Just two hours north of Madison, where the Falcons of the Gridiron were visiting the Wisconsin Badgers, the BGSU Men’s Soccer Team played in back to back games at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Nike Tournament.
The Falcons were defeated by the Sacred Heart Pioneers 1-0 in Saturday’s game, and tied Eastern Illinois 1-1 in Sunday’s match in Green Bay.
In Saturday’s game, BGSU gained a one-player advantage late in the first half off of a Pioneer red card and out-shot their opponents 17-12.
However the team could not take advantage.
As the Falcons gave up the game-breaking goal in the 69th minute of the game and were unable to match Sacred Heart’s late one-goal lead.
‘We made one mistake in the back, and that lost it for us,’ Head Coach Fred Thompson said.
‘Even though we had a one-player advantage, we didn’t get a lot of chances to score.’
Despite their lack of opportunities to score on Saturday, Thompson was pleased about Sunday’s efforts of attacking the goal.
‘We went out and really went for the goal,’ he said.
Six freshmen started for the Falcons as they went into the break with the lead off of a George Davis goal, assisted by Omari Aldridge.
With BGSU controlling the pace of the game for the second consecutive day, Eastern Illinois’ Brad Earl jumped out seven minutes into the second half and tied the game at one, ultimately halting the Falcons’ rhythm.
The game went into two overtimes before the officials called this one, ending with a 1-1 tie.
Even with a winless record coming out of this weekend’s games, Coach Thompson believes that his team played well, especially the freshmen who are making their first college starts.
‘We started a lot of freshmen because we are trying to get them in the game as much as possible here at the beginning of the season, so that they can develop the confidence and the pace of the game they should have at this level of play.’
Thompson’s ‘back four’ are also making considerable strides in rebounding this team from where it was a year ago.
Defenders Dave Belfort, Andy Synk and Kyle McNayr are among players who have been mentioned by Thompson as guys who are keeping the team in games and giving the offense the opportunities they need to score.
‘They are playing with consistence and energy, which is what we need back there.’
The Falcons will try and get their first win of the regular season this Friday when they travel to Dayton to visit Wright State, starting at 7 p.m.
Just two hours north of Madison, where the Falcons of the Gridiron were visiting the Wisconsin Badgers, the BGSU Men’s Soccer Team played in back to back games at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Nike Tournament.
