Weston's Golden Goal Lifts Falcons to 2-1 Win at IPFW

Wednesday, October 6

Fort Wayne, Ind.

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

IPFW

Max Weston's Golden Goal lifted BGSU to a 2-1 win at IPFW (photo courtesy Galloway Photography)

October 06, 2010 | Men's Soccer

D'Agostino also scores in come-from-behind win in Fort Wayne

By: FORT WAYNE, Ind. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Junior Max Weston's 'Golden Goal' lifted the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team to a 2-1 victory at IPFW Wednesday night (Oct. 6). The non-conference match was held at Hefner Stadium.

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Scroll down for video of Joey D'Agostino's first-half goal

With the win, the Falcons improve to 3-4-2 on the year. BGSU has matched the win total for all of last season. The Mastodons drop to 2-9-0 on the season.

"I am very happy for the guys," said Falcon head coach Eric Nichols. "They've been working hard and playing pretty well, and I definitely think we deserved this result."

Sophomore Joey D'Agostino also scored for the Falcons, who posted a come-from-behind win after surrendering a goal in the third minute of the match.

Junior Miguel Rosales made seven saves to earn the win for the Brown and Orange.

The Mastodons got on the board very early in Wednesday's match, as Max Touloute put the rebound of his own shot into the net with just 2:19 gone.

In the 24th minute, however, IPFW's Casey Bowman was issued a red card, leaving the 'Dons a man short for the rest of the match. Just 12 seconds later, the Falcons evened the score.

"Conceding a goal as early as we did always makes things very difficult," said Nichols. "That's a tough one to give up, but we started playing pretty well after that. We did a nice job to score so quickly after the red card.

"Often, teams become more resolute in their defending when they go down a man, so for us to be able to break them down so quickly was very good."

D'Agostino dribbled through the 'Don defense and fired a rocket from approximately 22 yards out. His shot eluded IPFW goalkeeper Donovan Dowling and found the upper-right corner of the goal to tie the match at the 23:44 mark. The teams went to halftime deadlocked at 1-1.

And, the score remained the same through the second half, sending the teams to extra time. Late in the first of the two scheduled 10-minute OT periods, the Falcons got the winner.

That winning goal came after sophomore Zach Lemke and freshman Sam Galloway combined to win possession for the Falcons in the IPFW end of the pitch. Galloway played a cross into the box, where Weston was waiting. The BG junior beat Donovan far post to give the Brown and Orange the win.

"The winning goal was the result of a brilliant effort by Sam Galloway and a very good finish from Max Weston," said Nichols. "Full credit to IPFW tonight, as they really worked and made things difficult for us. But again, I'm very happy for the guys to get this result after all of their hard work leading up to this game."

"The play started off with some great work on the left side by Zach Lemke and Sam Galloway," said Weston. "Sam did well to find some space, and put in a perfect cross. I just tried to get on the other end of it and put it on target, and luckily enough, it went side netting."

IPFW held a 17-15 advantage in total shot attempts, and the hosts had a narrow 8-7 edge in shots on goal. The teams' leading scorers in 2010 paced their respective teams in shots, as Touloute had seven total shots, putting four on goal, for the hosts. Weston led the Falcons with six shot attempts, including three on net. And, both players scored a goal on the night.

"The win feels good," said Weston. "I think it started with our preparation. We were all amped up for it, and knew it was a must win. We came out and worked hard the entire game. IPFW fought hard, but in the end, we finished our chances and got the win."

The Falcons now return home, and return to Mid-American Conference play, facing the University at Buffalo on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 9). Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field.

FALCON NOTES
* BGSU, as mentioned, has matched the win total for all of last season ... the Falcons are 3-4-2 this fall, after finishing with a 3-12-3 overall record in 2009.

* The Falcons are now 2-1-1 in road games this year, and 2-1-2 in all games away from home ... BG has topped the road win total for all of 2009 ... last year's team went 1-6-1 in road games and 1-8-1 in all games away from Cochrane Field.

* Junior Max Weston's goal was his team-leading fourth of the season, and his second game-winning goal ... Weston now has 10 points (four goals, two assists) this fall, and has been involved in the scoring of six of BGSU's eight goals on the year.

* BGSU is now 3-0-0 in Wednesday games this season ... the Falcons posted wins at Detroit (1-0; Sept. 15) and against Wright State (3-0; Sept. 22) in back-to-back midweek matches.

* Sophomore Joey D'Agostino scored his first collegiate goal in Wednesday night's win ... freshman Sam Galloway had his first career point with the assist on Weston's OT goal.

* Weston's OT goal marked the Falcons' first 'Golden Goal' in over two years ... BGSU's last overtime win came at Central Arkansas on Sept. 13, 2008 ... in that match, Jacob Lawrence scored both Falcon goals, including the OT winner, in a 2-1 victory.

* Wednesday's win marked BGSU's first come-from-behind victory since last year's win at Buffalo (Oct. 16, 2009) ... in that game, the Falcons fell behind, 2-1 midway through the second half of what turned out to be a 4-3 win.

* BGSU now leads the all-time series with IPFW by a 5-3-2 count, and the Falcons are unbeaten in the last four meetings ... BGSU is now 3-1-0 vs. the Mastodons in games played in Fort Wayne ... three-straight games and three of the last four meetings have gone to overtime.