University at Buffalo and the University of Akron are the next destinations for the Bowling Green women’s soccer team to compete in Mid-American Conference matches this weekend.
The Falcons are coming off two losses from last weekend and are looking to improve their offensive efforts as well as staying strong defensively.
Head coach Lindsay Basalyga said taking more risks will be part of who the Falcons are in the attack on Friday and on Sunday.
“I think we just honestly fear not having success at this point, fear of the dangerous ball, the ball that unlocks the game and what that may look like if it’s not completed,” she said. “That is something we talked about this week and I am excited to see how the players spin off on that type of mentality as we head into the weekend.”
Sophomore Paige Amodio said the Falcons were nervous and more concerned with staying in the games when they started MAC play last weekend, partly because of the youth and inexperience of the team.
“I think now after this past weekend, we are a young team, we haven’t had that many people play in the MAC, so I think we learned a lot,” she said. “We learned a lot about the way we play and how we need to play in the MAC. We just need to make sure that we stay disciplined defensively.”
Also, the team is not looking to let the negative results effect its attitude but rather make a choice and find the positive things in this kind of situation, Basalyga said.
The Bulls are off to a 2-0 start into MAC play posting two wins, 2-0 at Kent State and 1-0 at Ohio, last weekend.
Akron started out similar to the Falcons in conference play as the Zips dropped both of their MAC games last weekend 3-1 to Ohio and 3-0 to Kent State.
Freshman Elisa Baeron said despite the recent results, the atmosphere within the team is very good and MAC play is the highlight of the season for the players.
“I think the MAC is a lot more important than non-conference games which means we are a lot more excited before games and we know there is a lot more at stake for us,” she said.
Basalyga expects a very confident Buffalo team this weekend whereas she said Akron has been rather inconsistent this season so far.
“I think they are both games for us where if we stay locked in for 90 minutes, if we are willing to take risks in the final third of the field that we are definitely putting ourselves in a position to get a positive outcome,” she said.
Baeron said the practices this week were intense and give the Falcons confidence going into this weekend.
“We just try to give our best in each session, work hard and everyone fights for the other and I think with the atmosphere we have right now we will have success in the future,” she said.
On Friday, BG will travel to Buffalo, New York to take on the Bulls at 7 p.m. The weekend will end with a trip to Akron where the Falcons will be playing the Zips at 12 p.m.
