The Bowling Green women’s soccer team is coming off two strong performances from last weekend that give confidence heading into a five-game home stretch of Mid-American conference matches.

Last weekend, the Falcons won a 1-0 thriller in overtime at the University of Akron and fell 3-1 in a hard fought match at the University at Buffalo.

Head coach Lindsay Basalyga said the win at Akron took another weight off her players’ shoulders since there was a lot of pressure trying to break the existing losing streak.

Her players gained confidence after that win, which is important in preparing for the upcoming MAC games, she said.

Freshman Skylar Fleak was named BG Athletics Pizza Hut female athlete of the week after scoring both goals for the Falcons at Akron and Buffalo.

Fleak said the team worked on the dynamic movement in the attack and that it was important for the team to stay focused for the full 90 minutes of soccer.

“I think we play really well off of each other and we know what each of us can do, we know what we are capable of and I think that we really bring out the strengths in each other,” she said. “I think we did really well on Sunday against Akron with that so hopefully we can keep doing that moving forward.”

Senior Kylie Briem said the win at Akron was the “icing on the cake” for the Falcons but added that results aren’t necessarily what the team is striving for at this point in its process.

At Akron, BG also did not concede any goals for the first time since its 8-0 shutout victory at Chicago State.

“Lauren [Cadel] made some great, unreal game-winning saves for us, but the defense did a really good job of shutting down some of their key players,” Basalyga said. “Our organization was good; it was a really clean win.”

On Friday, the Falcons will host the Central Michigan Chippewas who have a 2-9-1 overall record similar to BG’s 2-9-0 record. Also, Central Michigan has lost all of its four games in the MAC this year.

Fleak expects a hard fought match on Friday against the Chippewas, but she said the Falcons will go into it with confidence after their win on Sunday.

The team is looking forward to coming back to its home field after four games on the road, and Basalyga said she’s excited for the people in BG to be part of the team’s journey.

The highlight of the weekend takes place on Sunday, when the University of Toledo women’s soccer team comes to Cochrane Field for the battle of I-75.

The Rockets have a 4-7-1 overall record and are, just like the Falcons, 1-3 in conference play this season.

Although Toledo is BG’s rival, Briem said it is just like every other MAC game and the Falcons will battle hard.

“For us, at this point in our process, it doesn’t matter if we’re playing Toledo or Buffalo on Sunday,” Basalyga said. “We just want to have another opportunity to put as tight of 90 minutes of quality

soccer together.”

The Falcons return to Cochrane Field on Friday, Oct. 10 to take on Central Michigan at 7 p.m. On Sunday, Oct. 12, BG will play the University of Toledo in another home game at 1 p.m.