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Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Men's Soccer Kicks Off 2002 Season
August 28, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Aug. 28, 2002
Bowling Green, Ohio -
St. Bonaventure Tournament Schedule Note:
Saturday, Aug. 31
Pittsburgh vs. Oneonta - 12 noon
Bowling Green vs. St. Bonaventure - 2:30 PM
Sunday, Sept. 1
Bowling Green vs. Pittsburgh - 12 noon
Oneonta vs. St. Bonaventure - 2:30 PM
2002 Season Preview
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team enters the 2002 season with a few veterans, a few question marks, and a lot of new faces. BGSU and head coach Mel Mahler has 12 new players on the roster (freshmen and transfers) to join two returning seniors and four returning juniors. The mix of those groups will be important in deciding where the Falcons stand on Nov. 8 when the Mid-American Conference Tournament begins.
"I think with youth you've got enthusiasm, and we've got to be able to tap into that every day in training," said Mahler, who begins his ninth season as head coach of the Falcons. "We need leadership from our upperclassmen, and we need for our first-year players to be patient with their progress and in due time things will come together. Mark (Dougherty) and I are very excited about the potential of this group."
The leadership Mahler talks about will need to begin with seniors Matt Leardini and Damion Bennett. Leardini begins his fourth season in Bowling Green, making the move from defender to forward. The Youngstown, New York, native is the top-returning scorer from last year, netting three goals in 2001.
"One move we're going to experiment early on with is moving Matt Leardini from a defender to a forward this year," said Mahler. "He showed some real promise during the spring. I think he can help us in scoring goals."
Bennett came to BGSU last year after earning All-America status at Herkimer Community College (coached by former Falcon Pepe' Aragon). Bennett brought immediate experience when he arrived last season and Mahler looks for him to finish his Division I career on a high note, playing at the right-back position.
Midfielders
The youth on the Falcon squad will show up mostly at midfield where Mahler looks for his young recruits to fill the holes.
"Midfield and forward positions are really wide open this year," said Mahler. "Our focus this year in recruiting was to bring in midfielders and forwards. Improving on 17 goals in 17 games was our main priority. I think we will defend well, we always have and it has always been one of our trademarks as a program. But we have to find a way to score goals. So we brought in a lot of new faces to hopefully answer that question of how are we going to score goals."
Among the candidates to shore up the scoring for the Brown and Orange are freshmen Adrian Akpan, Ryan Baird (redshirt), Ben Monnette, Francisco Jose Sanchez, Paul Seip and Cory Stevens, as well as transfers Paul Dhaliwal and Eric Duda.
"Paul Seip has a very good background as a central-type midfielder," said Mahler. "Monnette and Stevens should see some time right away. Some returning players will be called upon who have not played a lot of minutes in the past two years to make a contribution. Eric Duda we expect to come in a play a major role in the midfield for us.
I think we've got some people that can score some goals for us this year," said Mahler. "Our challenge as a staff will be to find the right mix of players. Francisco Sanchez is another young man that has proven at the high school and club levels that he can score goals. Paul Dhaliwal is a proven scorer, and somewhat of an unproven entity is freshman Adrian Akpan."
Defenders
Two veterans return to join Bennett as defenders in redshirt junior Matt Martinka and junior Scott Tilford. One loss that will hurt the Falcons is that of P.J. Behan who suffered a knee injury in the spring.
"We will be looking at some various combinations in that area," said Mahler. "The loss of P.J. Behan to play the center-back position for the year will be the challenge for us as a staff."
Joining Martinka and Tilford will be freshman Andres Marques who is a trained defender.
Goalkeepers
The one position that Mahler has no concerns about is goalkeeper. This position will have the most depth with junior David DeGraff returning for his third-straight season as the starter in the net. DeGraff played every minute of 17 matches last season, including five overtime matches.
"I think we've got a real good goalkeeping core," said Mahler. "Dave DeGraff, in my estimation, is one of the premiere goalkeepers in the conference. We're expecting him to improve upon his success here last year. Dave, early in the year, kept us in a lot of games. He kept us in games with big saves. He's a proven Division I goalkeeper, and under the tutelage of Mark Dougherty he's only going to get better."
Backing up DeGraff will be freshmen Brandon Decker and Jim McCarthy. "We have to believe he's going to come in (Decker) and potentially be the goalkeeper of the future," said Mahler. "And Jim McCarthy has improved 200 percent from last year. So, we're real pleased with our goalkeeping core."
What makes the goalkeeper position stronger, as well as the entire team, is the addition of former Major League Soccer All-Star Mark Dougherty as assistant coach. Dougherty is among the top-three all-time in MLS history in goalkeeping wins and saves after a four-year career with Tampa Bay and Columbus.
"I think adding Mark Dougherty is a real blessing to our program," said Mahler. "He's and outstanding person, an outstanding family man. We have similar beliefs. I know he brings a level of professionalism to our program that is unparalleled for an assistant coach."
2001 Senior Class
Missing from the program are four seniors that graduated from BGSU last spring. Tony Malik, Detrick Matthews, Ben Vaccaro and Kevin Wisniewski were successful both on the playing field and in the classroom.
"The seniors that we lost, I would put them in with some of the best senior classes we've ever had here," said Mahler. "They epitomized the student-athlete; they graduated in four years, they had a combined 3.8 GPA, they won the MAC Championship, they were in some playoff games, they won academic awards. They are four wonderful young men that we will miss. I don't think we can replace those four guys. Our goal will always be to continue to bring in to Bowling Green State University men like Malik, Wisniewski, Vaccaro and Mathews. And I think we have the same type of players in our program today. I was excited when they chose to come to Bowling Green and I'm excited this year about the men who have chosen to come to Bowling Green."
2002 Schedule
The schedule for BGSU will begin with a trip to St. Bonaventure to face the host Bonnies and Big East foe Pittsburgh. The Falcons then host the 2002 Diadora Classic (Sept. 7-8) with Saint Francis (Pa.), Duquesne and Dayton visiting. Bowling Green will play three Big Ten teams in 2002 with visits from Michigan State and Ohio State, and a trip to Michigan. Also, BGSU has in-state opponents Cleveland State and Xavier to square off against. In the MAC ranks, the Falcons host Akron and Marshall while visiting defending league champion Kentucky.
"I think our schedule is one that if we're successful, we have every reason to believe that we can be considered for postseason play as an at-large, and that's how we design our schedule every year," said Mahler.
"The conference is even more balanced than past years. Kentucky is the team to beat because they are the defending MAC Tournament Champs. But I think the gap from No. 1 to No. 7 is closer than ever before. We're just excited about being a part of what we consider one of the premier conferences in the country. I think we can say that when you look at Akron getting an at-large as well as Kentucky automatically qualifying. That will be our No. 1 challenge, to be competitive and vie for the regular-season and postseason championship in the MAC."
As the 2002 season begins, Mahler admits he may not know what the final record may be for the Falcons, but it will be a fun ride.
"How we're going to play may be the biggest mystery going into the season," said Mahler. "There are so many different personalities. We have a real diverse group of young men. How that all unfolds will be interesting. We are more athletic and we have some very skillful players. The team, as young as it is, who knows who will show up every day. The challenge that Mark and I face is to make sure that we are consistent day in and day out. With a lot of young players, typically first-year players, there's inconsistency. There's an old saying that 'the best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores.' But our job will be to get the players to focus day in and day out."
"We're excited about the new players," Mahler continued. "Almost half our team is new. We've recommitted ourselves to bringing into our program young men who can uphold the tradition of 38 years of BGSU soccer. We're really excited about who we brought in - I think we've got great young men, good athletes and more team speed. I feel that we will be very competitive this year and even more so in the future."
