BG VS. AKRON
FAMILIAR OPPONENTS: BG and Akron have met four times in the MAC Championship, with Akron winning all four games.
DOWN A MAN: The Falcons played the last 27 minutes of the game a man down, after Matt Martinka received his second yellow card.
LONE GOAL: Eric Duda scored the only goal in yesterday’s 4-1 loss to the Zips.
The Bowling Green men’s soccer team fell to Akron, 4-1 in the Mid-American Conference championship game yesterday at Mickey Cochrane Field.
Akron was able to score first at the 8:33 mark when Chris Gnandt’s corner kick was headed into the goal by Cameron Knowles.
BG rebounded and was able to score their lone goal with 19:21 remaining in the first half. After a free kick, Eric Duda headed Paul Seip’s kick into the goal.
Akron was awarded a penalty kick in the goal box at the 28:28 mark and Matt Boswell scored.
Akron’s Alex Odwell scored the Zips’ last two goals at the 58:03 mark and at 82:09. He was assisted by Gnandt on his first goal and Pat Beattie on the second.
Both teams were aggressive from the start and 58 total fouls were called. BG had 30 fouls while Akron had 28. The Falcons had six yellow cards and one red. The red card came at the 62:43 mark and the Falcons had to play the remainder of the match with one less player than Akron. The Zips had two yellow cards in the match.
Akron outshot Bowling Green 19-6 and also held an advantage on corner kicks, 8-1.
“Akron’s a very good team. They’ve got great depth and they have a lot of options. It was important for us to get to 0-0 at half,” BG Coach Mel Mahler said. “Getting a goal early, we were able to come back. We had to keep them off the scoreboard for most of the match.”
BG goalkeeper David DeGraff had four saves for the Falcons, while the Akron goalie had one save.
DeGraff made a stop in the first half at a critical time in the game. Akron was up 1-0 and threatening to go up 2-0 when DeGraff ran up to challenge the Akron forwards, who outnumbered him 2-1. He was able to steal the ball and pass it to a Falcon player.
Early defensive stops could not help the Falcons convert on scoring chances, while Akron was able to capitalize on penalties and convert the plays into points.
“I think we spent a lot on Friday. We spent a lot of energy in that match,” Mahler said. “Not that that’s an excuse, but to come back and reproduce that type of emotion and intensity is a tall task.”
Bowling Green advanced to the championship match after defeating Kentucky, 2-1, in Friday’s semifinal game at Cochrane Field.
Kentucky had won the last three MAC Championships and had knocked BG out of the tournament in the semifinal round last season. The Wildcats also defeated the Falcons in the championship game in 2000 at Cochrane Field.
Bowling Green scored first, at the 33:56 mark, when Matt Leardini scored after a foul. Duda and Matt Martinka assisted on the goal.
BG scored again at the 75:27 mark when freshman Paul Seip passed the ball to freshman Cory Stevens who kicked the ball past the Kentucky goalkeeper.
Kentucky attempted a comeback with less than two minutes left when Anthony Peters scored on an assist by John Monebrake. Bowling Green’s defense was able to hold Kentucky after that for the win.
“Playing a man down it’s always a little hectic. We just tried to play defense the best we could. When we scored the second goal it helped our confidence. The defense did a wonderful job blocking shots and not letting them through,” DeGraff said. “It always helps when you score first. We’ve realized that if we come out and can score first it’s a big boost for us.”
Three Bowling Green players were named to the MAC all-tournament team yesterday afternoon. DeGraff, Duda, and Leardini were the three BG players named to the team.
BG coach Mel Mahler won the MAC coach of the year award after leading Bowling Green to its seventh appearance in the nine years the MAC Championship game has been contested.
Akron will be the MAC’s representative in the NCAA tournament. The Zips earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament last season.
