The BG men’s soccer team beat Central Arkansas 1-0 in two overtimes on Friday, but lost to Canisius 2-1 in one overtime yesterday, earning them a split in this weekend’s Falcon Classic.

Senior forward Abiola Sandy had a strong weekend, scoring both of the Falcons’ goals.

On Friday, the Falcons came out on top of a defensive struggle, in which the two teams needed regulation and almost two full overtimes to decide a winner.

Sandy’s goal, which was assisted by Matt Klancic, came with just 49 seconds remaining in the second overtime.

The confident Falcons rode a wave of momentum into yesterday’s game against Canisius as they dominated possession throughout the game. They were able to get numerous shots on goal throughout the contest, but almost every opportunity fell just short.

The lone converted opportunity came with 13:59 left in the contest when sophomore Ochuko Evwaraye passed to Sandy in the middle of the field. From there, Sandy and fellow senior Ryan Perea ran a quick give-and-go, which left Sandy with a wide-open shot that found its way into the back of the net.

“Chuko passed the ball into me from the right side and I controlled the tip and played it to Ryan,” Sandy said. “We had a one-two combination inside there, and just got it past the goalkeeper.”

Throughout the rest of regulation, BGSU dominated possession, but squandered a number of scoring opportunities.

Falcon midfielder Cameron Hepple was very active in the last few minutes of regulation and into overtime. Hepple had a few nice shots on goal late in the contest, but none were able to find the net.

“We had a couple of chances there we should have put away and the game would’ve been done,” Hepple said. “If we had that set, the game would’ve been finished for us and we wouldn’t have gone to overtime.”

In all, coach Fred Thompson was happy with his team’s play, but says he was still disappointed his team could not convert on any of its opportunities.

“We probably dominated the game, so I think overall we played well,” Thompson said. “But college soccer always comes down to the moments, and we lost a couple of moments that we shouldn’t have lost.

“That’s something we are going to have to work on. Part of it is the bounces not going our way, part of it is we are just missing a little bit of quality at crucial times.”

Still, the team feels as if it is showing great improvement, and that it has taken strides even since last weekend. “[We played] a lot better,” said Hepple. “I thought we had a lot more opportunities.”

With yesterday’s loss, the Falcons record moves to 2-3-1. The team returns to action Thursday against Ohio State at home.