COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 2025 Mid-American Conference Women’s Soccer Championship between top-seeded Western Michigan and sixth-seeded Bowling Green kicks off tonight, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
The Broncos, who have won three-straight regular season titles, are looking to claim its second tournament title in a row. The Falcons, who have won a league-high six tournament championships, are looking for their first tournament crown since 2021.
Below is a team-by-team preview ahead of Friday’s championship courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments.
GAME 5: 7:30 P.M. ET | CHAMPIONSHIP | HISTORIC CREW STADIUM (COLUMBUS, OHIO)
No. 1 Western Michigan vs. No. 6 Bowling Green
WATCH | LIVE STATS | TICKETS
Team-By-Team Previews
NO. 1 WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS
The Western Michigan women's soccer team will play for another MAC Championship on Friday night at the Historic Crew Stadium. The Broncos will square off with Bowling Green at 7:30 PM.
LAST TIME OUT
Western Michigan advanced to the MAC Championship, picking up a 1-0 victory over Ball State on Tuesday at the Historic Crew Stadium.
Abigail Baldridge scored the lone goal, while Avery Peters notched the assist on the play. Reagan Sulaver posted her ninth shutout in net.
RACKING UP THE AWARDS
The Broncos were well represented on the MAC postseason awards list, which was released by the league office on Oct. 31.
Drew Martin (Midfielder of the Year), Mira Pierre-Webster (Defensive Player of the Year), Lewis Robinson (Coach of the Year) and Reagan Sulaver (Freshman of the Year) all earned specialty awards.
Martin has 22 points on five goals and a MAC-leading 12 assists. Pierre-Webster and Sulaver spearheaded the best defense in the league, limiting opponents to just eight goals during MAC play. Robinson has guided the Brown and Gold to a 26-1-7 league record over the last three seasons.
Joining them on the All-MAC Teams were Abby Smothers (First Team), Madi Canada (Second Team), Avery Peters (Second Team) and Heidi Thomasma (Second Team).
BALANCED BRONCOS
The Broncos have been the best offense in the MAC all season, thanks in large part to the depth in the lineup. Abby Smothers (25) and Drew Martin (22) have started every game for WMU, combining for 15 goals and 17 assists.
Western Michigan has 16 players with at least one point this season and six have eight or more. That depth was on full display on Tuesday against Ball State, as Abigail Baldridge tallied her first goal of the season to help the Brown and Gold pick up a 1-0 win.
SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Bowling Green snuck in as the No. 6 seed in the MAC Tournament, making a surprise run to the championship match. The Falcons are 2-0-3 in their last five outings, defeating Miami in PK's in the semifinals earlier this week.
WMU leads the all-time series, 18-11-4. The two teams have never met at a neutral site. Western Michigan and Bowling Green tied 1-1 earlier in the MAC season.
Emma Stransky has been the go-to option on offense, leading the team with 17 points on eight goals and one assist. Aiding the attack has been Gabby Lamparty, as she enters Friday's match with three goals and three assists.
In net, Payton O'Malley has started all 21 games, boasting a 0.56 goals against average and .844 save percentage. She has made 65 total saves this season.
NO. 6 BOWLING GREEN FALCONS
SETTING THE SCENE / FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team has advanced to the championship match of the Mid-American Conference Tournament for a league-record 11th time. Head coach Chris Fox and the Falcons, the tournament's number-six seed, face top-seeded Western Michigan University in Friday's (Nov. 7) final, with first touch set for 7:30 p.m. at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus.
• The winner of the BGSU-WMU match will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. The NCAA tourney field will be announced on Monday (Nov. 10) at 4:00 p.m.
• Fox, who was associate head coach at High Point and head coach at Morehead State prior to coming to BGSU, has advanced to a conference tournament championship match for the fourth time in six seasons.
THE STARTING XI
I – The Falcons enter the Western Michigan match with an overall record of 10-2-9 (.690). BGSU is guaranteed to end the season with the fewest losses in school history, as well as one of the top-three winning percentages in program history (not counting the COVID-19 season). BGSU went 6-1-1 in the abbreviated Spring 2021 season, but until now, the Falcons have never lost fewer than five matches in a full season. The 2025 season is the 29th in the history of the program, which began in 1997.
II – Head coach Chris Fox and Company have lost just one of the last 19 matches heading into the league tourney final vs. WMU. BG put together a school-record 13-match unbeaten streak between 1-0 home losses to Illinois (Aug. 17) and Ball State (Oct. 19).
III – The Falcons went 4-1-7 in MAC play, with the wins coming against Kent State (2-1), Central Michigan (4-0), Northern Illinois (1-0) and Massachusetts (3-1). BGSU, as mentioned, lost to BSU, and the Falcons tied everyone else. The Falcons played to 1-1 draws against Ohio, WMU, Eastern Michigan, Miami and Akron, and BG battled to scoreless stalemates at both Toledo and Buffalo. Overall, BG went 5-2-4 in home games and 4-0-4 in road contests during the regular season.
IV – The Falcons advanced to the semifinals by virtue of a 1-0, double-overtime win over Buffalo in Saturday's (Nov. 1) quarterfinal round. Junior Ella Kane made an impressive run into the penalty area and found classmate Isabella Mazzaferro for a one-time finish in the 107th minute. Then, BGSU battled Miami to a scoreless, double-OT draw on Tuesday (Nov. 4), before Payton O'Malley saved two MU penalty kicks as BG advanced to the final, 4-3, via PKs.
V – The Falcons are now 22-9-9 all-time in MAC Tournament matches. Mazzaferro's goal vs. Buffalo was BGSU's fourth "Golden Goal" in a league tournament contest in program history, and the first in 18 years.
VI – BGSU, as mentioned, has advanced to the championship match for the 11th time, a MAC record. Western Michigan is second on that list, as the Broncos are in the final for the eighth time.
VII – Junior Emma Stransky leads the Falcons in scoring, with eight goals and 17 points on the year. She has scored four game-winning goals this season to date. Junior defender Gabby Lamparty has nine points to rank second on the team, while sixth-year collegian Ellie Pool has eight points and juniors Lizzie Bultynck, Emme Butera and Mazzaferro seven apiece. Butera leads the Falcons with five assists, while Pool has four.
VIII – O'Malley, a sophomore, has started all 21 matches in goal, and has 65 saves, a goals-against average of 0.56 and a save percentage of .844. She currently leads the MAC in GAA and ranks second in save pct.
IX – Butera, Lamparty and Stransky all were named to the All-MAC First Team, while Minah Syam was chosen to the MAC's All-Freshman Team.
X – A total of 26 different players have seen action this season, with 21 Falcons having made at least one start. Three players – Butera, Lamparty and O'Malley – each have started all 21 games.
XI – BGSU finished the 2024 campaign with an overall record of 7-7-4 and a MAC ledger of 4-4-3, good for sixth in the league. Fox and his staff – first-year assistants Steven Samuel and Kyle Pettican – were joined by a total of 20 returning student-athletes, including seven starters from a year ago.
XII (off the bench) – Western Michigan is 15-3-1 overall, and the Broncos won the MAC regular-season title with a 10-1-1 record in league action. WMU enters Friday's game riding a six-match winning streak, including a 1-0 victory over Ball State in Tuesday's semifinal round. Individually, Abby Smothers and Drew Martin have 25 and 22 points, respectively. Smothers has a team-high 10 goals, while Martin leads the MAC with 12 assists. Reagan Sulaver has started all 19 matches between the posts, and has 50 saves, nine clean sheets and a GAA of just 0.59. Last season, head coach Lewis Robinson's club went 13-2-6 overall and 8-0-3 in the MAC, winning the league's regular-season and tournament titles.
XIII (multiple substitutions) – The Falcons trail Western Michigan, 18-11-4, in the all-time series, but BGSU is 4-1-3 in the last eight meetings. This year's regular-season matchup ended in a 1-1 tie at Cochrane Stadium (Sept. 21, 2025), with Lexi White scoring the Falcons' goal. BGSU is 6-6-3 in home games, 3-12-1 in road games and 2-0-0 in neutral-site matches vs. the Broncos through the years.
XIV (yep, 14 notes instead of just 11) – BGSU is 4-1-0 against WMU in MAC Tournament matchups, including a 2-0-0 mark at neutral sites. BG won the first-ever league tourney meeting with Western, 2-1, in the 2000 semifinals in Buffalo, N.Y. The lone previous meeting in a championship match came in 2003 in Kalamazoo, as the host Broncos picked up a 4-1 win. BG turned the tables the following year with a 4-1 win in the 2004 tourney semifinals, and the Falcons posted 2-0 wins in the quarterfinals in both 2008 and 2022 at Cochrane Stadium.
