“I thought we played very professional,” MSU head coach Joe Baum said.

“We kept our composure, we didn’t commit stupid fouls, we defended well with some good team defense the last half hour of the game, and I felt real good. I felt like we had control and if we stayed cool and stayed organized, we’d be in good shape, and we pulled it off.”

With Bowling Green playing a conservative 4-5-1 brand of soccer, the Spartans found themselves relegated to the outside for much of the first half as the Falcons packed the middle with players looking for a turnover while not allowing MSU to get anything going inside.

“We knew that they were probably going to pack it in and counter,” Baum said. “Sometimes when a team drops back on you, you have a tendency to push a lot of people forward, but we showed some good discipline today, we kept three defenders home all the time so they never really got a counter-attack chance on us.”

But the Spartans finally broke through at 35:55 of the first half when junior forward Louis Stephens III knocked in a Kevin Reiman free kick to give MSU a 1-0 lead.

“If they score first, we’re in trouble because they’re going to stay in their system,” Baum said.

“But we were fortunate enough to score first and they had to push a few more guys up, give us a little more operational room.”

It was Stephens’ second goal of the season.

“(Doug DeMartin) called a nice play to go front post,” Stephens said.

“Reiman whipped the front post ball and the goalie missed it, and I was right there to put it in.”

Finally healthy, Baum calls Stephens “a handful.”

“When he was injured, he wasn’t quite as dangerous,” Baum said.

“Now, seriously, on almost every offensive thrust down there he can get you a goal. He’s big, powerful and he’s playing motivated now. It’s wonderful to have him.”

In the second half, the Spartans had several chances off corner kicks while Bowling Green spent much of the half bickering with each other in front of their goal, but each team held off each other’s attack.

Paul Shoemaker made three saves for Bowling Green while senior Chris Austin stopped three for MSU.

MSU fired 11 shots toward the Bowling Green net while the Falcons recorded nine shots.

The Spartans are off until Saturday when they make the trip to No. 17 Indiana. The game starts at 7 p.m.