BGSU at OHIO
Sunday, Nov. 3 | 1:00 p.m.
Chessa Field | Athens, Ohio
Video/Web Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: OhioBobcats.com

• The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team heads to Athens this weekend as the postseason begins. Head coach Chris Fox and the Falcons, the sixth seed for the Mid-American Conference Tournament, meet third-seeded Ohio University on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 3). First touch is set for 1:00 p.m. at Chessa Field.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Sunday's Ohio match will be streamed via ESPN+. Live stats, as well as periodic Twitter/X in-game updates (@BGSU_Wsoccer), will also be available.

• Links to live audio/video/stats for all 2024 matches can be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com (on the women's soccer schedule page and in the right column on the main page) on match day.

THE FALCONS AND THE MAC TOURNAMENT
• BGSU enters the Ohio contest with an all-time record of 21-8-8 in MAC Tournament play. The Falcons' .676 winning percentage is the highest among all MAC schools, and BG's total of 21 MAC Tournament victories ranks second in the conference (Miami has 22).

• Sunday marks BGSU's first true road game in the MAC Tournament since 2017. That season, the fourth-seeded Falcons topped the number-one seed, Kent State, on the Golden Flashes' home field in the semifinal round.

• The Falcons are the sixth seed for the tournament for the second time in school history, and the first time since 1998. That '98 season saw BGSU upset third-seeded Eastern Michigan in the quarterfinal round, before suffering an overtime loss to second-seeded Northern Illinois.

• BGSU has been the number-one seed six times, including in five-straight seasons from 2017-21, and the Falcons have been the second seed once (last year), the third seed once, and the fourth seed on four occasions. BG was the sixth seed once, the seventh seed once and the eighth seed twice.

• Entering the 2024 tourney, BGSU has advanced to the MAC Tournament final a league-record 10 times. The Falcons are looking to advance to the semifinal round for the 16th time overall and the eighth-straight year.

• BGSU qualified for the MAC Tournament just twice during the first five years of the program, before making the tourney in seven-straight seasons from 2002-08. The Falcons advanced to at least the semifinal round in six of those seven years.

• In 2004, the Falcons – seeded eighth – won the first MAC Tournament crown in program history. Each of BGSU's other five MAC Tournament titles came when the Falcons were a number-one seed.

• After making the MAC Tournament in seven-straight seasons (including the 2005 season when BG repeated as tourney champs), the Falcons then went eight years in a row (2009-16) without qualifying. The Falcons returned to the league tournament in 2017, advancing all the way to the final, then captured the tourney crown in 2018, 2019, 2020(-21) and 2021.

• BGSU is 13-1-4 at home, 5-3-1 on the road and 3-4-3 in neutral-site matches in the MAC Tournament. The Falcons are 11-1-1 in the quarterfinal round, 7-4-3 in the semifinals and 3-3-4 in championship-match appearances.

• Eight of BGSU's MAC Tournament matches have required penalty kicks, and the Falcons advanced past the opponent in six of those eight matches, meaning that BG has survived and advanced in 27 of 37 league tourney contests over the years.

THE FALCONS VS. OHIO IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
• BGSU enters Sunday's match with a record of 1-1-0 vs. Ohio in the MAC Tournament. Top-seeded BG picked up a 1-0 victory over the fourth-seeded Bobcats in the semifinal round of the 2018 tourney, and the Falcons went on to win the first of four consecutive league tournament titles.

• Last year, the sixth-seeded Bobcats scored a pair of second-half goals to knock off second-seeded BGSU, 2-1, in semifinal-round action in Kalamazoo, Mich.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Ohio match with an overall record of 7-6-4, and BGSU went 4-4-3 in MAC play, finishing in sixth place in the 12-team league. The Falcons had kept a pair of clean sheets, with a scoreless draw vs. Eastern Michigan (Oct. 24) and a 2-0 win at Akron three days later, before ending the regular-season schedule with a 4-2 loss at Kent State on Halloween afternoon.

• BGSU's conference wins have come against UT and Northern Illinois at home and Ball State and UA on the road. The Falcons' league losses have been to Ohio, Western Michigan, CMU and KSU, and BG battled both Miami and Buffalo to 1-1 draws and played EMU to a scoreless stalemate.

• BGSU had opened the regular-season schedule with home wins over Detroit Mercy and Findlay, outscoring those foes by a combined 6-1. The Falcons went on the road and suffered losses to Duquesne and Loyola Chicago, but then picked up a road victory at Cleveland State, before closing the non-league slate with a scoreless draw vs. Oakland.

• The Falcons are 4-1-3 at home and 3-5-1 on the road this season to date. In MAC play, BGSU was 2-1-2 at Cochrane Stadium and 2-3-1 away from home.

• Eight different players have recorded at least one goal this season. Lexi Czerwien leads the way with five goals and 11 points this fall. Two of her goals have been game winners.

• Sophomore Emma Stransky is second on the team with 10 points, including four goals. She leads the club with three GWG this season. Stransky and Czerwien scored the Falcons' goals at Akron.

• Junior Brynn Gardner and sophomore Emme Butera each have seven points on two goals and three assists this season to date, while redshirt soph Emily Hollar has six points on three goals. Another redshirt sophomore, Alaina Uncapher, also has six points on two goals and two assists. 

• Soph Michelle Hochstadt has five points, on a team-leading five assists, while freshmen Lilly Boebel and Lauren Mahoney each have four points. Boebel scored her first collegiate goal in Thursday's Kent State match.

• In goal, Madison Vukas has started nine matches, and has 33 saves, a goals-against average of 0.89 and four clean sheets. She made a career-high nine saves in the regular-season meeting with Ohio.

• Freshman Payton O'Malley made her collegiate debut in the Miami match, and now has started eight contests. She has 26 saves and a 1.63 GAA to date. O'Malley and the BG back line kept clean sheets in back-to-back games, vs. EMU and Akron.

• Butera is the lone Falcon who has played all 1,530 minutes this fall, while backs Isabelle Gilmore and Taylor Green have been on the field for 1,518 and 1,515 minutes, respectively. The only time Gilmore and Green have come off of the field was during the Findlay match on Aug. 22.

• In MAC games, Czerwien had BG-best totals of four goals and nine points, while Stransky scored seven points and Butera and Hollar four apiece.

• The Falcons returned 17 letterwinners, including seven starters, from last season's club. The 2023 team went 10-6-2, and BGSU finished in second place in the MAC with a league ledger of 8-1-2. Two of those starters have missed the entire season due to injury, with a third missing nearly half of the season.
 
• Chris Fox is in his first season at the BGSU helm after two highly-successful seasons leading Morehead State, with one of his former MSU players, Kate Larbes, joining him on the Falcon coaching staff.

• A total of 22 different players have seen action, with 20 of those 22 having made at least one start in 2024.

• Six Falcons – Butera, Czerwien, Gardner, Gilmore, Green and Stransky – each have started all 17 matches, while Hochstadt has made 12 starts and Vukas and Christine Erdman nine apiece.

THE OPPONENT
• Ohio is 10-4-4 on the season, and the Bobcats finished third in the MAC with a 5-3-3 league ledger. The 'Cats began MAC play with a 4-0-3 record before dropping three of the last four matches, including Thursday's 1-0 setback at Miami. Ohio is 5-1-2 at home and 5-3-2 on the road this season to date. Jaimason Brooker paces the club with seven goals, six assists and 20 points this season. In goal, Celeste Sloma has started every match and has 58 saves, nine shutouts and a GAA of just 0.63. Head coach Aaron Rodgers welcomed back 19 players from a 2023 club that went 9-8-5 overall and 4-4-3 in MAC play. The '23 team, seeded sixth for the six-team MAC Tournament, proceeded to win the tourney and advance to the NCAA Championships.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons trail Ohio, 14-11-6, in the all-time series, and the Bobcats have won the last two meetings. Ohio ended BGSU's 2023 season by picking up a 2-1 victory in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament in Kalamazoo, Mich. (Nov. 2, 2023). The 'Cats came to Cochrane and captured this year's regular-season matchup, 3-0 (Sept. 26, 2024). The Falcons were 2-0 winners over the Bobcats in BG's last trip to Athens (Oct. 1, 2023). BGSU is 8-6-3 at home, 3-7-3 on the road and 0-1-0 in neutral-site meetings with Ohio over the years.

UP NEXT
• The BGSU-Ohio winner advances to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament, and will face second-seeded Buffalo. That match will take place on Thursday (Nov. 7) in Kalamazoo, Mich., with start time to be announced.

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