This week was not as kind to the Bowling Green soccer team as previous ones have been. The team came into the week 5-0 but left it 5-2 after losses to Michigan State and Cincinnati.
On Sept. 13, the No. 19 ranked Bowling Green Falcons met up with the No. 6 ranked Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing with Michigan State winning by a 1-0 margin.
The Falcons faced a ranked team for the first time this year and held on long, but eventually the Spartans’ attack was just too much.
The Spartans got on the Falcons early with a chance at the seven minute mark that sophomore goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia punched out. Anthony was tested early and often in this one as he ended up having to make three saves within three minutes.
The first legitimate chance for the Falcons in the game came at the 41 minute mark as senior defenseman Captain Alexis Souahy stole a Spartan pass and played it to Sophomore foreword Chris Brennan, only for a Spartan defenseman to take the ball away.
In the second half at the 53 minute mark, Michigan State gained a penalty kick after a handball was called in the box against the Falcons. Michigan State converted, and that gave them the 1-0 lead they would not relinquish. It also was the first goal given up this year by Mwembia.
At the 63 minute mark the Falcons put a display of passing on, only for the Michigan State goalkeeper to grab the ball.
Once the horn sounded after 90 minutes, it was the Falcons first loss of the year.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” Falcons head coach Eric Nichols said. “They were really beat up and they did what we asked for.”
On Saturday night the boys played the Cincinnati Bearcats and it didn’t go as planned.
At the 32 minute mark, a Cincinnati player knocked the ball towards the Falcons net, and as sophomore defender Tom Wrobel slid to knock it away, he accidentally tipped it over Mwembia and into his own net. This gave Cincinnati a 1-0 lead early on.
“We came out flat today,” Nichols said. “I’m disappointed and we must have missed something while preparing.”
At the 47 minute mark in the second half, the Falcons got an opportunity with a Chris Brennan, free kick but it was stopped by the Cincinnati goalkeeper.
One minute later, Cincinnati blocked a clear and directed the ball into the Falcons net to extend the Cincinnati lead to 2-0.
At the 89 minute mark, freshman defender Marshall Mast and senior forward Keaton Reynolds sent passes to Brennan who put the ball in the net to make it 2-1.
The Bearcats would get a late empty netter to make it 3-1.
The Falcons’ next match is on Tuesday in South Bend against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
