Intensity is the name of the game for every sport, and the BGSU men’s soccer team is no stranger to such a mentality.
The Falcons faced off against Northern Illinois in their first match of Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) play on Friday night, capturing a 2-1 victory.
While both teams went back and forth the entire match, one player stood out with one of his best performances this season: Bennett Painter.
The sophomore forward was the star of the game. The sophomore forward scored both Bowling Green goals in the match, one in each half, securing the win for the Falcons.
Painter’s aggression and hard work ethic have been on full display since the start of the season.
“Intensity is one of the highest things that we think about,” Painter said after the victory. “I have said it before in all of my interviews: we are never gonna get out-worked. We will always bring intensity; we will always be excited about a game, whether it’s 0 fans or 1,000 fans.”
Head coach Eric Nichols praised Painter’s effort, a major reason he has scored five goals and tallied 11 points this season.
“Just fantastic. He’s locked in, he’s feeling it, he’s busy; he does a lot of work off the ball that you don’t see,” Nichols said. “We are going to need him to keep going.”
With such a monumental start to conference play for the men’s soccer club, it would not come to anyone’s surprise if the noise of the momentum gets louder due to Painter’s success early on. We will have to wait and see if the intensity ramps up even more as time goes on.
