The Bowling Green State University Women’s Soccer team will look to end their season on a high note as they prepare for their final match this Thursday against Eastern Michigan University. While they will not be competing for an appearance in the MAC tournament, the team will look to make a statement about their season and snap their six game losing streak.
“We have one last opportunity to compete as a team and another opportunity to move our program forward,” head coach Lindsay Basalyga said. “It’s disappointing that we don’t have a MAC tournament appearance to play for, but this game holds a lot of value in who we are becoming and who we want to be in the future.”
The Falcons sit at 6-11-1 and 2-8-0 in conference coming off this past Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Western Michigan, a record that will not afford them a postseason appearance. But winning has never been the ultimate goal for the young BG team, which has shown steady improvement over the past three years under Basalyga.
“We just have to keep competing,” Basalyga said. “They have certainly moved the soccer along with how we want to play on the attacking side of the ball and how we want to play on the defensive side of the ball. More importantly, they have set the stage for our culture. We have one last opportunity to really compete.”
Redshirt Junior and co-captain Lauren Cadel has been impressive this season, leading the MAC with 105 saves while recording two shutouts and moving into second place in school history with 360 total saves. Redshirt freshman Erica Hubert has paced the Falcons with seven goals and fifteen total points, while sophomore Mikaela Couch and senior co-captain Hayley Parkinson are tied for the team lead with four assists each.
BG will be looking for their first win on the road since September 11th. The team has been much better at home this season than on the road, holding a 5-5-0 record at Cochrane Stadium as opposed to their 1-6-1 record on the road.
The past three years for the Falcons have shown great improvement since Basalyga took over, and the team has focused on improving and getting better each and every year, all the while trusting the process.
“This is our last game as this family, as this unit, and once that game is over this process with this group is over. So they have an opportunity to move our process along.”
The Falcons final game of the season will take place on Thursday at Eastern Michigan at 3 p.m.