Falcons fly by Bulls in 4-0 win

As hard as it is to play on the road against conference opponents, the absence of six starters makes the task exponentially harder.

The UB women's soccer team faced the challenge of losing veteran players and was unable to overcome Bowling Green State University on Sunday in a short-handed 4-0 defeat.

Coming off of a 3-0 fall to Toledo on Friday, UB (4-10-1 overall, 2-6 Mid-American Conference) put the ball in its own net for the first goal in the contest and for the second time in as many games. After that, Bowling Green netted three more unanswered goals all in the first half which proved to secure the victory for the Falcons.

Bowling Green (10-6 overall, 6-2 MAC) added on to its one goal lead with a Lindsay Carter goal in the tenth minute, which was assisted by Britt Anderson and Julie Trundle.

The Falcons didn't score again until the 40th minute when Kristen McDonald tallied Bowling Green's third goal on a double-assist from Tiernay Tilford and Susan Hunter. The game's final goal came just 23 seconds before the end of the first half off from a Leah Eggleton shot.

UB head coach Jean Tassy said that BGSU did what was required to win the game.

"In the MAC, everyone is pretty balanced," Tassy said. "Bowling Green played the way they had to, to beat us. We gave up two soft goals this weekend. It's the same situation, the same story of the season."

The overwhelming play of the Falcons showed not only on the scoreboard, but also in the every statistical column. Bowling Green took 17 shots on goal, 12 of them in the first half. The Falcons also earned 10 corner kicks in the game. By contrast, the Bulls managed just six shots in the game, five in the first half and only one corner kick throughout the entire contest. UB also committed more fouls than the Falcons with 13 to Bowling Green's nine.

Tassy said that even though the team had a number of missing starters, there is no excuse for the loss.

"Most of them are season-ending injuries," Tassy said. "It's hard to make up for missing six but it's not an excuse. I have to do my job to motivate them. We wanted to finish the season strong and get some points this weekend. We didn't finish well and didn't get any points. It's somewhat a hard expectation."

Sophomore Katie Fage took two of UB's six shots. Junior Jessica Roesch managed the team's only shot on goal. Senior Anna-Lesa Calvert made five saves in the game for the Bulls.

Anderson, Eggleton and Samantha Meister led Bowling Green in shots, each earning three. Anderson also led the Falcons in shots on goal.

The goal tending duties for the Falcons were split between Ali Shingler and Christy Zabek. Shingler played the majority of the game, spending 77 minutes and 16 seconds in the net and making the only save necessary to shut out the Bulls.

Despite the loss, Tassy still feels the team put forth a solid effort during the game.

"The girls played as hard as they could even with six starters on the sideline," said Tassy. "It's hard to truly access what to do without them. You have to ask younger players to step up. This late in the season it's hard to get productivity. We played strong for our abilities."

The victory for BGSU allows it to still have a chance of potentially hosting a first-round playoff game in the MAC playoffs. For UB, the playoffs basically start now. In order for the Bulls to crack into the eight-team field they must win all three of their remaining games on their MAC schedule.

The Bulls' last three games will be played at home in UB Stadium, starting with a game on Friday against the Akron Zips at 6:00 p.m. UB will then host the Ohio Bobcats at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday and conclude the regular season facing the Kent State Golden Flashes at 6:00 p.m. on Oct. 28.