Falcons Roll Along, 3-0, Over WSU

Wednesday, September 22

Bowling Green, Ohio

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Wright State

Dusko Topolic (5) heads home the Falcons' first goal of the afternoon against Wright State (photo courtesy Galloway Photography)

September 22, 2010 | Men's Soccer

Topolic, Armstrong, Weston score as BGSU captures I-75 Cup

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team struck early, scoring in the third minute of the match, en route to a 3-0 win over Wright State University Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 22). The non-conference contest was held at Cochrane Field on the BGSU campus.

FINAL STATS - HTML | BOXSCORE - PDF
Highlights of BGSU's three goals, plus postgame interviews, at the bottom of this page

With the win, the Falcons improve to 2-2-2 on the season, while dropping the Raiders to 4-3-0. BGSU also wins the I-75 Cup, a trophy that will go to the winner of the BGSU-WSU match each year. Wednesday's meeting was the first since BGSU head coach Eric Nichols and his counterpart, WSU coach Bryan Davis, came up with the idea for the travelling trophy.

Falcon senior Dusko Topolic scored with just 2:37 gone in the match to give the Brown and Orange the lead, and juniors Colin Armstrong and Max Weston scored less than four minutes apart in the second half to seal the victory. Weston had a three-point game, with an assist on Topolic's goal.

Another junior, Miguel Rosales, made two saves in net to earn his third shutout in six games this season to date.

Topolic's first career goal came on the first shot attempt of the match. Weston won possession of the ball just over midfield and, finding a great deal of space in front of him, took off down the right side of the pitch. Weston reached the end line and, with a Raider defender closing in, fired a cross that found the head of a leaping Topolic. WSU goalkeeper Corey Whisenhunt had no chance as Topolic struck the ball well, blasting it into the back of the net with a textbook finish.

The goal was BGSU's first first-half goal this season, and came with just 157 seconds elapsed.

BG kept the pressure on the WSU defense. After a Weston corner kick just four minutes into the match, the ball bounded out to freshman Zach Schewee, who blasted a shot that was blocked by a defender, and classmate Brandon Silva's follow-up try was just wide. Only a minute later, freshman Sam Galloway's volley was well struck, but sailed wide of the far post.

The Falcons had the first four shots of the day, but the Raiders then had the next four shot attempts of the afternoon. One of those shots, by Angelo Capuano, was taken from close range, just to the right of the net. But, Rosales was able to block the shot out of play.

Neither team had another strong scoring chance during the remainder of the first half, and the Falcons took the one-goal lead into the break.

Just two minutes into the second half, Schewee had another chance. After a flurry in the penalty area, the ball bounded out to the Falcon freshman, who hit a shot that went through a maze of legs and found its way on net. But, Whisenhunt was able to dive and keep the ball from crossing the line near the far (right) point.

With nearly six minutes gone in the half, a long forward pass found Topolic with his back to the goal. With one touch, he settled the ball for the onrushing Chris Jurtovski. Jurtovski hit a hard shot, but saw it go wide right.

Six minutes later, however, Jurtovski put some force on a shot from distance, but the junior's effort was parried by Whisenhunt.

With 19 minutes left in the match, the Falcons doubled the lead. BGSU worked the ball downfield with a series of passes, before WSU momentarily won possession. Armstrong, however, won the ball back, poking it away from a defender at the top of the penalty area. The junior took several dribbles and fired the ball past Whisenhunt for his first collegiate goal. The unassisted tally gave the Brown and Orange a two-goal cushion at the 71:10 mark.

Three minutes later, Armstrong poked the ball into the back of the net again, but the play had been whistled offside. However, the Falcons would put the ball across the goal line less than 30 seconds later, and this one counted.

BGSU quickly won the ball back after WSU's free kick, and freshman Ryan Snashall played a nifty through-ball that found a wide-open Weston. Weston ran onto the ball in stride, and fired from 15 yards out on the right side of the box, finding nothing but net. The hosts had a three-goal advantage.

Perhaps WSU's best chance of the day came with under nine minutes left. A BGSU defender attempted to head the ball back to Rosales, but the header try went awry, and the Raiders' Justin Circle tracked the ball down near the touch line, just to Rosales' left. Circle crossed the ball to Derek Zuniga, but Zuniga's one-time effort popped up and over the goal, and the shutout remained intact.

Not two minutes later, junior Byard Ebling very nearly gave the Falcons a fourth goal, hitting a shot that eluded Whisenhunt. But, a WSU defender blocked Ebling's shot off of the goal line. Neither team had a shot on goal over the remaining six-plus minutes, and the home team had the shutout win.

BGSU had a narrow 14-13 advantage in total shot attempts, but the Falcons put six shots on goal to just two for the visitors. Rosales, as mentioned, made two saves en route to the shutout. Whisenhunt had two stops for the Raiders, who also were credited with a 'team save' on the Ebling shot late in the match.

The Falcons remain at home, continuing a three-match homestand with a Sunday (Sept. 26) contest vs. Lipscomb University. Kickoff for that match, the first half of a doubleheader at Cochrane Field, is set for 11:00 a.m.

FALCON NOTES
* BGSU and Wright State are now tied, 5-5-2, in the all-time series between the teams ... Wednesday's game, as mentioned, was the first in which the teams battled for the I-75 Cup.

* Senior co-captain Dusko Topolic's goal on Wednesday was the first of his BGSU career ... junior Colin Armstrong also scored his first collegiate goal.

* Both Topolic and Armstrong now have four career points ... Armstrong had two assists in the 2008 season, while Topolic had a pair of assists in '09.

* The shutout was the third recorded by Miguel Rosales and the BGSU defense was the third in six games this season ... the three shutouts matches the total for all of last season (18 games).

* Rosales has three complete-match shutouts this year, having played every minute in goal to date ... he is the first BGSU 'keeper to post three shutouts in a season since Paul Shoemaker in 2007 ... no Falcon goalie has had more than three shutouts since David DeGraff had five in the 2003 season.

* Topolic's goal, which came just 2:37 into the match, was BGSU's first goal in the first half of a game this season ... the last time the Falcons scored in the opening half was in another 3-0 win, as Cameron Hepple (34:03) and Byard Ebling (37:14) scored before halftime in last season's final game, against Florida Atlantic at Cochrane Field (Nov. 7, 2009).

* Topolic's goal was the earliest BGSU goal in a match since Nov. 2, 2007 ... on that date, Thomas McLean scored just 1:33 into the match, and BGSU scored twice in the first 5:11, en route to a 3-1 win over Northern Illinois at Cochrane Field.

* Junior Max Weston has a team-leading eight points this season ... he has been involved in the scoring of five of BGSU's six goals.

* Weston's three-point game tied a career best ... he also had a goal an an assist in the match at Davidson earlier this month (Sept. 5).

* Weston has doubled his point total for all of last season ... he had four points in the 2009 season, his first with the Falcons ... Weston is BGSU's active career scoring leader with 12 points.

* Freshman Ryan Snashall's assist on Weston's goal was his first collegiate point.