Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Soccer Begins League Play This Weekend
September 26, 2001 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 26, 2001
Bowling Green -
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Sept. 26, 2001
Bowling Green - Bowling Green (2-1-1 overall, 0-0-0 MAC) at Akron (1-3-1 overall, 1-0-0 MAC), Friday, Sept. 28, 7:15 p.m. at Buffalo (3-2-1 overall, 0-1-0 MAC), Sunday, Sept. 30, 1 p.m.
MAC Season Begins for Falcons... Bowling Green begins the Mid-American Conference portion of its 2001 schedule this weekend when it travels to Akron on Friday, Sept. 28, at 7:15 p.m., and then goes to Buffalo on Sunday, Sept. 30, at 1 p.m. The Falcons are 2-1-1 overall so far this season against non-conference opponents.
Series Previews... BGSU is 7-27-3 overall against Akron dating back to 1966 when the two teams first met. However, six of those victories have come in the last 10 matchups between the two schools as the Falcons are 6-3-1 in the last 10 meetings against Akron. Mahler is 5-3-1 against the Zips. BGSU is 2-1-0 against Buffalo with all of those games coming since the Bulls joined the MAC in 1998. Two of the three matches against each other have gone into overtime with Buffalo winning 2-1 in 1998 and Bowling Green winning 3-2 in 1999. The Falcons won 3-0 last season.
Head Coach Mel Mahler... Mel Mahler (High Point '78) is in his eighth season as head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons. During that time, Mahler has a record of 91-47-8 (.651 pct.). Overall, Mahler is 109-79-10 (.576 pct.) in 10 years of coaching. Prior to becoming head coach at BGSU, Mahler served as assistant coach under Gary Palmisano.
Falcons Win 2001 Diadora Classic... With a goal by senior Detrick Matthews (Bellefontaine, Ohio) at 110:15 of Sunday's double-overtime match against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Bowling Green won its 2001 Diadora Classic at Cochrane Field. Matthews headed in the winner for a 1-0 BGSU victory. Matt Martinka (Newton, N.J.) and Tony Malik (Parma, Ohio) assisted on the goal. The goal ended over 230 minutes of scoreless action this weekend for the Falcons. The goal served as Matthews' first of the season, while the assist was Malik's first in over a year since moving to defender and was Martinka's first ever point at BGSU. Sophomore goalkeeper David DeGraff (Naperville, Ill.) ended with 12 saves in the two games in the Classic and did not allow a goal in over 230 minutes played (230:15). Two of his seven saves on Sunday came on point-blank shots by the Panthers in the early moments of the match and one was off of a penalty kick by the Panthers at 62:52 of the match. DeGraff, Malik, Martinka and Matthews all were members of the 2001 All-Diadora Classic Team. Malik was voted Most Valuable Player.
Bowling Green 1-1 vs. Big-10 Opponents in 2001... Bowling Green is 1-1 against Big-10 opponents so far this season with a 4-0 loss to begin the year at 13th-ranked Ohio State (Sept. 9) and a 3-1 victory at Michigan State (Sept. 17). The MSU match was originally scheduled for Sept. 7, but was called early in the second half due to lightning and was forced to be rescheduled. In the win against the Spartans, three Falcons netted their first goal in the Brown and Orange, beginning with junior Matt Leardini (Youngstown, N.Y.), who put the visitors up 1-0. Then freshman Burt Weaver (Kettering, Ohio) gave BGSU a 2-0 lead, thanks to an assist from fellow frosh Jon Hundley (Lititz, Pa.). The final goal of the game came off of the foot of junior Tim Butler (Broadview Hts., Ohio) for the final 3-1 decision. BGSU plays at Michigan on Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. for its final Big-10 matchup.
