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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Defeat NIU to Advance to MAC Semifinals, 2-1
November 07, 2003 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 7, 2003
Bowling Green, Ohio - Freshman Sean McGarity scored his second goal in as many games and classmate Dustin Snyder added the game-winner on a free kick to give Bowling Green a 2-1 victory over Northern Illinois in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
With the win, No. 4 seed BGSU plays No. 1 seed Kentucky on Sunday, Nov. 9, at 3 p.m. at Mickey Cochrane Field. The Falcons are serving as the hosts of the quarterfinals and semifinals.
"I really feel like we are playing some of our best soccer and we demonstrated that in the first half," said BGSU coach Mel Mahler. "I'm proud of our guys. We bent at times defensively but we held on. It's important to be playing our best soccer at this time of year and it's always exciting to be playing Kentucky."
McGarity, who didn't score his first collegiate goal until just last week in the regular-season finale, gave the Falcons an early lead at 22:24 in the game. McGarity knocked in a loose ball in the box from about five yards out. Eric Duda and Dustin Snyder earned assists.
The Falcons built their lead to 2-0 at 34:22 when Snyder shot a free kick after a NIU penalty from 20 yards out past Huskie goalkeeper Matt Corcoran.
The Falcons held a 8-4 shot advantage in the first half and took a 2-0 lead into halftime. However, NIU cut into the lead with a goal from Mike Corvo at 55:32 (unassisted). From there on, BGSU had to hold on defensively while the Huskies made a run.
NIU held a 7-4 shot advantage in the second half with BGSU finishing with a 12-11 overall shot advantage for the game.
BGSU's David DeGraff finished with two saves on three shots faced while Corcoran had just one save on three shots faced.
In earlier quarterfinal action, #3 seed Western Michigan defeated Marshall, 1-0, and #2 seed Akron defeated #7 seed Buffalo, 2-0. Those two winners meet on Sunday, Nov. 9, at 12:45 p.m. before the Falcons take on the Wildcats. The MAC Championship will be played Nov. 16 at the highest remaining seed.
