YPSILANTI, Mich. – Junior Lizzie Bultynck scored late in the first half as the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team played host Eastern Michigan University to a 1-1 draw on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 5). The Mid-American Conference match was held at Scicluna Field.

With Sunday's result, the Falcons (7-1-5, 2-0-4 MAC) are now unbeaten in the last 11 matches, tying the school record.

BGSU had trailed for just over 28 of the first 450 minutes of MAC play entering Sunday's match, but the Eagles (4-5-3, 2-1-3 MAC) took the lead on the Orange and Brown midway through the first half, as Olivia Sipsock scored on a counterattack.

But, Bultynck and the Falcons equalized with just 1:32 remaining before halftime. The junior fan onto a ball near the top of the 18-yard box and volleyed it over the head of EMU goalkeeper Ella Holland and under the crossbar.

While the first half was relatively evenly played, the Falcons dominated the second half, but could not find the go-ahead goal. 

NOTE OF THE DAY
• The Falcons are now 6-0-5 in the last 11 matches, since BGSU's lone loss of the season (1-0 vs. Illinois on Aug. 17). BG's current unbeaten streak is tied for the longest in school history.
• The 2005 team also put together an 11-match unbeaten streak, going 9-0-2. The '05 club's streak began on Oct. 2 and did not come to an end until an NCAA Championships first-round match on Nov. 11. 

ALSO NOTEWORTHY
• The Falcons are now 7-1-5 (.731) on the season, continuing the best start in program history. The 2025 season is the 29th in the history of the program, which began in 1997.

ADDITIONAL FALCON NOTES
• Junior Lizzie Bultynck's goal was her third of the season and the fourth of her Falcon career. She is second on the 2025 Falcons in goals and is tied for second on the team in points, with seven.
• Bultynck now has 12 career points, on the four goals and four assists.
• Bultynck, a native of Troy, Mich., has scored all four of her career goals against teams from her home state, including three over the last two Sundays. Her first career goal came in her first career match, at Michigan State (Aug. 20, 2023), and she scored twice last Sunday (Sept. 28) vs. Central Michigan at Cochrane Stadium.
• Freshman Quinn O'Neil made her first collegiate start on Sunday. A total of 21 different Falcons have started at least one match in 2025. Twenty different players started matches in 2024. The school record for most players to start at least one game in a season is 22, set in 2004 and tied in both 2007 and 2010.
• Junior Ella Kane came off the bench to see action for the first time in nearly a month. Kane, who played in each of the first seven matches of the season, had not played since the Duquesne game on Sept. 7. She saw 44 minutes of action on Sunday at EMU.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• The match was mostly marked by midfield play over the first 18 minutes (give or take), before Jayna Searles made a long run forward on the right side. Searles got the ball to Quinn O'Neil on the right side of the box. O'Neil took a dribble, then whirled and played a return pass to Searles, who hit a shot near the top of the penalty area, but the shot was blocked.
• The Eagles took the lead five minutes later, when Tayla Maddock stole the ball near midfield and played it ahead to Olivia Sipsock. Sipsock headed toward the BG penalty area, cutting back several times to avoid defenders. She entered the 18-yard box and chipped the ball over the onrushing Payton O'Malley. Sipsock's shot hit the crossbar and bounced down. Play continued for a moment, as a BG defender headed the ball away, before it was ruled that the ball had hit the ground behind the goal line and play was stopped. The Eagles had a 1-0 lead.
• Just over a minute later, O'Neil made a long run past several defenders toward the box. She played a pass with the outside of her foot, but no teammate was able to reach it.
• Several minute after that, Ella Kane and Audrey Oliver worked a combination play that featured nifty footwork by both players. Kane received a return pass from Oliver and hit a shot that went just wide of the right post.
• Just under 10 minutes remained when Oliver played a pass to Lizzie Bultynck, who was facing away from goal just outside the 18-yard box. Bultynck took a touch, then slid a pass to Emily Hollar, who was making a run into the box. Hollar hit a shot that was parried by EMU 'keeper Ella Holland at the near post.
• Bultynck won a corner kick after taking a pass from Lexi White with just under five minutes left in the half. Off of that Emme Butera corner, Evie Underhill played a right-side serve into the box, but it went just over the head of the leaping Gabby Lamparty and over the line for a goal kick.
• But, the Falcons got on the board with 92 seconds left in the half. From her own end of the field, Lamparty played a long ball forward. The ball was headed by an EMU defender, but bounced directly into the path of Bultynck at the top of the box. Holland was forced to come off of her line, but Bultynck volleyed the ball over the 'keeper and into the net to tie the score.
• The Eagles had arguably their best scoring chance of the second half less than 10 seconds in. Off of the kickoff, Eastern played a long ball into BGSU's end of the field. An errant pass by a defender, intended for O'Malley, was stolen by the hosts' Maya Marolly, who quickly hit a hard shot. The BGSU 'keeper, though, parried the ball, then grabbed on one bounce.
• Just under 90 seconds later, after a Haley Wolf cross into the box, Hollar got her head on the ball. The ball was blocked out of the penalty area to Minah Syam, who hit a shot that was also blocked. Syam's shot, however, caromed off of Rosalie Takacsy and spun toward the left side of the goal. Holland tipped the ball wide of goal, and off of the ensuing corner kick, a shot by Isabella Mazzaferro went wide.
• Searles made a nifty move and nutmegged an EMU player near midfield, then made a run all the way into the box. She was knocked off the ball, but recovered and regained possession after Mazzaferro blocked an attempted clearing ball. Searles slid the ball back to Syam. Syam's diagonal ball was grabbed by Holland just ahead of the leaping effort of Emma Stransky.
• With nearly an hour gone, Mazzaferro won a throw-in deep in the Eagles' end of the field, then took a pass from Searles and hit a right-side cross that required an acrobatic leaping grab by Holland, with Pool lurking at the far post.
• Just over 21 minutes remained in the match when Butera fired a through ball toward Pool on the left side of the pitch. The sixth-year collegian blasted a shot from distance that hit the crossbar. Kane tracked down the rebound on the right side of the box and fired a bad-angle shot that just missed finding the far side of the net.
• Kane won a corner kick five minutes later, and Lamparty got her head on that corner, in the center of the area, but her shot was blocked.
• One minute after that, Oliver stole the ball near midfield and slid a pass to Pool. Pool hit a long ball forward, where an EMU defender headed the ball over the end line as Bultynck, O'Neil and Holland all converged. BG possessed the ball off of the ensuing corner kick, and Searles hit a left-side serve that was deflected by an Eagle player who was attempting to guard Pool at the far post.
• Seven minutes remained when Kane took a pass from Pool and put a cross into the box form the left side. But, the ball was just out of Mazzaferro's reach.
• EMU had a chance with just under six minutes to go, stringing several passes together leading to a shot in the box. But, Maddock did not get much behind that shot, and the ball rolled to O'Malley.
• As the clock ticked under one minute to go, Kane made a run down the right side of the field and put a ball into the box, but it was knocked away. She got the ball back and made several nifty moves (including one to avoid an EMU player who purposely grabbed her jersey to slow her down), but her cross was knocked away from the far post by a defender.
• With 20 seconds to go, Lamparty put a ball into the box toward Hollar. Hollar was marked by a defender, and someone got a head on the ball, which went toward Mazzaferro. The junior hit a volley that was deflected by an EMU player, allowing Holland to grab the shot on goal at the left post.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons are idle until next Sunday (Oct. 12), when Miami University comes to Cochrane Stadium. That match begins at 1:00 p.m., and admission is free.
• Then, the Orange and Brown will head to the MAC's 'West Coast' to take on Northern Illinois on Thursday, Oct. 16. That contest will start at 8:00 p.m. ET.

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
• For more information on the women's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSU_WSoccer) and Instagram (bgsu_wsoccer), as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.