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Eagles Capture MAC Opener, 1-0
Sept. 7, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - In the first Mid-American Conference match of the season, visiting Eastern Michigan University got the early jump on the rest of the league. A goal by Cyndi Mullens midway through the second half gave the Eagles a 1-0 win over the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team Sunday afternoon (Sept. 7). The MAC match was held at BGSU's Cochrane Field. With the win, EMU improves to 1-2-1 overall and 1-0 in MAC action, while the Falcons drop to 0-4 and 0-1, respectively. Aven Purcell assisted on the lone goal of the day. Purcell won a battle for the ball deep in BGSU territory, and carried the ball along the end line. She slid a pass to Mullens in the box, and Mullens trapped the ball, whirled and fired a shot past Falcon goalkeeper Ali Shingler into the upper left corner of the net. The teams had played a scoreless first half, despite several scoring chances for both sides. The Eagles' Lauren Clyne drilled a shot with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half, but Shingler was able to tip the ball over the crossbar. Three minutes later, BG sophomore Samantha Meister stole an EMU throw-in in front of the Eagles bench, saw EMU goalkeeper Nikki Allen had strayed away from the net, and lofted a long shot. Allen had no chance to make a save, but Meister's shot sailed just to the left of the net. Allen and Courtney Ward split time in goal for EMU. Allen made two saves in the first half, while Ward got the win after making one save in her 45 minutes of work. The Falcons outshot the Eagles, 8-7, in the second half, but BGSU could get only one of those eight shots on goal. Shingler made a career-high eight saves in net for the Brown and Orange, and broke up several other Eastern scoring chances. For the match, EMU held a 17-14 advantage in shots and a 9-3 margin in shots on goal. The Falcons continue a four-match homestand with a pair of contests next weekend, taking on Central Michigan Friday (Sept. 12) and Cincinnati two days later.
NOTES
QUOTING BGSU COACH ANDY RICHARDS "I thought Ali Shingler did a good job today. She came back after a rough game on Friday, showed some great character and showed some excellent goalkeeping." "But, in the end, the game was turned on one little incident. We didn't do a very good job of clearing the ball, allowed Eastern Michigan to keep it alive, and then gave their striker a lot of time to not only shoot, but to turn and shoot, which is a cardinal sin defensively." "At the other end, though, we had 14 shots and only managed to get three on target. So, it (the loss) is not all down to defensive errors. Obviously, those defensive errors are going to hurt us if we don't score goals. But, it's a team effort, and we've got to look at the whole picture and say, 'we really didn't do a good enough job at either end.'" "It was a better performance -- our performances are getting better as we go through the season -- but, of course, we're disappointed with getting a loss in the MAC. However, we are going to stay very positive. Over the next week, we are going to make sure we work very hard, stay focused and make sure we are ready to play Central Michigan next weekend."
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