ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Oakland women's soccer team will travel to Bowling Green, Ohio to take on the Falcons Sunday, Aug. 29 at 2 p.m. from Cochrane Stadium. Sunday's match-up will be streamed for free on YouTube. 

The Golden Grizzlies and the Falcons will meet for the sixth time in program history, and the first time since 2018. Oakland's last win against BGSU came on Aug. 28, 2016.
 
BGSU (0-3) enters Sunday's game searching for its first win of the season after a tough three-game non-conference schedule in Notre Dame, Michigan and Ohio State. 
 
Oakland (1-2) looks to bounce back after falling to DePaul in Thursday's home opener, 1-0. 
 
FACTS ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons return 19 letterwinners, including all 11 starters, from last season's club. The 2020(-21) Falcons went 6-1-1 overall and 5-1-0 in MAC play, outscoring opponents by a 17-3 count in the spring.

The returning players combined for 100 percent of the goals and 90.9% (all but one) of the assists in the spring, and goalkeeper Lili Berg played approximately 96% of the minutes between the posts.

Berg and the Falcons tied for first in the entire nation in shutout percentage (.750) last season, recording six shutouts in eight matches. BG earned the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season.
 
PRESEASON POLL
Oakland was picked to finish third in the 2021 Horizon League women's soccer preseason poll, announced by the league office on Wednesday and voted on by the league's 12 head coaches.
 
SENIOR LEADERSHIP
The Golden Grizzlies welcome back 10 seniors to the squad this season, bringing a wealth of knowledge and leadership to the roster, including graduate student, Ashley Postma, who returns for her fifth season.
 
A LOOK AT LAST YEAR
After a canceled 2020 fall season, Oakland competed in a 10-game, conference-only schedule beginning in February. The Golden Grizzlies posted a 5-3-2 record which included a four-game winning streak in the month of March. Oakland was just two of 12 Horizon League teams to play in all 10 games.
 
The Golden Grizzlies tallied 16 goals on the year, tied for second-most among the Horizon League. Oakland's 1.6 goals per game ties the Golden Grizzlies mark in 2013, and is the best since the 2010 season.

The Golden Grizzlies boasted an impressive eight goal scorers, tied for second-best among league foes.

Oakland racked up an impressive 26 assists, a league-best, with 12 Golden Grizzlies tallying one or more. Sami Lopez led with a season-best seven assists, second-most in the Horizon League.
Oakland allowed just .90 goals/game, the fewest in 12-plus seasons. Opponents were only able to find the back of the net nine times, the fourth-fewest in conference play.

ALL LEAGUE HONORS
The Oakland women's soccer team had three student-athletes garner All-Horizon League honors as voted on the by league's head coaches. Sami Lopez and Kendra Zak earned first team honors while Emily Penney was a Horizon League All-Freshman Team selection, marking the first time since the 2016 season Oakland has had a student-athlete represented on the first team, and the first time since 2015 two student-athletes have been recognized as first team honorees.

UNITED SOCCER COACHES HONORS
Zak earned 2020-21 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's All-Region second team honors, while Lopez and Postma earned third-team honors announced by the national office in May.

Zak earned 2020-21 United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America Third Team honors, becoming the first to accomplish this feat in program history. Zak was also named to the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Scholar All-Region team in addition to All-North Region Second Team honoree.