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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons End Regular Season With 1-0 Victory
November 04, 2001 | Men's Soccer
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Nov. 4, 2001
Bowling Green, Ohio - Bowling Green will get set to begin its 2001 postseason after ending the regular season with 1-0 victory over visiting Western Michigan on Sunday afternoon at Cochrane Field in front of 230 in attendance. The game marked the final home match for Falcon seniors Tony Malik, Detrick Matthews, Ben Vaccaro and Kevin Wisniewski.
Appropriately, five of the six shots on goal by Bowling Green came from seniors, including the lone goal of the game by Matthews at 38:22 in the first half. The Bellefontaine native took the rebound off of a shot by Matt Martinka that squarely hit the post and knocked it into the open-end of the net. It was Matthews' team-leading sixth goal of the season.
"I was real happy that the four seniors were able to end their careers with getting a final home victory," said BGSU coach Mel Mahler. "This group of four guys are the epitome of student-athletes."
The Falcons were clearly the aggressors in the first 45 minutes, outshooting the Broncos 8-4, including Matthews' decisive goal. BGSU also held a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks in the first half.
WMU (5-11-1 overall, 1-4-1 in MAC) evened things up in the second half, outshooting the home team 7-3, but the Falcons defense kept the visitors in check.
For the game, both teams ended with 11 shots and four saves from each goalie. Each squad had one team save, as well.
"Getting a win and using the momentum toward the MAC Tournament was important for us," Mahler said. "Our focus was to play the game like it was a MAC Tournament game."
Bowling Green (7-7-1 overall, 2-4-0 in MAC) will be the No. 5 seed and play No. 4-seeded Buffalo (2-3-1 in MAC) in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament on Friday, Nov. 9, at 1 p.m. The University of Akron is serving as the tournament host. The winner of the game will play No. 1-seeded Kentucky (6-0-0) on Sunday at Akron and is scheduled for a 12 p.m. start.
