After losing their first MAC game of the season Friday at Western Michigan, the Bowling Green men’s soccer team wanted to bounce back Sunday against Marshall, a team that defeated defending MAC champion Kentucky on Friday.
It took the Falcons two overtimes to complete that bounce-back, but after freshman Paul Seip scored his second goal of the game 1:13 into the second overtime BGSU won 2-1.
“It seemed like we were lacking some offense and needed somebody to step up and coach told us to get in the box as much as we could,” Seip said. “We were down after Friday but we knew Kentucky lost so it just gave us a second chance and we figured if we just win the rest of the MAC games then we got it coming through.”
The Falcons improved to 3-1 in the MAC and 3-10 overall while Marshall fell to 2-2 in the conference and 6-8 overall.
Western Michigan shut the Falcons out 1-0 Friday in Kalamazoo. The Falcons took seven shots in the match and WMU took eight.
“I was disappointed in our effort Friday. They [Western Michigan] were a good team. I just thought we didn’t compete the way we would have liked to,” BG coach Mel Mahler said. “It could have been a better result.”
Mahler challenged his players to step up and compete with Marshall in Sunday’s game. His challenge resulted in the third MAC victory for BG.
“They did [step up to the challenge]. We competed for every minute of that match,” Mahler said. “We played poorly at times and so did they. We played well and they did too. It was two even teams.”
Marshall seemed to control the tempo of the game in the first half. The Thundering Herd had 5 shots in the first period while Bowling Green did not have a shot.
The game was scoreless at halftime, but Marshall’s Byron Carmichael scored at the 77:11 mark to put Marshall up 1-0. With that goal, Carmichael became the MAC’s all-time leading scorer.
The Falcon defense was able to stop any scoring opportunities Carmichael created after that, shutting down the explosive scorer for the remainder of the game.
Less than two minutes after Marshall scored, the Falcons evened the score. Senior Matt Leardini used a bicycle kick to reverse the ball to Seip in the center of the field. Seip scored and Leardini was credited with an assist on the play.
“Paul played well today. He plays a difficult position. You have to cover a lot of ground and it’s hard to do that,” Mahler said. “He can make things happen and I hope this is a sign of things to come from Paul Seip.”
BG nearly missed a goal at the end of the second period when the shot skimmed the top of the goal post.
“The second half I think our guys really came out and made a commitment to playing hard. They [Marshall] scored a great goal and for us to come back a minute and 25 seconds later and score, sometimes you can’t teach that,” Mahler said. “That’s character and they have that in them and I thought we displayed great character there and found a way to get a result.”
Neither team took a shot in the first overtime although both teams had a corner kick opportunity in the period.
Only 1:13 into the second overtime, freshman Ben Monnette advanced the ball to junior Deryck Freudeman who passed to Seip for the game-winning goal.
“The game was physical in a good sense. There were good challenges and we played hard and we tried to deny them as much time and space as to play as possible,” Mahler said. “At this level, it’s going to be physical and you have to challenge hard for tackles and fight for everything in the air. Marshall is very good at that and I thought we stepped up and played at that level with them.”
The Marshall game was the first of a five-game homestand for the Falcons. During the homestand, BG will play IUPU-Fort Wayne on Friday at 1 p.m. and Akron on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Falcons’ final conference matchup prior to the MAC tournament. The Falcons will also play Michigan State and Cleveland State in the final week of the regular season.
