Bowling Green State University Athletics
Western Michigan Defeats BGSU, 5-0
November 16, 2003 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 16, 2003
Kalamazoo, Michigan -
Western Michigan built a 3-0 lead on Bowling Green and went on to post a 5-0 victory over the Falcons in the 2003 Mid-American Conference Men's Soccer Championship, Sunday afternoon in Kalamazoo, Mich.
WMU entered the championship game as the No. 3 seed of the tournament, while BGSU was the No. 4 seed. With the win the Broncos receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament which begins next weekend, Nov. 21-23.
"It was a buzzsaw," said BGSU Coach Mel Mahler. "They just came out firing and they had a lot of momentum from their Akron win (in the semifinals). I thought we did well against them in the regular season (2-2 tie). But they came out today and proved to be a championship team. I give them a lot of credit."
The Broncos' leading scorer, Jeff Hughes, netted his 14th goal of the season at just 6:18 of the game to give the home team a 1-0 lead. WMU's second goal came later in the 18th minute when Hughes sent in a pass from the left side to a streaking Scott Duhl. BGSU defender Matt Martinka tried to clear the pass and inadvertently knocked it past Falcon goalkeeper David DeGraff for an own-goal and a 2-0 WMU lead.
"I felt if we can get to the half at 2-0 we'll be okay," said Mahler. "We got two on them in the regular season. But the third goal, that was tough. We just couldn't get anything in the back of the net."
WMU added its third goal of the game at 36:25 thanks to Giuliano Teixeira for a 3-0 halftime lead. WMU held a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal in the first half.
Bill McClellan (61:21) and Edgar Rivera (84:18) added WMU's two final goals for the 5-0 verdict. WMU finished with 10 shots on goal while BGSU had five. DeGraff, playing in his final game as a Falcon, finished with five saves while WMU's Brent Miller had five saves for the shutout.
BGSU's appearance in Sunday's MAC Championship game was its eighth in the 10-year history of the postseason tournament. The Falcons are now 3-5 in the eight appearances with wins coming in 1995, 1996, and 1997. BGSU's MAC Tournament record now stands at 16-7, still a league-best.
"We're real proud of the fact that this is our eighth time in 10 years," said Mahler. "I think it says a lot about who we are and the character of this team after a rough start. There's a lot of other people that aren't playing today. We have a lot of things to be proud of and a lot of thing to build on.
"I feel bad for David DeGraff, a tough way to end a wonderful career. I feel bad for Matt Martinka, Eric Duda, Paul Dhaliwal and Scott Tilford, it's a tough way to go out but they have a lot to be proud of."
Three Falcons were named to the 2003 MAC All-Tournament team, including defender Matt Martinka, forward Sean McGarity, and midfielder Dustin Snyder.
BGSU finishes the season with an 8-9-5 record while WMU improves to 12-6-2.
