It was another tightly-contested matchup for the BGSU men’s soccer team as Tuesday night’s game against the University of Dayton resulted in a draw by a score of 1-1 at Cochrane Field. This was BG’s first draw of the regular season and the team still doesn’t have a home loss.
In the first period, BG survived a early scare around the two-minute mark as UD’s Rok Taneski was roughly 10 yards out and fired a volley that looked like it was headed over freshmen goalie Anthony Mwembia’s head. However, the ball sailed high enough that it hit the crossbar and BG caught a break from a possible early score.
BG’s first shot attempt came around the four-minute mark as senior Joe Sullivan was able to get by defenders on the left side. Sullivan then fired a shot towards the left bottom corner but a save from UD’s Federico Barrios prevented BG from scoring early in the game.
Around the 16 minute mark, UD would be in scoring position once again as Kennedy Nwabia received a cross pass from a teammate and attempted a shot that was headed towards the left side of the net. It resulted in the ball going wide left and out of play. Shortly after, freshmen Tom Wrobel was able to poke the ball away from a UD striker and get the ball out of BG territory.
Shortly after, fifth-year senior Max Auden entered into the game for his 2016 debut as he looked to make an impact coming off an injury that plagued his season last year.
A few minutes later, Auden was looking to receive a pass in the middle of the box from teammate Bismark Agyeman following Agyeman’s steal from a UD player. Unfortunately, the ball was cleared out by a UD defensemen and Auden fell to the ground.
Another scoring opportunity arose around the 26-minute mark following UD being whistled for an offisides penalty. Afterwards, BG conducted a variety of passes trying to find an opening for a shot attempt. Following a pass that was just out of reach, the ball was headed towards the near corner flag.
However, sophomore Tate Robertson was able to track it down and slid to save it. In addition, Robertson was able to get on his feet and got off a nice cross pass that was deflected right towards Agyeman who was standing outside of the box.
Agyeman was able to allude defenders and found a wide-open Joe Sullivan what looked to be an easy goal for BG. Sullivan fired a shot high towards the upper half of the net, but it hit the crossbar. Retrieving the ball from the missed shot attempt was senior Pat Flynn, who attempted a bicycle kick, but it sailed wide right.
Neither team was able to get a shot attempt until around the 39-minute mark, where Max Auden’s shot attempt was blocked, but UD was whistled for a handball foul after deflecting it off a defender’s hand. This rewarded BG with a free kick towards the outside of the box, but freshmen Robert Miller III’s shot was blocked and both teams went into the half scoreless.
In the second period, BG began to apply pressure on UD as they rattled their rhythm to move the ball. It wasn’t until the 63-minute mark that BG got another nice play ran that would set up a nice left-side cross pass from Bismark Agyeman towards freshmen Chris Brennan. Brennan set his feet and fired a blast that would once again sail high resulting in another missed opportunity.
A few minutes later, UD’s Rok Taneski took a loose ball in midfield and made a long run towards the penalty area. Taneski then cut to his left and fired a shot that curved past Mwembia and landed inside the left goal post. This gave UD a late 1-0 lead in what looked like a heartbreaking loss was in sight for BG.
But, BG kept calm and poised as they knew there was time to tie this game up. Six minutes after Taneski’s goal, they did just that. BG would win a throw in on the right side, Robert Miller threw the ball that sailed towards the box. The ball would be deflected right to Chris Brennan and fired a shot towards the lower left corner of the net that went in. The game was tied and eventually would go into overtime following shots failing to go in from both teams.
Towards the end of the first overtime, UD would get four shot attempts up which put the pressure on BG. However the shots failed to go in the net as BG’s defense would hang on for another period. In the second overtime, no shot attempts were made by any player until the final minute as senior Jacob Roth would fire a hurried shot that was saved by Barrios.
Time would expire and the game was concluded as a draw. BG Head Coach Eric Nichols shared his thoughts on how he was disappointed in the way UD outplayed them in the first period. Nichols also said he was proud the way the team rebounded in the second.
“I think I was more disappointed by the way we came out in the first period, give full credit to Dayton, they owned us in that first half,” Nichols said. “But we recovered nicely in the second and we showed some character to get the tying goal.”
BG finished with 18 shot attempts, five corner kicks and one save. BG’s next game will be at home once again as they look to defend their home field against The Ohio State University on Saturday at 7 p.m.
“Ohio State will be a big event, they’re a good team, so if we play like we did in the first half like we did tonight it’s going to be a long night, but I think we’ll rise to the occasion,” said Nichols.
