The BG women’s soccer team dropped both matches this weekend at Cochrane Field.
In a weekend full of ups and downs for the Falcons, they lost 2-1 to Eastern Michigan University on Friday, Oct. 4, and 5-0 to Western Michigan University Sunday. The Falcons fell to an overall record of 0-10-0 and 0-4-0 in the MAC.
Freshman Taylor Bucaro scored her first collegiate goal in the second half of Friday’s match against EMU. However, Bucaro’s lone goal for the Falcons was not enough. Eastern Michigan’s first goal came off of a deflection from a BG defender’s lunging effort to block the shot that found its way into their own net. Just more than four minutes later, the Eagles scored their second and final goal of the night off a penalty kick.
BG head coach Lindsay Basalyga said she was proud of how her team combated against two early EMU goals in the second half, coming up with a goal of their own. Second-half performances have been a focus for the Falcons, and Basalyga believes today was an improvement with “grit and grind” her team showed in the half.
“I think to date this was the most fight I’ve seen in our team when we’re playing from behind,” Basalyga said. “Going down 2-0 early and then responding with a goal, I mean this game could’ve really opened up for Eastern Michigan. They’re a great team, but we definitely showed a lot of fight through the entire second half.”
In Sunday’s match, Western Michigan shut out the Falcons 5-0. WMU dominated the first half, going into halftime with a 3-0 lead. In the second half, the Falcons came out stronger but were unable to dig themselves out of a slow first half. The Broncos sealed the game with two goals in the second half, the final coming with 18 minutes to go.
Basalyga said she was disappointed with her team’s mentality in the opening half that allowed them to get into such a hole going into halftime.
“I think overall our mentality just has to get better,” Basalyga said. “I think this is the first time this year where I’ve been disappointed in our mentality to start a game.”
Alyssa Carmack, a senior and co-captain, said the key to staying strong throughout the entire game comes down to improving the team’s mentality as well.
“I just think it’s a lot of our mentality,” Carmack said. “We just need to pick up our mentality and we just need to focus on the whole game, and not just [saying], ‘oh let’s be good in this time and not this time.’ We just need to pick up the energy as a whole and just focus on getting our mentality better throughout these next few games.”
Redshirt senior and co-captain Jenny Fowler mentioned her team’s inconsistency throughout the season, especially this weekend, but she still believes each game is showing some type of improvement.
“We’ve been pretty inconsistent but I would say the past couple of games it’s getting better each game,” Fowler said.
The Falcons continue their home stand as they return to Cochrane Field this weekend for a pair of matches against Northern Illinois University on Friday, Oct. 11 and Toledo on Sunday, Oct. 13.
