BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Despite Appalachian State men's soccer taking the early 1-0 lead, Bowling Green came back to beat the Mountaineers in a hard-fought 3-1 decision in Ohio on Sunday afternoon.
"My hats off to coach Eric Nichols, his staff and BGSU," head coach Jason O'Keefe said. "They deserved this result today, doing a lot of things right. We will need to learn from this game and get better for our next one. We will get back to the training ground this week and get better for ETSU on Saturday."
After their originally scheduled season opener against Cincinnati was canceled due to storms in the area, the Mountaineers (0-1) broke out of the gates in a hurry as Jordan Melia put the Apps up 1-0 in the 3rd minute of action off a blocked shot by Stephen Chapman rebounded for a clear shot.
The game would then go into a battle before the Falcons' (2-0) Pat Flynn equalized the game at 1-1 off a double assist by Joe Sullivan and Vincent Giannini on the through ball to the right side of the box in the 21st minute.
The game-winner for Bowling Green would come in the 45th minute as Keaton Reynolds headed in a blocked shot from Moe Mustafa. Flynn then put the game out of reach in the 61st minute on a blast from 12 yards out.
Individually for the Mountaineers, Melia led the way in shots on the day, firing three on the day, one of which was on goal. Daniel Avila had two shots on the day, while Raheem Somersall, Thibaut Arpinon, Felix Kollmannthaler, Ben Steen and Chapman had one each. Chapman's and Arpinon's were on goal.
In the net for Appalachian was Jake Chasteen, who played the entire 90. Chasteen had six saves on the day, facing 18 shots.
The Mountaineers will move into week 2 of the season as they travel to former SoCon foe East Tennessee State on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. App State will then go on to play at Wake Forest on Tuesday, Sept. 6. Kickoff for the second match is slated for 7 p.m.
