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Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Registers First Win of the Year, 3-0, Over Buffalo
September 29, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 29, 2002
Bowling Green, Ohio - Bowling Green broke into the win column for the first time this season in its Mid-American Conference opener of 2002 with a 3-0 shutout of visiting Buffalo at Mickey Cochrane Field on Sunday.
BGSU (1-8, 1-0) gained its first victory of the season at the right time in the league opener for both teams.
"We came in saying that this was our most important game of the year," said BGSU coach Mel Mahler.
For the second time in three games, the Falcons came out and scored two goals in the first 45 minutes of the match. Against Buffalo, freshman Robert Aouad followed the rebound of Adrian Akpan's shot on goal and put it past UB goalkeeper Brian Wozniak. Aouad's second goal of his collegiate career came at just 2:46 in the game.
However, fellow frosh Paul Dhaliwal was not to be outdone. Dhaliwal dribbled past Wozniak in the box and shot into an empty net to collect his first career goal just over one minute later (3:54). Freshman Cory Stevens assisted on the goal and all of a sudden BGSU had a 2-0 lead with less than four minutes off of the game clock.
"It makes a big difference when you can score early," said Mahler. "Now you can settle down and play with more confidence."
BGSU held a 10-8 shot advantage in the first half, including a 5-1 difference in the first 20 minutes alone, for a 2-0 lead at halftime. It was the first time this year the Falcons held a lead going into the break.
Buffalo (3-5-1, 0-1) started the second half trying to change the momentum, but the Falcons did a good job of holding the Bulls at bay.
Dhaliwal put the exclamation point on the game with his second goal of the game and BGSU's third at 75:30. He was assisted by freshman Francisco Jose Sanchez.
Falcon goalkeeper David DeGraff recorded his first shutout since defeating the same Bulls last year (Nov. 9) in triple overtime (1-0) and got his first win of the season. The junior ended with five saves in the game. There were two teams saves by BGSU, including an acrobatic header by Matt Leardini early in the second half that halted a Buffalo score.
"I was real pleased with our defensive effort," said Mahler. "I think we started to see the defense that we are capable of. A lot of players are playing out of position or playing a couple of positions because of injuries."
Buffalo had seven saves in the first half (six by Wozniak, one team save) and ended the game with eight stops. BGSU had nine corner kicks to Buffalo's four. The Falcons held a shot advantage over its first opponent this year, 16-13.
BGSU travels to Northern Illinois this Friday, Oct. 4, for its second league game of the year (2 p.m.).
