Top-ranked Bowling Green defeated Wilfrid Laurier of Ontario 38-12 in a friendly Saturday. This was Wilfrid Laurier's third trip down to BGSU, and they returned home with their third loss. Bowling Green head coach Tony Mazzarella was captain of the Falcon team that last played the Golden Hawks in the fall of '97. Mazzarella led BGSU to a 34-0 win.

Facing an experienced opponent and coping with a slick ball due to weather, the Falcons were forced to play an uncharacteristic power game with their forwards. "As good as they are at handling the ball in the backfield, the Canadians are weak in the scrums and rucks," Mazzarella said after BGSU proved superior in the scrum.

"It is tough to get clean ball out of a scrum that is constantly being shoved backwards," Wifrid Laurier coach Rob McQueen lamented.

When the Canadians did manage to get the ball out to their backfield, they put on a very impressive passing display only to run into an equally impressive Falcon defensive effort.

"Defense in rugby may look like a bunch of guys just strung out in a line waiting to tackle a ball carrier, but it is actually a sophisticated system of marking opponents in man to man coverages," said Mazzarella. "We spend a lot of time working on defense."

Nick Viviani did most of Bowling Green's damage when the Falcons got the ball out to the backline. "(Viviani) can cut on a dime," said McQueen. "He left a lot of my guys grabbing nothing but air out there."

The Falcons will split their squad next weekend. Half the team will travel to Chicago to take on the University of Minnesota on Saturday at 1pm. The rest of the team will travel to Detroit to compete in a small college tournament and take on the likes of Hillsdale, Saginaw Valley, Hope, Grand Valley, and Oakland University.

BGSU
Tries: Bonek, Viviani, Marshall, Brown, Bill, Viancourt
Cons: Viviani (4)

Wilfrid Laurier
Tries: Hubble (2)
Cons: Klempner