It was an exciting battle on Saturday night for the BGSU men’s soccer team, with the game resulting in a tie by a score of 1-1 against Mid-American Conference opponent Western Michigan University. BG remains undefeated at home and also in conference play. This was the second time BG got a tie in the regular season.
It was all WMU from the beginning as they stifled BG with their ability to take control of possessions and play stellar defense. In the first five minutes of the game, WMU’s Brandon Bye got off a header shot following a corner kick by his teammate Edu Jimenez. Bye’s shot would be cleared away by senior Jacob Roth from the goal line.
In the next nine minutes, WMU got off three corner kicks. However, they failed to get a shot off on all three attempts. Meanwhile, BG struggled mightily to get a shot off as they were constantly getting pressured by WMU’s defense.
It wasn’t until around the 32-minute mark as senior Joe Sullivan found an opening in the 12-yard box and fired a shot towards the upper left corner of the net. WMU goalkeeper Drew Shepherd was able to reach high enough to get the save. This would be BG’s only shot attempt of the half.
In the final minute of the first half, WMU’s Tommy Clark was able to get his head on a cross, but it was easily saved by freshman goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia as the first period ended. In an uneventful first period for BG, they were scoreless heading into the second period. Also, this was the third straight game where it took the team 30 minutes to get off a shot attempt.
Within 45 seconds of the second period, Bye didn’t waste time getting off another shot attempt as he fired a low grounder towards Mwembia. His shot failed and Mwembia very easily got the save. Eight minutes later, sophomore Tate Robertson was able to retain possession at midfield and played a ball towards senior Pat Flynn. Flynn was able to shake through WMU defenders and got a shot off in the penalty area, but it would be saved by Shepherd.
It didn’t take long for BG to get on the board as freshman Chris Brennan was able to take advantage of a WMU miscue. Shepherd looked to clear to the ball out, but he misfired on his attempt and the ball spiraled in the air. Brennan quickly noticed this and went past Shepherd and a WMU defender to get the ball into the net. This gave BG a 1-0 lead with 33 minutes left in the second period.
Things intensified in last 12 minutes of the second period, as a BG player was knocked down to the ground and both teams would get into a heated scuffle. Following the scuffle, a yellow card was drawn towards WMU and a red card was drawn for BG. BG would have to go on the rest of the game with a man down.
A few minutes later, WMU took advantage and tied the game 1-1. WMU’s Zach Bock ran down the left side and set up a nice cross pass towards Jimenez at the top of the 18 yard mark. Jimenez would fire a shot that would be deflected by a BG defender. Mwembia was unable to adjust to where the ball was going after the deflection and the ball landed in the bottom right corner. This would be the final shot attempt of the second period and the game would head into overtime.
In the first overtime, WMU would get off three shot attempts, but only one would be a shot on the goal. BG’s only shot attempt in the first overtime came from junior Alexis Souahy following a corner kick set up by Roth. The kick sailed towards the middle of the box and Souahy would get off a header shot, but the ball sailed wide.
In the second overtime, WMU would get whistled for a foul as Brennan would get taken down by a WMU defender. This rewarded BG with a free kick and Roth would be the one to attempt the shot. Roth fired the shot and the ball curved towards the right, but Shepherd made the diving save.
With under a minute to go, freshman Robert Miller III would win the possession at midfield and would then cross towards Brennan from 18 yards out. Brennan set his feet and blasted a shot that sailed high over the goal. The final seconds ticked down and the game ended in a tie.
“First half, I’m not sure why, but we were on our heels and I’ll allow credit to Western Michigan,” said BGSU head coach Eric Nichols.
Nichols said they knew they were going to come out firing and we just didn’t seemed to be engaged in their matchups, but he was pleased with the response in the second half.
BG will look to get a win on the road on Tuesday night against the University of Kentucky beginning at 7 p.m.
