BGSU women’s soccer hosted the Oakland Golden Grizzlies at Cochrane Stadium for an exhibition game as part of Michigan Spring Cup play on Saturday, March 28.
Due to this game being an exhibition game as part of spring league play, Falcon head coach Chris Fox was able to rotate multiple players in and out of play throughout the game to give players more playing time and see how different lineup combinations played together.
Junior goalkeeper Payton O’Malley started the game for the Falcons as redshirt junior and Bowling Green native Carrina Wiseman-Esparza guarded the Oakland net.
Bowling Green opened the scoring after an initial save by Wiseman-Esparza resulted in the ball coming right to the feet of senior forward Ella Kane, who finished off the play to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead.
Oakland tied the game at one apiece late in the first half when redshirt senior Brae Cole scored off a corner kick opportunity.
While Wiseman-Esparza would remain in net for the Golden Grizzlies in the second half, Fox subbed in new goalkeeping acquisition Lexi Grundler, who joins the Falcons for spring play after spending last season with Michigan State.
Grundler had a handful of saves and good ball touches during her half of play for the Orange and Brown.
The Falcons scored early in the second half after a free kick opportunity led to a Falcon attacker centering the ball off a header before multiple Falcons got a touch on the ball before it worked its way past Wiseman-Esparza to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead.
Bowling Green held onto the lead for the rest of the game, and sophomore midfielder Quinn O’Neil scored off a one-on-one opportunity with Wiseman-Esparza after outrunning Oakland’s defenders to the ball on a breakout play to give the Falcons the 3-1 lead with only 12 seconds remaining in the game.
BG finished the game having outshot the Golden Grizzlies seven to four.
BGSU’s next game in Michigan Spring Cup play will see the Orange and Brown travel to East Lansing to face the Michigan State Spartans at MSU’s DeMartin Stadium.
