Bowling Green State University Athletics
Matt Leardini: BGSU Scholar-Athlete Of The Week
November 21, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 21, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Matt Leardini is the Bowling Green State University Scholar-Athlete of the Week. Leardini, a senior on the BGSU men's soccer team, was named to the Mid-American Conferences' All-Tournament team as the Falcons split a pair of matches to post a runner-up finish last weekend.
Leardini, a native of Youngstown, N.Y. (Lewiston-Porter H.S.), had the opening goal of the match as the Falcons knocked off three-time defending MAC Tournament champion Kentucky, 2-1, in Friday's (Nov. 15) semifinal round. The Falcons then lost to Akron, 4-1, in Sunday's (Nov. 17) championship.
In addition to earning all-tournament honors, Leardini was named to two other teams over the past week. He was named to the All-MAC First Team, and also made the Academic All-MAC Team.
Leardini, a management information systems major, has a 3.45 cumulative grade point average.
Leardini, the team captain, finished his senior campaign with two goals and one assist in 19 matches played. He was moved to defender early in the year and helped the Falcons rebound from a slow start to post a 5-4-0 record in the second half of the regular season.
BGSU, 6-13-0 overall, captured the MAC regular-season title (co-champs with Akron), and the team's appearance in the MAC Tournament's championship match was the seventh in school history. All of this came after a young Falcon squad began the year 0-8-0 and had only five goals in those eight matches. BGSU rebounded to win five of its last nine matches of the regular-season and score 12 goals over that same time period.
