The BG women’s soccer team moves to 0-11-1 overall and 0-5-1 in the MAC following this weekend’s conference matchups at Cochrane Field.
The Falcons came away Friday with their first tie of the season against Northern Illinois. After a double overtime battle, the match ended 0-0 as the referee waved off a last-minute effort by the Huskies, who made a shot just after time had expired. The draw gave BG their first point in MAC play and its first shutout in more than a year.
Head coach Lindsay Basalyga said the Falcon’s 110 minutes of play against NIU was much better than they have seen in previous games. She said the team is finally playing as if they “deserve to win.”
“We walked away with a little luck on our side finally, but I think luck comes from hard work and discipline and risk-taking,” Basalyga said. “This feels a lot better than walking away with a loss.”
Freshman defender Paige Amodio, who played all 110 minutes for the Falcons, said her team is very proud of its defensive effort in the shutout.
“We feel like we’ve definitely come a long way since the beginning of the season,” Amodio said. “The first shutout feels amazing. It feels like everything we’ve worked for finally came together.”
BG dropped its game Sunday against Toledo 0-2. The rivalry match between the Falcons and the Rockets was a physical battle with a total of 28 fouls between the two teams. Both teams remained scoreless going into halftime, but two goals within nearly 30 seconds of one another late in the second half by Toledo elevated them to the win.
Redshirt freshman and goalkeeper Lauren Cadel helped keep the Falcons in the match with 8 total saves on the day and 90 full minutes of play.
“We knew it was going to be a battle against Toledo, and I think we matched their physicality,” said Cadel. “We came out hard and, I mean, it’s definitely better than the previous two Sunday matches.”
On the weekend, Coach Basalyga said her team matched its goal of tying or winning more periods than in previous games with ties coming in five periods of play on the weekend, including the two periods and two overtimes of the NIU game and the first half of the Toledo game.
“We put together two quality games relative to the past in a Friday/Sunday split,” Basalyga said. “I don’t think [Sunday] we made mistakes that led to goals. We forced a team to find a way to beat us.”
The Falcons face the Buffalo Bulls and Akron Zips this weekend.
