.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Notches First Victory of the Season, 3-1 Over Michigan State
September 17, 2001 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 17, 2001
East Lansing, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team (1-1) earned its first victory of the 2001 season on Monday night with a 3-1 decision over host Michigan State University. The match was rescheduled after lightning forced postponement on Sept. 7
Junior Matt Leardini netted the first goal of the match, the first goal of the BGSU season and the first goal of his career with a rebound shot off of a corner kick in just the fourth minute for an early 1-0 lead. The corner kick would be just one of two that the Falcons had the entire match.
Freshman Burt Weaver added to BGSU's advantage at 37:15 with his first career goal, a header off of a right-side cross. Fellow frosh Jon Hundley was credited with the assist and the visitors led 2-0.
MSU's Thomas Trivelloni scored a goal at 41:02 to cut Bowling Green's lead to 2-1 heading into halftime.
Both teams held each other in check for most of the second half before junior Tim Butler slipped through the Spartan defense and netted a goal at 85:45 to secure BGSU's victory.
"I'm real proud of how hard our guys worked," BGSU coach Mel Mahler said. "The work ethic from our match at Ohio State (a Sept. 9 loss) to this match against Michigan State is a 180-degree turn in the right direction.
"The season is still so young for us. We still have a lot of sorting out to do. There's still going to be a feeling out process for us over the next couple of weeks."
Sophomore David DeGraff allowed just one goal with three saves in 90 minutes between the posts for BGSU. The Falcons were outshot by MSU (16-14) and had eight fewer corner kicks than the hosts (10-2). However, Bowling Green still handed the Spartans their first loss of the season (now 3-1 overall).
Butler led Bowling Green with three shots, followed by Damian Bennett, Jonathan Wells, Leardini and Weaver with two each. Detrick Matthews, Richie Francis and Charlie Archibald had one shot attempt.
Bowling Green (1-1) returns to action this weekend when it hosts the Diadora Classic at Cochrane Field, Sept. 22-23. Dayton plays UW-Milwaukee at 1 p.m. on Sept. 22, followed by a 3 p.m. match with BGSU against Canisius. On Sunday, Dayton takes on Canisius (2 p.m.) before the Falcons play UW-Milwaukee (4 p.m.).
Scoring Matt Leardini (BGSU), 3:33 (no assist) 1-0 Burt Weaver (BGSU, 37:15 (Hundley assist) 2-0 Thomas Trivelloni (MSU), 41:02 (Gruber assist) 2-1 Tim Butler (BGSU), 85:45 (no assist) 3-1
