Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
BUFFALO
Bulls Come From Behind to Beat Falcons in Buffalo
September 28, 2007 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 28, 2007
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The University at Buffalo Bulls stole Friday night's Mid-American Conference opener by coming back from a two goal deficit to the visiting Bowling Green State University Falcons. The 3-2 decision was pushed to overtime after ending 2-2 at the end of regulation. Bowling Green is now 3-5-1 on the season and 0-1-0 in conference play while the Bulls are 6-3-1 overall and 1-0-0 in the league.
Bowling Green and Buffalo have now seen seven of their twelve meetings end in extra minutes. BGSU is 4-3 against the Bulls when the game extends past the scheduled 90:00.
"I have to first tip my hat to Buffalo," said head coach Fred Thompson. "They are notorious for not giving up and pushing themselves to the final seconds. They showed a lot of heart tonight.
"As in all college soccer games, the games are going to be tight and no longer decided in 5-0 or 6-0 scores. We have seen many one goal decisions and tonight we made mistakes at the wrong times."
Freshman captain Thomas McLean kicked-off the Falcon scoring effort in the 12th minute of the match scoring in a set offensive piece. His second goal of the season, and his career, came unassisted on a free kick aimed directly at the back of the Buffalo net.
With the conversion, McLean leads all rookies with two goals this season and ties Cameron Hepple, who also scored today, for second on the team with a matching set of goals.
Hepple, as mentioned, scored his second goal of the season en route to giving BGSU the 2-0 upper hand in the 37th minute of the match. Hepple's goal from 10-yards out, which was also unassisted, came from UB keeper Robert Shuttleworth's right side and bounced in from the post.
"In the attack we were doing some great things tonight," said Thompson. "Both goals - one from the set piece and another off the post - were great scores. Throughout the match I saw numerous other chances where I thought we were going to compliment the two goals with a few more and extend the lead a little."
Buffalo cut the lead to one with less than five minutes remaining in the half and tied the match at 62:23.
The overtime period last just 26 seconds before Buffalo took the first MAC match from the Falcons. With the victory, Buffalo extends their home win streak to more than a year with their last loss at UB Stadium dating back to September 22, 2006.
"We have to take the lessons of today's game to heart and learn from our mistakes," said Thompson. "I am positive the boys are already looking forward to redeeming themselves and will train that much harder as we prepare for Michigan State."
The Falcons opportunity for `redemption' is set for Wednesday, October 3 in East Lansing, Michigan. Host Michigan State and Bowling Green will battle at 4:00 p.m. at MSU's Old College Field.
#BGSU SOCCER#
