2019-20 Falcon Athletics Accomplishments
This summary of extraordinary athletic accomplishments by our student-athletes in the past year, includes everything from MAC championship play to Falcon Football’s big win over Toledo to notable individual performances across a broad spectrum of the 18 sports in which we compete at the Division I level.
- BGSU Athletics competed in MAC Championship contests on three straight Sundays during the fall. Women’s Soccer hosted and defeated Eastern Michigan. Men’s Soccer lost a hard-fought 1-0 contest to West Virginia (at Akron) and Volleyball hosted Ball State, falling in five sets.
- Women’s Soccer won back-to-back MAC regular season and tournament championships. The team’s 20-2-0 record in MAC play over two years has never before been matched in MAC history.
- Women’s Soccer coach Matt Fannon was named MAC Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season to become the first coach in league history to do that. He is one of only three coaches to ever win the award three times in their careers.
- Chelsee Washington was named the MAC Offensive Player of the Year and Maureen Kennedy was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Year for Women’s Soccer.
- Women’s Soccer standout Maureen Kennedy was one of just five student-athletes across the country to be named a First-Team Senior CLASS Award All-American. She is the first player in school history, and just the fourth in MAC history, to earn the honor.
- Men’s Soccer went 13-7-1 during the 2019 campaign, advancing to the MAC Championship game by defeating Northern Illinois and then Akron on Akron’s home field. The Falcons eventually lost to West Virginia 1-0 in the championship contest.
- Volleyball went 20-13 on the season, finishing third in the MAC regular season standings. The Falcons hosted the MAC Tournament and advanced to the championship match, losing to Ball State in five sets. For the third consecutive year, BGSU qualified for the NIVC Tournament, winning a match for the first time during that stretch by defeating Purdue Fort Wayne in four sets. It was the program’s first national tournament victory since beating Yale in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2012.
- Under first-year head coach Scot Loeffler, Falcon Football defeated Toledo for the first time in a decade, winning 20-7. The Falcons brought home the I-75 trophy with the victory.
- Men’s Basketball went 21-10 on the season and finished second in the MAC regular season standings. It was the first time the program has won 20 or more games in back-to-back seasons since the 1947-48 and 1948-49 seasons. Redshirt junior Justin Turner was named first team All-MAC.
- Men’s Basketball’s 21 regular season wins are the most for the program since winning 22 in 2001-02.
- The Hockey team went 21-13-4, marking the sixth consecutive season in which the team has won at least 20 games. At the time of the cancellation of the season, the team was the hottest in college hockey, closing the year with a 10-game unbeaten streak.
- Alec Rauhauser was named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and a second team All-American. He is the first BGSU athlete in a team sport to be named an All-American First or Second Team multiple times in a career in 30 years.
- Women’s Basketball made a one-game improvement in overall and league record, moving to 10-21 and 3-15. Madisen Parker was the nation’s top three-point shooter, making 48.0 percent of her attempts from long range.
- Gymnastics earned 10 wins in 2020, up from just two wins a year earlier. Senior Jovannah East was one of the top gymnasts in the conference and was in line to advance to NCAA regional competition before the season was canceled.
- Talisa Lemke won her third consecutive MAC Championship in one-meter diving, breaking the pool record in the process. She also won her second consecutive MAC Championship in three-meter diving, earning the MAC Diver of the Year Award and MAC Most Outstanding Senior honor. Following the cancellation of the season, Lemke was named an All-American.
- Daisy Platts won MAC Championships in the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke, breaking program and pool records in both events along the way.
- Tennis went 6-3 on the season and had won three straight matches before the remainder of the year was canceled.
- Kaila Butler won the MAC Championship in the weight throw, while the 1600 relay team of Ryen Draper, Savannah Nevels, Jazzlynn Gaiters and Lyanna Ross broke the school record in winning a MAC title. It was the first time BGSU had captured the MAC Championship in the 1600 relay since 1992.
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Updated: 08/07/2020 10:44AM