Falcons Unshield Titans

Wednesday, October 24

Bowling Green, Ohio

3:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Detroit

October 24, 2007 | Men's Soccer

Oct. 24, 2007

Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University Falcons (4-9-3) took their second straight match over the University of Detroit Mercy (4-9-5) in as many seasons as they built, and kept, the lead on the visiting squad. Hunter Van Houten and Ryan Perea each scored in the 2-1 victory. The match was the marquee event as BGSU men's soccer hosted American Cancer Society day at Mickey Cochrane Field.

Bowling Green collected donations for the ACS while passing out literature containing cancer facts and had a t-shirt toss at half time. After the match, the Falcons also had an autograph signing session. Additional donations will be accepted at Saturday's match and a grand total will be announced at a later date.

"It was good to be in the friendly confines of Mickey Cochrane Stadium," said head coach Fred Thompson. "After a pair of games in extremely hostile environments it was great to play in front of our fans. Couple the home crowd energy with the ACS efforts; this was a great place to be this afternoon."

In both BGSU scores, a member of the Falcon squad was able to draw UDM keeper Bryan Kloss out of his element and subsequently chip in a score.

Van Houten's goal late in the 26th minute of the contest was a direct result of Cameron Hepple's offensive prowess luring Kloss at an angle into the deep end of the box. Despite UDM's defensive rotation, Hepple caught Van Houten with a head-on shot and a seemingly empty net. The goal was the first for the sophomore this season and was the third occasion in which he had a hand in the Falcons lighting the scoreboard.

"Hunter played exceptionally well tonight; it would be safe to say `he ran his socks off,'" said Thompson. "He is an intelligent player who can make the right decisions on the field. He keeps everyone involved on the field and there is a definite reason he is a captain."

Hepple was given a chance to gain another two points for himself when the red-shirt sophomore was awarded a penalty kick due to a defensive handball that was used to block his attempted shot on goal. Although he aimed for the opposite side that Kloss dove, the shot clipped the keeper's foot and the Falcons took the 1-0 lead into the half instead of the two goal advantage.

Perea notched his fifth career goal with the Falcons with a touch of teamwork in the 75th minute of the match. The senior used a bit of fancy footwork to secure his control of the attack past multiple UDM defenders and was then able to draw Kloss away from the webbing. Upon feeling he had the correct angles Perea fired a shot past Kloss, whose distance between himself and the goal was a considerable amount for the situation, but was unable to notch the goal on his first attempt. While stationed feet from the goal, Van Houten held onto the ball until Perea was able to tap it in for the second Falcon score.

Almost a minute later, Detroit cut the lead back to a goal when Michel Jonca redirected Jordan Veit's shot in front of Brent Petkus and the Falcon defense. A cluster had formed in front of the goal due to the corner kick which began the chain of events, yet Jonca found his way to score. Petkus finished the match with four saves.

"Brent gave a very solid performance tonight. He organized the defense well and was solid in his handling of the ball," said Thompson. "Brent is a vocal leader and not only was confident in his duties, but also drew from the confidence he was shown by his teammates."

During the match, Van Houten also had a goal called back as a result of an offside infraction giving the Valparaiso, Ind. a chance for the possible Falcon hat trick had he knocked down Perea's rebound instead of giving his teammate the chance to finish what he started.

Multiple Falcon reserves saw action in the match and at one point a majority of BGSU's field players were underclassmen.

"We have some tough games ahead of us and we not only needed to get some of the guys a chance to rest, but others needed the experience of game time situations," said Thompson.

"For it being just his second game, Patrick Pavlik was very solid and composed as he walked into the heat of a game when the opponent was looking to score quickly. He could have been very stressed by the situation but, instead, made a few big open field tackles to break up Detroit's momentum."

With the one goal decision, the Falcons maintain their 2007 tradition of single score determinations at home. With the exception of the twin ties, every match at Mickey Cochrane Field has been decided by one tally.

In closing the 2007 portion of their non-conference schedule, BGSU was 4-7-2 against non-MAC opponents and saw four different players score the GWG in each win.

Two critical MAC matches now await the Falcons. On Saturday, Western Michigan will visit Bowling Green, Ohio whereas Northern Illinois will take its turn traveling on Friday, November 2.

##BGSU SOCCER##