It wasn’t particularly easy for the Falcons men’s soccer team, but they pulled off the victory on Friday night against the Mid-American Conference opponent West Virginia Mountaineers 1-0 on the road. This marked the team’s third win on the road and was their sixth shutout of the season.
In the first 17 minutes of the game, West Virginia’s Logan Lucas, Joey Piatczyc and Jad Arslan all had shot attempts, but failed to convert as the shots sailed either wide or high above the crossbar. On the other hand, the team struggled to get a shot attempt as early foul trouble and stingy defense by West Virginia caused problems offensively.
Finally around the 27-minute mark, the Falcons were in position to score as senior Jacob Roth found sophomore Tate Robertson towards the left side of the field. Robertson then worked a combination play with fellow sophomore Bismark Agyeman. Agyeman would try to set up a cross pass to Robertson, but failed to even get a shot attempt as the ball went over the goal and out of play resulting in a missed opportunity for BG.
The team’s first actual shot attempt came around the 38-minute mark as freshman Robert Miller III had to throw it in play following a foul. The ball sailed towards sophomore Moe Mustafa, who was inside the box and Mustafa flicked it towards Jacob Roth. Roth then attempted a header shot near the six-yard mark and it sailed towards the upper right corner of the net until West Virginia goalie Jose Santos made a diving effort to get his left hand up to knock the ball away.
Four minutes later, the team would have another opportunity after a West Virginia player was given a yellow card after freshman Chris Brennan was cut down from behind while trying to set up offense in West Virginia territory. This rewarded BG with a free kick and Jacob Roth would be the one to make the attempt. The ball ricocheted off of several players head and found senior Joe Sullivan who just happened to be on the right side fired a shot attempted that would be blocked by a West Virginia defender.
West Virginia would try to get another shot attempt before the half as West Virginia’s Mike Desiderio got through the middle of the box to fire a shot from six yards out. However, Moe Mustafa was there to make the block to keep the game scoreless going into the half. The team would only record two shot attempts and didn’t record a single corner kick.
Within the first 43 seconds of the second half, the team would get off a shot attempt quickly as Moe Mustafa threw a long throw-in towards the middle of the box where senior Pat Flynn was standing by. The ball would bounce over West Virginia players and Flynn fired a header shot that would quickly be saved by Santos.
Six minutes later, Bismark Agyeman found teammate Pat Flynn with a nice cross pass towards the end line and Flynn fired it past Santos to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead with 38 minutes left in the game. This was Flynn’s fourth goal of the season and Bismark Agyeman got the assist.
This would not stop West Virginia from attacking the Falcon defense as West Virginia’s Felix Angerer got off a nice header shot off a cross, but freshman goalie Anthony Mwembia recorded the save. Shortly after, Angerer would get a chance to get another shot off following a teammate’s low cross pass that got through many players in the penalty area. Angerer would then set his feet and fire a shot from point-blank range and missed it wide right.
Around the 76-minute mark, freshman Chris Brennan nearly gave the team a two-score lead as he was able to poke away his defender towards midfield and fired a clear shot from 18 yards out, but Santos got the save.
With ten minutes left in the game, West Virginia kept the pressure on as Tucker Stephenson got off a shot following a corner kick that got blocked. Afterwards, Felix Angerer got the rebound and fired his third shot attempt of the game, which resulted in the ball hitting the crossbar. Five minutes later, Stephenson slashed his way through the defense and fired a curving shot that went through two defenders, but it was unsuccessful as Mwembia got the save.
West Virginia would fail to get off a shot attempt as the final seconds ticked away and the Falcons secured the victory. The team finished with eight shot attempts, three corner kicks, and three saves coming from goalie Anthony Mwembia.
“There a great team, played well, and they hit the crossbar towards the end of the game so it just shows you they can bring it,” Flynn said. “At the end of the day, it just comes down to our hard work and everyone playing together.”
Falcons head coach Eric Nichols also commented on how the game was very challenging and how the team kept cool under pressure.
“We had to dig pretty deep today, we were under a lot of pressure from the opening half, but we did a lot of bending and not breaking,” he said. “We defended courageously, and we did what it took to get a big win on the road.”
The team’s next game will be at home on Saturday night as they look to get another victory against another MAC opponent in the Western Michigan Broncos.
