Stransky Strikes Twice; Falcons Stop Flashes, 2-1, in MAC opener

Sunday, September 14

Bowling Green, Ohio

1 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

6-1-1, 1-0-0

Kent State

2-3-3, 0-1-0

Kent St.

Bowling Green

Emma Stransky celebrates her first goal of the KSU match. She would score again in the second half of Sunday's win.

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

September 14, 2025 | Women's Soccer

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BGSU moves to school record-tying 6-1-1 on the year

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Junior Emma Stransky scored a pair of go-ahead goals on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 14), lifting the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Kent State University. The match, the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams, was held at a sun-drenched Cochrane Stadium.

With the win, the Falcons (6-1-1, 1-0-0 MAC) have tied the best start to a season in program history. The 2025 campaign marks BGSU's 29th season as a varsity program.

Stransky scored her first goal of the day in the 36th minute, heading home a diagonal ball off the boot of Ellie Pool, and the Falcons took that 1-0 lead into the halftime break.

The Golden Flashes (2-3-3, 0-1-1 MAC), however, came out fast in the second half and tied the game five minutes into the period, as Kelsey Salopek scored on a header off of a Samantha Miller corner kick.

But, Stransky and the Falcons retook the lead just under nine minutes later. After Stransky was fouled in the offensive end of the pitch, Emme Butera played a free kick into the box. The ball sailed toward the far side of the six-yard box at the scoreboard end of the stadium, where Gabby Lamparty saved it from going out of play with a diving header along the end line.

Lamparty nodded the ball back across the goalmouth, and Taylor Green lunged and got a touch on the ball before Stransky slotted it past KSU goalkeeper Leah Shaffer.

The Flashes applied pressure over the remaining 31-plus minutes, but 'keeper Payton O'Malley and the Falcons would not allow the visitors to find the tying goal. O'Malley made five saves in the win, including a diving stop on a shot through traffic by Addy Cusick with two minutes left in the contest.

BGSU also had a 'team save' in the win, as Regan Reilly blocked a KSU effort away from the goal line in the second half.

Shaffer made one save for the Golden Flashes.

The first BGSU goal in today's win at Cochrane...#AyZiggy | 🟠⚽️🟤 pic.twitter.com/kJtdf3hOl3
— BGSU Women's Soccer (@BGSU_WSoccer) September 14, 2025

NOTE OF THE DAY
• The Falcons, as mentioned, are now 6-1-1 on the season. That ties the 2025 team for the best start in program history.
• BGSU went 6-1-1 in the spring of 2021, ending that abbreviated season with a trip to the NCAA Championships. That team ended the season with that 6-1-1 mark.
• Regardless of BGSU's result in the next match, the Falcons will post the best nine-game start to a season in program history. Currently, that mark is shared by the 2016 and 2017 teams, which each started 6-3-0.
• The 2025 season is the 29th in the history of the program, which began in 1997.

ALSO NOTEWORTHY
• Junior Emma Stransky now has team-leading totals of five goals and 10 points this season. She has 12 goals and 29 points in her BGSU career.
• Seven of Stransky's 12 career goals have been game-winners. That total ties her for eighth on the BGSU career list, along with Jill Conover (1999-2002) and Chelsee Washington (2016-19). Kristy Coppes (2001-04) holds the school record with 14 career GWG.
• Sophomore Haley Wolf now has a three-game point-scoring streak. After recording her first career point with an assist in the win at Robert Morris (Sept. 4), Wolf had the lone assist on a Stransky winner last Sunday vs. Duquesne (Sept. 7). And, she had an assist on Sunday's first goal vs. the Golden Flashes.
• Sixth year collegian Ellie Pool had the primary assist on the first goal of Sunday's match. Pool now has six points this season and 23 as a Falcon. In her collegiate career, she has 45 points in 64 matches.
• Gabby Lamparty had her second assist of the season, and now has four points on the year.
• Taylor Green recorded her first point of the year and her first career assist. Green, who scored a goal against Eastern Michigan in her freshman year, now has three career points.
• Junior Lizzie Bultynck made her first start of the season. A total of 18 different Falcons now have started at least one match in 2025.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Just over six minutes into the match, the Falcons cleared the ball out of their own end of the field and looked to make a counterattack. Taylor Green blocked a KSU shot, and Audrey Oliver quickly slid a pass to Emma Stransky. Stransky played a ball over the top for the streaking Ellie Pool. Pool raced into the box and hit a shot from the right side, but the ball went just wide of the far post.
• Midway through the opening period, the Flashes looked to take the lead, as Addy Cusick put a ball into the box for Kelsey Salopek. Salopek fought off a defender or two, then put a bad-angle shot on frame, but Payton O'Malley was there to make the save.
• With just over 9:20 to go before the half, the Falcons got on the board. Haley Wolf took a throw-in near the KSU bench, and received a return pass from Emily Hollar. Wolf, near the sideline, played a short pass to Pool, who spun and lofted a cross into the box. That diagonal ball found a wide-open Stransky just outside the six-yard box. Stransky headed the ball into the lower-left corner to give BG the lead.
• Just under four minutes remained in the opening half, when KSU took possession of the ball near the Flashes' own end line. A long pass found Maya Justice near midfield, and Justice proceeded to make a long run into the penalty area, but her shot went just wide of the far post.
• The Flashes applied a great deal of offensive pressure at the start of the second half, and were rewarded with a goal exactly five minutes into the period. After KSU won a corner kick, Samantha Miller's kick sailed into the center of the box, where the onrushing Salopek got her head on it. Theshot found the upper part of the net, just under the crossbar.
• But, under nine minutes later, the Falcons took the lead on Stransky's second goal of the day. Gabby Lamparty, as mentioned, did tremendous work to keep the ball from going out of play prior to the goal.
• Midway through the half, Lauren Mahoney stole the ball near midfield and played it ahead to Stransky. Stransky, facing away from goal, slid a pass back to Lizzie Bultynck, then whirled past her defender and took a nifty return pass. Stransky headed into the box and fired a shot, but the ball went wide of the far post.
• Twelve minutes and change remained when, after a KSU corner kick, a shot was blocked off of the line by Regan Reilly, keeping the Falcons in the lead.
• And, as the clock ticked under two minutes, another KSU corner kick was blocked out of the box by a BG defender. The ball, however, went directly to Cusick, who hit a low shot from the top of the 18. That shot was not hit with a ton of force, but found its way through a crowd of players, forcing O'Malley to make a headlong dive to tip the shot wide. Off of the ensuing corner kick, Abby Brietschuh put a shot just wide of the net at the far post.
• KSU had one more chance in the final minute of the game, with yet another corner, but O'Malley grabbed a diagonal ball with a diving effort, and a resulting counterattack by Pool and Stransky used up the remaining time.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons will open the road portion of the Mid-American Conference action on Thursday (Sept. 18), heading to Athens to take on Ohio University. That match is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start at Chessa Field.
• Then, the Orange and Brown will end the month of September with home contests vs. Western Michigan (Sept. 21) and Central Michigan (Sept. 28) on back-to-back Sundays. Each match will begin at 1:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium, and admission is free to all BGSU home soccer action.

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