Four-Goal First Half Fuels Ferris State To Sixth-Straight Home Win

Big Rapids, Mich. - Four first-half goals and a hat trick from sophomore Nichole Boehnke fueled the Ferris State University women's soccer team to its sixth consecutive home win on Sunday (Oct. 20) as the Bulldogs wrapped up a three-match homestand with an impressive 5-2 triumph over Findlay at the FSU Soccer Field.

Ferris State scored less than five minutes into the contest and built a 4-0 advantage en route to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) victory against the Oilers.
The win improved the Bulldogs' record to 6-0 at home this season and FSU has now outscored the opposition 21-3 in games played in Big Rapids.

Boehnke notched her first of three goals on the day only 4:46 into the contest as the Bulldog forward found the back of the net on a pass sent upfield thru the Oiler defense and in front of the net by senior defender Amanda Foster.

Then, a little more than 15 minutes later at 19:54, the sophomore standout tallied her second goal of the day on a shot inside the box off a corner cross sent in by forward Casey Shauman.

The two-goal lead stood for eight minutes until the Bulldogs increased the edge to 3-0 on Lindsey Scott's first goal of the year on a long shot from the outside off an opposite side pass from Meredith Smith.

Boehnke compled the hat trick at 38:20 of the first half on her league-leading 10th goal of the season as she put a header past the Oilers off a corner kick from Abby Meirndorf.

Findlay gained some momentum near the end of the half as the Oilers trimmed the margin to 4-1 at the break when Eryn Weber scored for the eighth time this season on a middle shot with the assist credited to Katie Burke in the 41st minute.

UF started quickly in the second half and cut it back to two goals when Sarah Silone notched her first marker of the year at 49:14 on a shot in front of the net off a pass from Rachel Louie.

However, the Bulldogs regained some momentum and accounted for the game's final scoring as Shauman tallied her second goal of the campaign on a rebound shot in front of the net after an attempt from senior Riley Wood hit the cross bar.

Ferris State scored its four goals in the opening half on only 13 total shots, but the Bulldogs finished with 40 shots on the day after recording 27 in the second frame.  Meanwhile, the Oilers had 11 shots in half one followed by 12 in the second half for 23 on the afternoon.

Senior Rachel McCollum earned the start in net for the Bulldogs and made two saves in 45 minutes of action before giving way to freshman Savanna Wojtanowski in the second half.  She had nine saves as each allowed a single goal.

On the opposite side of the field, Findlay's Samantha Trimboli totaled 15 saves, but surrendered all five Bulldog scores in going the distance in net.

Boehnke paced the Bulldogs with seven shots, including four on net, while Taylor DiCicco had six shots with three on goal.  Smith recorded six shots with four on goal and finally Jenna Ruimveld also registered three on net off the bench with four total shots in the outing. Wood had five shots.

Both Weber and Silone led the Oilers wiht seven shot, which featured four on net from Weber and three by Silone.

The contest was relatively clean as the Bulldogs were called for only seven fouls and the Oilers six.  FSU managed four corners with Findlay earning three corner kick opportunities.

The win for Ferris State was its third in a row over the past week and the Bulldogs' sixth victory in their last seven contests to date this season.

Ferris State improved to 8-5 overall and 6-3 in the GLIAC with the triumph while Findlay fell to 6-6-2 overall and 2-4-2 in conference play.

The Bulldogs will hit the road for two GLIAC road contests next weekend as FSU visits Northern Michigan on Friday (Oct. 25) for a 4 p.m. (ET) league tilt in Marquette followed by an outing against Michigan Tech on Sunday (Oct. 27) starting at 12 p.m. (ET) in Houghton.

FSU currently has three remaining league regular-season tilts along with four contests overall prior to the GLIAC Postseason Tournament.