Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Soccer To Face Top Ranked Teams At FIU Classic
January 03, 2000 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 20, 1999
UPCOMING GAMES ...
The following weekend, BG kicks-off the Mid-American Conference portion of its schedule with a home match against Kentucky at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 3. The Falcons have a non-conference match at Cochrane Field versus Bucknell on Friday, Oct. 8 at 4:00 p.m. before playing five consecutive MAC matches.
THE SERIES ...
The Falcons have dropped both previous matches against Southern Methodist. The Mustangs won 2-1 in 1995 on the second day of the Creighton Classic, and 2-1 in 1996 on the second day of the Fresno State Umbro Goal Rush Classic.
SCANNING THE POLLS...
PREVIEWING UPCOMING OPPONENTS...
The Nittany Lions defeated New Hampshire (2-1 OT) and Akron (3-2) this past weekend to win the Penn State/Nike Classic. Richardo Villar was named MVP after scoring two goals and adding two assists for six points. His goal versus the Zips came on a penalty kick after Akron goalkeeper Kyle Milligan was issued a red card. Villar leads the Nittany Lions in scoring with 16 points on six goals and four assists. Penn State has outscored its opponents 19-9 this season.
Southern Methodist is off to a 4-1 start and sophomore Luchi Gonzalez has scored five goals. The Mustangs recorded a 2-1 triumph over Bradley with Gonzalez and Carl Bussey hitting the back of the net. Gonzalez scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over 19th ranked Washington. In SMU's 9-0 thrashing of Detroit, Gonzalez had three goals and two assists. Gonzalez, who led the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in goals last year with 10, was named MVP of the UNLV/Fila Rebel Classic.
This past weekend the Mustangs hosted the SMU/Nike Classic. On Friday, SMU lost to 12th ranked St. Louis (1-0 2OT), while on Saturday the Mustangs blanked Eastern Illinois 3-0. Gonzalez leads the team with 12 points on five goals and two assists, while Bussey has added four goals and two assists for 10 points. Sophomore goalkeeper Byron Foss has a 0.42 goals-against average in over 420 minutes of action.
Gonzalez went down with a sprained right knee in the 26th minute of the Eastern Illinois match and did not return to the game. He will be evaluated early in the week.
LOOKING BACK AT LAST WEEK ...
The Falcons took a 1-0 lead just 0:35 into the match when senior Bobby Biggs scored on his rebound. The Golden Knights evened the score at one at 5:45 when Ari Nurmi, the nation's leading goal-scorer (2.50 goals per game) netted his sixth of the campaign on a cross from Arno Nurmisto. UCF took a 2-1 lead at 19:41 on Nurmi's second goal of the match.
Falcon senior Chris Dore pulled BG even again with an unassisted goal only 1:24 before halftime. Biggs put BG in front at 3-2 just 0:30 into the second half. Nurmi's third of the match at 67:01 tied the score at three, while Jorgen Midttveit tallied the match-winner at 83:01 on a rebound of Ornulf Olsen's shot.
BG goalkeeper Ty Fowler was credited with seven saves, while UCF keeper Antti Laittinen had five stops.
Bowling Green senior Chris Dore scored two second half goals against Xavier on Sunday, but it was not enough as the Musketeers Koen Kuiken scored once in the first half and twice in the final 45 minutes to give Xavier the 3-2 victory.
Falcon goalkeeper Ty Fowler was credited with three saves, while Xavier's Paul Wesseling made eight stops.
Kuiken's three-goal outburst marked the fourth consecutive match that BG has allowed an opponent player to record a hat trick.
NOTES ...
Sophomores Tony Malik and Mike Tinajero, and junior Gene Braxton each made their first start of the campaign on Sunday versus Xavier.
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team will take a 3-4 record into its two matches this weekend (Sept. 24-26) at the Florida International Classic in Miami. The Falcons will face #2-Penn State at 5 p.m. on Friday, and #7-Southern Methodist at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. The rankings are based on the NSCAA poll released on Sept. 13.
Bowling Green won at Penn State, 1-0 in 1987, in the only previous meeting.
BG was not rated in this week's Great Lakes Region poll (released Sept. 20).
Penn State was ranked second in the nation according to the NSCAA poll released on Sept. 13. The Nittany Lions will carry a 6-0 record to the FIU Classic. PSU opened the season claiming the OSU/Nike Classic title with wins over Clemson (3-2) and Loyola-Baltimore (2-1). Penn State has also recorded victories over Villanova (6-3) and Robert Morris (3-0).
Bowling Green suffered its third consecutive loss on Saturday falling to Central Florida, 4-3, in the opening game of the 1999 Global Soccer Classic hosted by Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan.
Bowling Green senior midfielder Chris Dore moved into the top 10 on BG's all-time scoring list with six points, on three goals, this past weekend. Dore enters the Florida International Classic with 60 career points to rank ninth all-time. He surpassed BGSU Hall of Fame inductee Dennis Mepham (1976-79).
