BOWLING GREEN — Chris Fox has shown the ability to quickly turn a struggling women’s soccer program into an NCAA tournament team.

In his newest gig as Bowling Green State University’s coach, however, Fox is already equipped with a roster that knows how to win in a program that has had remarkable success recently.

“No pressure, right?” said Fox, who was hired as BGSU’s coach in December after spending the previous two seasons guiding Morehead State. “It’s been good, I think the previous staff just did a fantastic job, for sure, especially with their recruiting.

“The players that I’ve inherited, the players that have come in this 2024 class, there’s just a lot of depth. I think it’s the depth that has been the biggest jump. We had a very, very good team and we were successful last year at Morehead, but we were only a couple of players deep. Here, we’ve got a lot. It’s a lot of players to lean on, gives us a lot of options, and super excited.”

After leading Morehead State to an Ohio Valley Conference tournament title and NCAA tournament appearance in 2023 — just two years after the Eagles had a 4-10-4 record — Fox is excited to be bringing his knowledge to BGSU. A talented group of players that include three of their top four scorers from 2023, as well as one of their top goalkeepers, have brought in to what Fox has been teaching them since arriving in northwest Ohio.

The Falcons have described the transition from former coach Jimmy Walker, who accepted the head coaching position at Creighton after the 2023 season, to Fox as “smooth” and “awesome.”

“Our team has really taken on everything he’s saying, and every day in practice, we’re trying to apply those principles,” BGSU junior forward and former Anthony Wayne High School standout Brynn Gardner said. “If you use that model, he’s shown that it works and will excel on the field, so we’re just trying to finalize everything and every game we’re working on film afterwards.”

In Fox’s first season at Morehead State, the Eagles went 7-7-4 to end a streak of seven straight losing seasons. A year later, the program finished 9-6-5 (6-1-2 OVC), including a six-game winning streak that stretched from the end of the regular season into the league tournament. A 5-0 loss to eventual national champion Florida State in the first round was the Eagles’ first NCAA tournament game since 2013.

For Fox, staying calm on the pitch and controlling possession are two of his philosophies that he’s worked to instill in his BGSU team. Nearly all of Morehead State’s wins last season were low-scoring outings in which the Eagles won by one or two goals.

“We want to keep the ball, we want to instill our will on opponents,” Fox said. “So if you want to do that, it’s about decision making, it’s about positioning.

“So if you’re frantic and going a million miles an hour, you’re less likely to find success because you’re going to take bad touches, you’re not going to be in the right position. So we talk about position over possession, making sure that we position ourselves correctly, move the ball. Don’t give it up cheaply, like really value the ball. So we just need a calm mindset to do that.”

BGSU’s players feel that mindset fits the team perfectly.

“The team has taken onto his style of play really well. Really possession based, which I think for a lot of our players, that suits them better,” BGSU senior defender Isabelle Gilmore said. “So he came in and very organized, very direct, tells us exactly what he wants, so it’s been great.”

Fox and his players will be looking to build off of arguably the best six-year stretch in program history. The Falcons won four straight regular season and Mid-American Conference tournament titles from 2018 to 2021, reached the NCAA tournament in each of those seasons, as well, and finished in the top three of the regular-season standings the past two years. BGSU is a remarkable 47-8-6 in regular-season MAC games since the start of the 2018 campaign.

Gardner and Gilmore were both first-team all-MAC honorees last season, while forward Emma Stransky and defender Taylor Green were members of the all-freshman team. Gardner (six goals, four assists), Ellie Pool (four goals, five assists), and Stransky (three goals, three assists) were first, second, and tied for third, respectively, in points for the Falcons, while goalkeeper Madison Vukas, one of the MAC’s leaders in save percentage (third at .804) and goals against average (fourth at 1.11), also returns.

Fox said his team, which opens the season at 7 p.m. Thursday at home against Detroit Mercy, is certainly capable of winning a MAC title this year. But a lot will have to go the Falcons’ way, like staying healthy.

The players have plenty of motivation to try to get back to the top of the league.

“We fell short the past two seasons, so we definitely want to get back up to winning the MAC, making an NCAA tournament appearance, and we don’t want to just stop there; we want to win an NCAA game. So super motivated, and with the new coaching staff, I know they want to get a ring too,” Gilmore said.

Added Gardner: “I think definitely with Chris coming in, it’s a fresh start for us. We have a lot of new freshmen with good talent, and we’re excited to see what they can bring to the table, as well as a lot of seniors and fifth years who have a lot of experience. So to take them back to where they have been before would be super fun, especially in their last year.”

First Published August 14, 2024, 9:14 p.m.