The BG women’s soccer team continues its quest for a long awaited victory after being defeated by the University of Evansville on the road on Friday, Aug. 29.
The Purple Aces beat the Falcons 2-0 in a non-conference play. BG trailed Evansville early after Tatiana Pagan scored a goal in the 11th minute making it 1-0 for the Purple Aces.
“We gave up an early unfocused goal off a corner and found ourselves chasing the entire game,” BG head coach Lindsay Basalyga said. “We switched our formation at halftime to try and work ourselves back in and I’m really proud of the way the team responded.”
While BG had two shots in the first half, the Falcons improved that number to eight in the second half. In the 63rd minute however Evansville player Nicki Baham scored the 2-0 lead for the Purple Aces on a rebound shot.
The Falcons tried to come back into the game after that, yet were unable to find the back of the net. Overall, the Purple Aces out shot the Falcons 21-10 and while 9 of their 21 shots went on goal, the Falcons only placed two of their shots on target.
Bowling Green goalkeeper Lauren Cadel made six saves Friday night before she was taken out of the game at the 70 minute mark. Falcon transfer junior Alexis Smith, who gave her debut in goal, had one save during the final 20 minutes of the game.
Basalyga said the effort and work rate her players showed was satisfactory but the team lacked focus again in the key moments of the game.
The Falcons went to 0-3-0 whereas Evansville improved to 2-1-0 after Friday’s win.
“I’ve said it before, winning is the toughest thing to do in sports, especially when you are working on building confidence and self-belief,” Basalyga said. “With that being said, I wouldn’t want to go through this part of our process with anyone other than these 22 players. Eventually they’ll get tired of this outcome and I’m really excited for
that moment.”
BG women’s soccer will return home to Cochrane Stadium for their match-up with Cleveland State on Friday, Sept. 5 at 7 p.m.