Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
WESTERN MICHIGAN
Mickey Cochrane Field Forecast: Raining Goals
October 27, 2007 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 27, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Abiola Sandy, Chuko Evwaraye, Cameron Hepple and Hunter Van Houten each scored in Saturday's Mid-American Conference 4-1 win over Western Michigan at Mickey Cochrane Field. Hepple and Van Houten also assisted on a goal in the victory.
The Falcons critical win broke the league tie-breaker between the squads. BGSU is now 1-2-1 in conference play while WMU is 0-3-1. Each of the squads saw their contest with Hartwick result in a tied match. Overall, the Falcons are 5-9-3 on the season; the Broncos drop to 7-9-1.
Van Houten has now notched a goal and an assist in back-to-back Falcons wins and is the second Falcon to score a goal in consecutive matches at home. Sandy was the first to do so this season after scoring against Central Arkansas University and Canisius College in the Falcon Classic.
The Falcon scoring windfall was started with Hepple's cross from the left side of the field resulting in Sandy's fifth goal of the season at 27:12. Sandy's header was good from 6-yards out. The senior captain has now scored a goal in four-of-six matches that have been held at home.
Almost exactly 10-minutes then elapsed (10:23) in the match between Sandy's header and Evwaraye's tally. The red-shirt sophomore found himself between a pair of Western Michigan defenders along the touchline about two yards from the visitors bench in BGSU attacking territory. One of the Bronco's narrowly kept the ball in play which allowed Evwaraye to take a tap and hurdle the two to bring the ball into the open field. He continued to control the possession to the top of the box and fired his only shot on goal of the game. The unassisted score was the first of Evwaraye's career.
Bowling Green took the 2-0 lead into the half giving red-shirt junior Brent Petkus his fourth perfect appearance in goal in the opening half of play this season. In each of his four outings as the last line of the Falcon defense, he and his defensive counterparts have held opposing squads scoreless for an average of 88:30 minutes. The earliest a team has scored on Petkus and the Falcon defense was Detroit in the 75th minute of Wednesday's match.
In their third score, Van Houten used the Falcons third and final corner kick to find Hepple close to the goal on the opposite side of the field. In a single motion, Hepple connected with the kick and redirected it toward AJ Reed in the WMU goal with the shot landing in the back right corner of the goal. With the successful kick, BGSU matched their September 29, 2002 outing against Buffalo (W, 3-0) with three goals in conference play.
Van Houten was credited with the final home goal of the contest as he used a Falcon bounce off the near post and into the netting less than five minutes after assisting on Hepple's shot.
Western Michigan's Jordan Flyonenko kept the Bronco's from being shutout with his goal at the 79:20 mark. He was a perfect one-for-one on the day from the field.
Although WMU out shot the Falcons in the remaining minutes of the match, 4-3, each of Bowling Green's scoring chances looked as if they could be labeled insurance goals but would land in Reed's arms or were inches wide of the goal.
Bowling Green out shot the Broncos 18-11 while placing nine shots on goal compared to the visitors four. Each of the keepers picked up a single save in the second period.
In their remaining match of the season, the Orange and Brown will host the Huskies of Northern Illinois in another important MAC challenge. The game will serve as senior day and the squad will recognize the career's of Sandy and his classmates, Ryan and Alec Perea. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field with senior day activities taking place prior to kick off.
Falcon Side Notes:
*With the scores from Sandy, Evwaraye, Hepple and Van Houten a triad of sophomores contributed to the win. Evwaraye and Hepple each have red-shirt sophomore standing whereas Van Houten is true to his second year eligibility. Sandy is a senior.
*Two of the three captains scored in the win marking the first time this season for the occasion.
*Sandy (5g) and Hepple (4g, 2a) are leading the Falcons with 10 points a piece this season marking the first time for multiple BGSU players to see double-digit scoring in one season. Paul Dhaliwal (4g, 2a) and Paul Seip (2g, 6a) were the last two Falcons to end the season with 10 or more points in the same season (2002). Van Houten does not trail the leaders by much with eight points in 2007 on two goals and four assists.
*The four goal tear is the most under Fred Thompson in his four seasons as the Falcons leader.
#BGSU SOCCER#
