Coming off a 1-0 overtime victory at Akron this past Sunday, the BG women’s soccer team looked to improve its Mid-American Conference record in two home games at Cochrane Stadium this weekend.

The Falcons dropped Friday night’s game against Central Michigan in a double overtime game 1-0, while on Sunday, BG lost to rival Toledo 1-0 in regulation.

Head coach Lindsay Basalyga said the defense has been doing a great job and has been getting more stable as the Falcons have only given up two goals in their last three games, which is a great improvement from two weeks ago.

In the Battle of I-75, the game went scoreless into half time and it wasn’t until the 77th minute that Rockets player Bethany Thomas headed a loose ball from a corner into the back of the net making it 1-0 for Toledo.

The Rockets outshot BG 28-5 over 90 minutes of soccer and Falcons goalkeeper Lauren Cadel had a season-high 13 saves in the game.

Junior defender Haley Parkinson said she has a lot of confidence with Cadel standing between the posts and added that freshman Rachel Winters and sophomore Paige Amodio have stepped up big time this year as part of the backline.

“I think in our process we are at a good place with the discipline, and communication and work right up our backline right now,” she said.

Basalyga said that although Cadel has been making potential game-winning saves, she hasn’t been rewarded for them because the attack hasn’t been able to capitalize. She is certain that it will change as part of the team’s process.

BG struggled in the attacking third of the field against Toledo, especially in the second half when the Falcons were outshot 20-2.

“I think we had a little bit more fun in the first half against Toledo, and then the attack shut down in the second half,” Basalyga said. “We defended well but we didn’t amount much of an attack in the second half.”

On Friday night, the Falcons lost to the Central Michigan Chippewas 1-0 in double overtime.

CMU player Jennifer Gassman scored the game winning goal in the 104th minute after chipping the ball over Lauren Cadel into the back of the net.

“I am really proud of the fact though that two games back-to-back we’ve put a solid performance together and I think last year that we wouldn’t have been in this game,” Basalyga said after Friday’s game.

The Falcons defense was able to shut down Chippewas player Laura Gosse, who came into this game as the leading goal scorer in the MAC with six goals.

“I was really proud of our defensive discipline and I thought we had pretty tight coverage,” Basalyga said. “She [Laura Gosse] did get some quality chances off, but every opportunity she had, she definitely wasn’t getting a clean look.”

Losses, especially against rival Toledo, are painful, yet Lauren Cadel said the team is focused on the process and the players will take things from these games and learn from them.

“It’s getting later in the season but we just have to keep working hard and pushing through that,” she said. “Just having a good week of practice this week will be important, staying disciplined and competing is what’s going to get us through the rest of the season.”

After the two losses this weekend, the Falcons are now 2-11-0 overall in their 2014 campaign and 1-5-0 in MAC play.

BG women’s soccer returns to Cochrane Stadium next weekend as they take on Ohio University on Friday, Oct. 17 and Kent State on Sunday, Oct. 19.