Bowling Green State University Athletics
Purple Aces Beat Soccer Falcons 4-1
September 24, 2006 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 24, 2006
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Ryan Perea buried a penalty kick late in the match to score for the Falcons, but the visiting Purple Aces of the University of Evansville (5-3-0) had already fired four goals in their first trip to Mickey Cochrane Field to take the win over Bowling Green State University (1-8-1).
The Purple Aces entered the contest averaging 2.57 goals per game and were ranked 13 amongst all Division I men's soccer programs.
"This was a disappointing performance, but not so much in the score," said head coach Fred Thompson. "We needed an effort similar to what we had against Michigan State where we came out to battle and fight for 90 minutes and we didn't get that today."
Early in the match rookie Tim Crone found classmate Hunter Van Houten on a cross pass in front of the Evansville keeper. Van Houten's header was on track to give the Falcons the advantage, but landed over the goal structure. Later, Van Houten once again provided the Falcons with a needed offensive spark as he drilled a near miss that took a bad bounce off the left post. The Valparaiso native found the rebound to attempt his final shot of the match.
"Hunter played very well today. He was all over the place and was extremely busy throughout the match. He put himself in a position to be effective for us. He was up, he was back, he gave the type of effort that we want from everybody. It would have been nice for him to be rewarded with a goal today," said Thompson.
Bowling Green's score came at the 86:52 after Ryan Perea was the victim of a hard attacking defensive play that left the junior visibly shaken for a moment in the penalty box.
The penalty kick was the first in Perea's career as a Falcon. He has scored twice this season. BGSU is 2-2 when taking a penalty kick this season. Both chances happened in Bowling Green.
The Falcons will open the 2006 conference season on the road on Friday afternoon when they travel to DeKalb, Illinois to battle the Huskies of Northern Illinois University. Kick-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
