eastern Michigan in seventh is what they have to worry about, with the Eagles’ remaining matches being against the 10th-place NIU Huskies and the last-place Central Michigan Chippewas.
Bowling Green is 17-6-1 all-time against the Zips, with the most recent matchup ending in a 2-0 victory for head coach Chris Fox’s Falcons in 2024, with junior forward Emma Stransky earning a goal in a victory that also came in the second-to-last match of the regular season.
Scouting Bowling Green
Stransky has led the Falcon offense throughout the season, earning a career-high seven goals and 14 points, which has led the squad, nearly doubling grad student Ellie Pool’s total of eight points, which is second on the team.
Sophomore goalkeeper Payton O’Malley earned her seventh shutout of the season behind a back line that was glad to have junior Taylor Green back to full health, with the captain playing the full 90 minutes alongside Jayna Searles and Gabby Lamparty, who both played the full 90 as well.
Freshman Quinn O’Neil started her second match of the season and played a season-high 75 minutes in the absence of Pool and junior forward Ella Kane, putting a shot on goal that was her second of the season at a forward role.
In terms of team statistics, the Falcon defense remains the second-best in the MAC with 10 goals allowed, best only by Buffalo with nine in 16 games. BG is sixth in the MAC with 21 goals for and 1.235 goals per game, and they have two Falcons in the top 10 in assists with Pool and junior Emme Butera with four, respectively.
The Falcons will end the season in Amherst, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 1 p.m. when they take on UMass in a matchup that is sure to have plenty of MAC Tournament implications.
Scouting Akron
Interim head coach Maggie Kuhn has had a tough 2025 season, as the team enters with only one conference victory and a three-game losing streak, falling to Ball State, Eastern Michigan, and Western Michigan and getting outscored 9-0 in that span. Their lone MAC victory came against the winless Central Michigan Chippewas, which saw junior defender Jordanne Oberhaus score twice in a high-scoring 4-3 affair.
Oberhaus scored two of her three goals on the season in that match, with the other goal coming against Kent State in a 2-1 loss that came right before the match against CMU.
True freshman Addison Hall ties Oberhaus for the team points lead with nine on four goals and one assist, scoring twice in a 5-3 win over Southern Indians early in the season. She’s scored twice in conference play, once against Ohio and once in the victory over CMU.
Defense has been an issue for the Zips, as they have allowed 27 goals in 16 matches, the second-most in the MAC, while scoring only 14, a mark that is eighth best in the conference.
There has been a rotating door at the goalkeeper position, with junior goalkeeper Sara Bower taking the majority of the minutes with 817 on 12 games played, but a few tough outings have led to redshirt freshman Ariana Vakos seeing some time in goal, including 45 minutes in their latest match against WMU, where she allowed two goals on five shots on goal.
