.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
OHIO STATE
No. 19 Buckeyes Squeak Past Falcons
September 20, 2007 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 20, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Roger Espinoza capped off Geoff Marsh's nearly coast-to-coast dash with the lone goal of Thursday afternoon's match as the visiting No. 19 Ohio State Buckeyes narrowly edged the Bowling Green State University Falcons, 1-0. Junior keeper Paul Shoemaker made four saves in the match while the Falcons forced OSU's Casey Latchem to make three stops of his own.
"It is always fun to play Ohio State because the games are very highly competitive and those who are watching are treated to a very well played soccer match," said head coach Fred Thompson. "We knew the game could be held to a single goal decision, yet, unfortunately, that goal was not on our side."
The Bowling Green defense held Ohio State, a team that entered the match averaging 19 shots per game, to a pair of shots in the first half and just 13 on the day. In doing so, the Falcons are one of three teams to control the OSU attack in the first 45:00 of play allowing five or less shots. Old Dominion gave up five shots on Sept. 7 while OSU got off four against West Virginia in the season opener on Aug. 31.
Additionally, the Buckeyes did not fire their first shot until the 24th minute of the match; the drought is believed to be the longest offensive hold over the nationally ranked squad to date.
Furthermore, the score was held at 0-0 until the 61st minute of the match. Bowling Green joins No. 13 UCLA and Syracuse (RV) as the third defense to restrain the high scoring Buckeye offense with out a goal for more than one hour of play. The Buckeyes did not score on the Bruins until the 62nd minute of the match, while the Orange shutout the Scarlet and Grey through two overtime periods.
"Defensively we were once again solid and the play of our backs and Paul [Shoemaker] was outstanding. Paul rose to the challenge today, especially in the final minutes when Ohio State was repeatedly charging at us and we needed him the most."
The Falcons, who also spent much time on the attack, saw their first scoring opportunity at 15:09 when sophomore Tyler Deal cranked a powerful shot from 20-yards out that forced Latchem to dive to cover the right side of the goal. Four minutes later the Falcons saw another slim miss as freshman Dusko Topolic's header was negated by the OSU keeper.
Latchem preserved the shutout, but the Falcons created several other similar opportunities, yet were unable to connect any of their 12 shots.
"We are creating very solid scoring opportunities for ourselves. Right now I am just waiting for the flood gates to open; it is just a matter of time before everything begins to click and we are no longer an inch or so off, but are right on target and we are scoring more than a goal a game," said Thompson.
Bowling Green will have two days to recover from the physical match that some might describe as "chippy" before traveling to Wright State on Sunday. Thirty total fouls were charged to the programs during the game including five yellow cards (four BGSU and one OSU) and a red card (BGSU - Tyler Deal). As a result of the red card, BGSU played the last 11 minutes a man down.
#BGSU SOCCER#
