Women’s soccer (13-4-3, 6-2-3 MAC) was eliminated from the Mid-American Conference Tournament Thursday when they lost to the Bowling Green Falcons (10-6-3, 8-2-1 MAC), 1-0, at Cochrane Stadium.
The Bulls found themselves as the fourth seed and faced tough competition against top-seeded BGSU, the same team that kept them out of the MAC Championship Game a year prior due to a bylaw typo.
Sixteen minutes in, the Bulls landed their first scoring chance when graduate forward Gianna Yurchak ripped a shot on goal, but BGSU junior goalkeeper Lili Berg secured the save.
The Falcons responded with a furious offensive attack, as the 27th minute saw sophomore forward Lacee Bethea break away and find the bottom left corner to give BGSU the 1-0 lead.
Second half action saw the Bulls come out fighting with an aggressive attacking formation and mindset.
Graduate midfielder Marcy Barberic had an opportunity to even the score with a free kick in the 55th minute, but she slammed the ball into the crossbar. A minute later, she launched another shot but Berg saved it.
In another scoring opportunity, senior midfielder Katherine Camper fired another unsuccessful shot in the 80th minute from just outside the box that sailed above the goal posts.
The Bulls’ defense stayed solid, only ceding one second half shot. Yet the Falcons’ defense proved completely unshakable as the Bulls tried time and time again to break through.
BGSU refused to let the lead slip.
UB outshot the Falcons 8-6 and had the game’s sole corner kick, and the Bulls also matched BGSU’s save count with two saves apiece. But despite the game being a fairly even contest, UB was never able to generate a score.
Just two weeks earlier, UB and BGSU had faced each other in the regular season, with the Bulls narrowly defeating the Falcons, 1-0, despite getting outshot 16-4.
The Bulls ended the season with a 13-4-3 overall record.
The sports desk can be reached at sports@ubspectrum.com
Sophie McNally is an assistant sports editor at The Spectrum. She is a history major studying abroad for a year from Newcastle University in the UK. In her spare time, she can be found blasting The 1975 or Taylor Swift and rowing on a random river at 5 a.m.
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
