Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcon Men's Soccer Drops Final Exhibition Game of the Season, 3-2
August 27, 2001 | Men's Soccer
Aug. 27, 2001
Oakland University jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and held on in the end for a one goal victory against host Bowling Green on Monday afternoon at Cochrane Field, 3-2. It was the final exhibition game for the Falcons.
The Grizzlies were the aggressors early as they outshot BGSU 10-3 in the first 30 minutes of the match. Goalie David DeGraff turned away two Oakland shots in the first 10 minutes, but the visitors finally broke through at 15:13 when Philip Braathen put OU on the board first with an assist by Inge Pedersen. Just over six minutes later, Marcus Halland gave Oakland a 2-0 lead (21:20) with an assist from Michael Martin.
The Falcons went on the attack after the two-goal deficit and got on the board when sophomore Scott Tilford scored his second goal in as many days with a touch past the diving Oakland goalie. The goal came at 35:13 and at the half, Oakland led 2-1 and had a 13-8 shot advantage. DeGraff registered three saves in the first 45 minutes.
Oakland extended its lead back to two early in the second half when Rob Maxwell headed a shot in off of Robert Hillman's free kick at 40:58. Again, Bowling Green came back. This time it was Detrick Matthews finding a loose ball in the box and shooting it between the posts to again narrow the deficit to just one goal, 3-2, at 54:40.
That is as close as the Falcons got, despite outshooting the Grizzlies 7-3 in the second half. Oakland ended with 16 shots compared to Bowling Green's 15.
"Being down 2-0 and coming back is encouraging," BGSU coach Mel Mahler said. "I think as the game went on our fatigue showed." This was the third match for Bowling Green in four days.
"But, I told the players I don't want anyone to hit the panic button. These three games have showed me a lot. As disappointing as the last two days were, that's what exhibitions are for."
BGSU concludes its exhibition season 0-2-1 and opens up its regular season on Friday, Sept. 7 at Michigan State University. Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
