BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Bowling Green (2-1, 1-0 MAC) had their first defeat of the season and home loss since the naming of the Roger Mazzarella Rugby Field. Although the Falcons took a strong 15-0 lead, the mistakes started to build up. Notre Dame scored late in the half to start a run of 33 unanswered points to see the game end 15-33. 

"It was a disappointing performance. There was a really good start to the game, however after watching film, even our start didn't look all that great" said Head Coach Tony Mazzarella. "Lots of missed assignments, and it obviously came to a head in the second half. It was just really unfortunate because we had a really good start and just did not capitalize." 

In the year's second Big 10 match up, Bowling Green underperformed after a strong start. Unlike last week, the Falcon's started strong, dominating the opening 20-30 minutes of the match. However, compounding mistakes would give the Fighting Irish their chance to get back into the game. The Fighting Irish took their chance and did not let up, scoring 33 unanswered points to win the match. 

"I thought the first 20 to 30 minutes we played really well, we played really complete rugby. Towards the end of the half we started making a few mistakes which turned into a score before the half" said Selections Officer and last year's Vice-Captain Zach Szepiela. "In the second half we tried to fix the mistakes. However, we just let some little mistakes get to our heads. We didn't play our best rugby." 

Additionally, the second XV had their first loss of the season 31-32 against Notre Dame. However, the game was much closer than the first XV's match. Freshman Isaac Radke once again led the way for the second XV, scoring 11 pts from one Try and 3 of 5 conversions. The second XV also saw three new players get their first points of the season with tries from Junior John Matier and Freshman Emmanuel Coleman. Freshman Evan Holderer in his first ever rugby match was not only able to score his first try of the season, but his first brace, to provide the Falcons with 10 pts.  

NOTABLES

• Tracey increased his season try count to four with his try against Notre Dame.
• Szepiela takes second for tries scored with three after his score this weekend.
• The Second XV had two players with 10+ points: Radke (11) and Holderer (10).
• The Second XV had three new try scorers: Holderer x2, Matier, Coleman x1.

Bowling Green (2-1, 1-0 MAC) will play their first away game for the MAC conference against University of Pittsburgh (1-2, 0-2 MAC) at 4 pm on Saturday, September 21st in Pittsburgh, PA. 

HOW IT HAPPENED 

1st XV

Bowling Green 15, Notre Dame 33 

• Kickoff
• Lock Zach Szepiela opened the scoring with his third try of the season (5-0).
• Joey Apel converts (7-0).
• Joey Apel scores a Penalty Conversion (10-0)
• 8-Man Phil Tracey score his fourth try of the season (15-0)
• Notre Dame scores and converts (15-7)
• Halftime: (15-7)
• Notre Dame scores and converts (15-14)
• Notre Dame scores (15-19)
• Notre Dame scores and converts (15-26)
• Notre Dame scores and converts (15-33)
• Final Score: 15-33

2nd XV

Bowling Green (31), Notre Dame (32)

• Kickoff
• Notre Dame scores and converts (0-7)
• Notre Dame scores (0-12)
• Matier scores his first try of the season (5-12)
• Radke converts (7-12)
• Coleman scores his first try of the season (12-14)
• Notre Dame scores (12-17)
• Notre Dame scores (12-122)
• Halftime: Score: (12-22)
• Notre Dame scores (12-27)
• Notre Dame scores (12-32)
• Radke scores and converts (19-32)
• Holderer scores his first try (24-32)
• Rake converts (26-32)
• Holder scores his second try (31-32)
• Final Score: 31-32