BGSU Blanks Bonnies, 1-0

Sunday, September 28

Olean, N.Y.

12:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

7-2-0

St. Bonaventure

0-5-0

Bowling Green

St. Bonaventure

Ryan Heuton v Findlay - James Nahikian photo

September 28, 2014 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Sullivan goal, Heuton's seven saves help Falcons improve to 7-2-0 on the year

By: ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Sophomore Joe Sullivan's goal late in the second half lifted the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team to a 1-0 win over St. Bonaventure University Sunday afternoon (Sept. 28). The non-conference match was held at McGraw-Jennings Field.

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With the victory, the Falcons improve to 7-2-0 on the season. BGSU has topped the team's win total for all of last year. The Bonnies drop to 0-5-0.

Redshirt sophomore Ryan Heuton, making his first start as a Falcon, posted his first shutout for the Brown and Orange. Heuton made a BG season-high seven saves in keeping that clean sheet.

Sophomore Pat Flynn, like Sullivan a native of Naperville, Ill., assisted on Sullivan's goal, which came with 13:42 left in the second half. The play began when Flynn got his head on a clearing attempt by an SBU player in the Bonnies' end of the pitch. The ball went to an onrushing Ryan James, and the junior played a short pass forward to Flynn. As several Falcons pressed forward, the aforementioned trio and senior Vlad Lekarev put together five or six passes, with the ball barely touching the ground.

The sequence resulted in James popping the ball up into the air, over a defender, then -- with the ball never hitting the ground -- playing a soft volley from the right side of the penalty area to Flynn. The sophomore, stationed near the six-yard line facing away from goal, chested the ball down to Sullivan, who hit a shot on the short-hop from about eight yards out. The blast found the upper-left-hand corner of the frame, and SBU goalkeeper Jeremy Figler had no chance to make a save.

"This was a tough game," said BGSU coach Eric Nichols. "I'm not sure we were as sharp as we can be, especially with our ball movement and some little things in the back. But, give a lot of the credit to St. Bonaventure, as they certainly made things difficult for us.

"St. Bonaventure is a quality side. I know they are struggling to get wins right now, but they are a very well-coached side under Coach Mahler, and I know those wins will come."

Most statistical categories were relatively even on Sunday. The Bonnies had advantages of 16-14 in total shots and 7-5 in shots on goal, while the Falcons had a 7-6 margin in corner kicks.

Heuton, as mentioned, made seven stops en route to the shutout. Figler made three saves for the Bonnies, and was aided by his teammates as the Bonnies had one 'team save' on the day.

"We are very happy with all three of the goalkeepers on our team this year," said Nichols. "Nick (Landsberger) has been playing very well. But, Ryan has earned the chance to play, too. He was called on a few times today and did extremely well. He managed his box well, made a couple saves and generally did exactly what we were expecting him to do."

Heuton's shutout was the Falcons' fifth of the season. Landsberger has kept three clean sheets this fall, and Landsberger and Heuton each played a half in BG's win over Findlay. That match marked Heuton's lone action as a Falcon prior to Sunday.

"As far as our group, we are learning that there are a lot of different ways a game can unfold," said Nichols. "None of them have been easy, but this one obviously went right down to the wire.

"It was scoreless for most of the match, but we kept pushing and remained confident that we would come through and get a goal, and we were able to do that, with some nice ball movement by several players enabling us to get that winning goal."

For the Falcons, Sunday's match began a stretch which sees the team play six away games in an eight-match span. BGSU will head to IPFW for a Wednesday (Oct. 1) contest, and the Falcons will play at Cleveland State on Oct. 7 before returning home for the Mid-American Conference opener vs. Akron on Saturday evening, Oct. 11.

FALCON NOTES
* BGSU improved to 7-2-0 on the season with Sunday's win. That is the program's best start in nearly two decades, since the 1995 team went 8-1-0 through the first nine matches. The '95 Falcons went on to a 16-3-2 record, a MAC Tournament title and the first of three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

* The Falcons have topped the win total for all of last season. The 2013 BGSU club finished with an overall record of 6-7-6.

* BGSU posted six wins in the month of September, going 6-2-0. The Falcons had not won six games in a calendar month since 1997. That '97 club won six games in both October (6-2-0) and November (6-1-0), with the November wins including three MAC Tournament matches, an NCAA Tournament Play-In match and an NCAA first-round victory.

* Sophomore Joe Sullivan now has scored six goals in his BGSU career. Four of those six goals have been game-winners. He had a pair of winners last season, and has scored the GWG in Falcon victories over Niagara and SBU this season to date.

* Sullivan ranks second on the team with 12 points this season. He has doubled his goal, assist and point totals from a year ago. The Naperville, Ill., native had two goals and two assists for six points as a freshman in 2013, and has four goals and four assists this fall to date.

* In his BGSU career, Sullivan has played in two matches in Western New York. And, in both matches, he scored what proved to be the winning goal late in the second half of a 1-0 victory. Last season, Sullivan's goal at the 80:18 mark gave the Brown and Orange a win at Buffalo (Oct. 4, 2013). And, on Sunday, the sophomore striker scored with 76:18 gone in the match against the Bonnies.

* With his assist on Sunday, sophomore Pat Flynn now has 27 points on the year. No Falcon has scored more points in a season since Steve Klein exploded for 50 points during the 1996 campaign.

* The Falcons are now 7-0-0 this season in matches in which Flynn scores at least one point, and BG is 0-2-0 in matches in which he is held scoreless.

* Junior Ryan James also had an assist on Sullivan's Sunday goal. James has four assists in 2014 after registering two helpers in both 2012 and '13. James now has career totals of eight assists and 18 points as a Falcon.

* Redshirt sophomore Ryan Heuton made the first start of his BGSU career on Sunday, and also picked up his first career shutout. Heuton sat out last season at BG, and made his Falcon debut in the Findlay match just under a month ago (Sept. 2, 2014).

* Heuton's total of seven saves vs. SBU was a BGSU season high. He now has eight saves this season, and his goals-against average remains 0.00.

* BGSU now leads SBU, 5-2-0, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons have won two-straight matches. BG is 2-1-0 in home matches vs. the Bonnies, 1-1-0 in away matches and 2-0-0 in neutral-site meetings through the years.

* Mel Mahler is in his 10th season as head coach of the Bonnies. Mahler spent 17 years with the Falcon men's soccer program, including assistant-coaching stints from 1987-92 and in 1994. He served as the interim head coach of the Falcons in 1993, and was head coach from 1995-2003. Mahler had a career head-coaching record of 111-76-13 (.586) with the Brown and Orange, and he guided the Falcons to three MAC regular-season championships, three league tournament titles and three-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament from 1995-97.