Huth's Golden Goal Completes BGSU's Comeback Win

Friday, October 7

Bowling Green, Ohio

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

5-9-0, 2-3-0MAC

Eastern Michigan

0-10-2, 0-4-1MAC

OT 2

Eastern Michigan

Bowling Green

Captain Alyssa Zuccaro (13) scored the Falcons' first goal in Friday's win (photo by Brandon Heiss)

October 07, 2011 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Falcons down Eastern Michigan, 2-1, in OT

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Sidney Huth picked a great time to score her first collegiate goal.

The Bowling Green State University freshman scored just 93 seconds into overtime, giving the Falcon women's soccer team a 2-1, come-from-behind win over Eastern Michigan University Friday afternoon (Oct. 7). The Mid-American Conference match was held at BGSU's Cochrane Field.

FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
PHOTO GALLERY 1 - photos by Brandon Heiss, BGSU Marketing & Communications
PHOTO GALLERY 2 - photos by Nick Juskewycz, BGSU Athletic Communications
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for interviews with Alyssa Zuccaro, Sidney Huth, Leah Johnson and Andy Richards

Senior captain Alyssa Zuccaro also scored for the Falcons (5-9-0, 2-3-0 MAC), heading home a gorgeous cross from sophomore Ivi Casagrande to tie the match in the 60th minute.

Cara Cutaia had scored the opening goal of the match to give the Eagles (0-10-2, 0-4-1 MAC) a 1-0 halftime lead.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak, all by shutout, for the Brown and Orange. Both of BGSU's MAC wins have been 2-1, come-from-behind victories.

Redshirt junior Becca Ison made four saves to pick up the win in goal for the Falcons. Maggie Manville had three stops for the Eagles.

Huth's goal was the lone shot attempt for either team in the overtime period. She stole the ball from an EMU player on the right side of the pitch and took the ball downfield, toward the Cochrane Field scoreboard. Huth cut back to momentarily shake her defender and free herself for a cross/shot. The freshman crossed/shot the ball and saw it hit the far side of the net.

Leah Johnson v Eastern Michigan - Oct 7 2011

The ball bounced out of the goal relatively quickly, and several players on the pitch seemed to be unsure if it had gone into the net. But, Zuccaro, one of the closest pl

ayers to the goal, celebrated immediately. The assistant referee had signalled 'goal' as well, and the referee motioned for the clock to be stopped, indicating a goal had been scored.

The Eagles held a slim 16-14 advantage in total shot attempts, and both sides had five shots on goal in the match. Zuccaro had three of the Falcons' five shots on net, and fired eight total shots on the day. For the visitors, Cutaia took six shots, with two on frame.

Eastern had several shot attempts in the early going, and the visitors had what looked to be a solid scoring chance with just over seven minutes gone. A through ball seemed to free Cutaia, but redshirt freshman Kylie Briem got a boot on the ball, disrupting Cutaia's rhythm as she steamed toward goal. Briem knocked the ball off of Cutaia's shin, and it rolled harmlessly to Ison.

Less than 30 seconds later, sophomore Tracy Togba got free for a shot from the left side of the penalty area at the other end of the field, but Manville was equal to the task.

Fifteen minutes into the match, a nice defensive play by EMU's Allison Kaim broke up a possible BGSU scoring chance. Togba stole the ball in the Eagles' end, and played a through ball to Zuccaro. 'Z' and Manville converged on the ball near the top of the box, but Kaim got there first and played a square ball to a teammate to end the threat.

The Eagles had several chances midway through the period. First, Chelsie Oddan's shot took a high bounce, but Ison was able to corral it. Then, Cutaia took a shot from the right side, and the ball glanced off the top of the crossbar and out of play.

Ison did well to break up an EMU chance, coming off her line to grab a cross by Angela Vultaggio in the 30th minute of the match. Several minutes later, though, the Eagles would get on the board.

The scoring play started innocently enough. Amanda Marsh slid a pass to Cutaia on the right side of the pitch. Cutaia fired a shot from a spot near where Huth would score the game's final goal, and Cutaia's effort sailed over Ison and into the upper-left-hand corner of the net. Marsh drew the lone assist on the goal, which came at the 34:47 mark.

Less than a minute later, redshirt junior Leah Johnson, playing in her first match of the season, fired a right-side cross toward Sarah VonderBrink in the center of the park. On VonderBrink's first touch, however, the ball floated a little closer to Manville than the Falcon junior would have preferred, and the EMU 'keeper beat Vondy to the ball by a split-second.

BG's final chance of the half came when Zuccaro stole the ball in the Eastern end of the field and fired a shot from distance. The captain struck it well, but the shot sailed high of the target.

After a spirited halftime talk from coach Andy Richards, the Falcons responded with a flurry in the offensive end to begin the second period. BG possessed the ball in the Eagles' penalty area for most of the first minute of the half, but could get only one shot off, as a Togba try in traffic was blocked.

With just under three minutes gone in the period, freshman Ashley Garr's pass found Huth on the left side. Huth brought the ball along the end line and slid a pass to Zuccaro on the left side of the area, but Zuccaro's shot went wide of the far post.

In the 54th minute of the match, junior Emily Rothwell's free kick found the head of Zuccaro in the box. Zuccaro nodded the ball toward goal, but Manville was able to deflect it out of play.

Less than a minute later, Vultaggio made a long run, taking the ball down the left side, then cutting back toward the center of the field. She uncorked a long shot that hit the crossbar as Ison leaped in an attempt to block it. The ball caromed straight up into the air and bounced about two yards away from the goal. But, no other player was near, and Ison grabbed the ball off of the bounce.

In the 59th minute of the match, Richards and his staff made two substitutions, as VonderBrink returned to the field, while Casagrande made her first appearance of the day. The duo made their coaches look like geniuses, beginning a goal-scoring play less than a minute later.

On a give-and-go play on the left side, VonderBrink flicked the ball to Casagrande, who was heading down the line. The sophomore fired a perfect crossing ball into the box. Zuccaro, stationed on the right side of the six-yard box, didn't even have to move, heading the ball back toward the left side of the goal and into the net. The goal broke a lengthy scoreless streak for the Brown and Orange, but more importantly, it tied Friday's match at 1-1.

Less than two minutes after the goal, Huth hit a hard shot from long range. The shot, taken from the center of the field, was headed toward the left side of the goal. It looked to be going wide of the target, but the shot was close enough that Manville had to play it, and the EMU 'keeper knocked the ball out of bounds for a corner kick. Off of that corner, a turnaround shot by Zuccaro was saved.

The Eagles had a great chance to take the lead with under five minutes left. Julie Kaim took a free kick from the left side, playing a diagonal ball into the area and toward numerous players from both teams. Somehow, the ball got through the entire group. It bounced once, and reached Cutaia, who was suddenly all alone behind the defense. The EMU striker, possibly unaware of how much time she had, quickly headed the ball toward the left side of goal, and Ison made a lunging save.

Cutaia's header was the last shot attempt for either team in regulation and the Falcons and Eagles headed to OT, setting the stage for Huth's heroics.

BGSU now hits the road for the next three matches, beginning with a Sunday (Oct. 9) contest at Central Michigan University. That game begins at 1:00 p.m. in Mount Pleasant.

FALCON NOTES
* Freshman Sidney Huth's goal on Friday was the first of her collegiate career ... obviously, it was the first 'Golden 'Goal of her BGSU tenure, and was the first overtime goal by a Falcon in almost three years.

* BGSU's last 'Golden Goal' came on Oct. 10, 2008, in a 1-0, double-OT win over Ball State at Cochrane Field ... Corbie Yee scored the winning goal on that afternoon.

* Senior Alyssa Zuccaro's goal in the second half on Friday was the 20th of her career, moving her into a tie for third place on the BGSU list ... 'Z' is now deadlocked with both Jill Conover (1999-2002) and Tracy Gleixner (1998-2002) ... that trio trails only Kristy Coppes (52 goals from 2001-04) and Samantha Meister (28 goals from 2002-05).

* Zuccaro now has a total of 50 points in her BGSU career. ranking sixth on that list ... she passed Britt Anderson (49 points from 2002-05) on Friday, and is one point behind Yee (51 points from 2005-08).

* Redshirt junior Leah Johnson checked into Friday's match with 19:06 left in the first half ... for Johnson, it marked her first game action since the final contest of the 2009 season ... after starting 40 games over her first two years, and earning team Defensive MVP honors in '09, Johnson missed all of the 2010 season after suffering an injury during the preseason ... she played a total of 31 minutes on Friday.

* Both of BGSU's MAC wins have been 2-1, come-from-behind affairs ... BG surrendered a goal in the opening minute of the match at Buffalo (Sept. 23), but rallied to win on a pair of Zuccaro goals.

* Zuccaro's goal ended a BGSU scoreless streak of 334:29 ... 'Z' had scored BG's last goal, at the 88:57 mark of the UB match ... the Falcons suffered shutout losses to Kent State, Toledo and Ball State in the interim.

* Despite that three-game losing streak, Friday's results around the MAC leave BGSU just a game out of first place in the East Division ... BGSU and Kent State are both 2-3-0 in league play, trailing only Ohio (3-2-0 MAC) and Akron (2-2-1) ... following Sunday's match at Central Michigan, the Falcons travel to face both UA and OU next weekend.

* The crossing ball by sophomore Ivi Casagrande in the second half resulted in her first collegiate point ... that cross gave the Belo Horizonte, Brazil, native the primary assist on Zuccaro's goal.

* Junior Sarah VonderBrink now has a team-leading four assists on the year, and is second on the team in points ... 'Vondy' has six points this fall, trailing only Zuccaro's total of 10.

* In her BGSU career, VonderBrink now has totals of seven assists and 15 points.

* BGSU now has an all-time record of 19-18-30 in overtime matches ... that includes a 10-13-13 record at Cochrane Field, a 7-3-15 mark in road games and a 2-2-2 ledger in neutral-site overtime contests.

* Prior to Friday, the Falcons had been winless in the last 12 overtime contests (0-5-7) ... the first four of those 12 matches were ties, completing a stretch from 2007-09 in which BGSU was undefeated in 13 consecutive OT games (4-0-9).

* Three of BGSU's 19 overtime wins have come against Eastern Michigan ... that list includes a 1-0 victory in Ypsilanti 11 years ago (Sept. 24, 2000) and a 2-1 victory at Cochrane Field in 2007 ... that latter match came in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament (Nov. 4, 2007), with Yee scoring the winner.