It was a chilly, overcast senior night out in Bowling Green as BGSU men’s soccer (9-2-2, 3-1-1) went up against Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) opponent Drake University (6-3-3, 2-0-2).
A lot of anticipation went into this matchup, even though the game had its fair share of dullness.
The first half from both sides of the ball was quiet—a slow start from both teams with a mix of penalties and some collisions between players.
The best chance of the half for the Falcons was a bicycle kick attempt by sophomore midfielder Anthony Hernandez that sailed wide of the far post in the 40′.
After the first 45 minutes, both teams remained scoreless.
The second half would soon get underway, with the extra element of a pop-up rain shower early on. The tempo we saw in the initial half of the game was heavily carried over, and both sides couldn’t consistently create dangerous goal-scoring opportunities.
Bowling Green had the best chance of the match in the 86th minute, with a shot from sixth-year defender Josh Erlandson that was stopped by Drake goalkeeper Tomas Butkovic.
Leading to a 0-0 draw for the Falcons against the Bulldogs. BG’s second draw of the year, their last one being against Northern Kentucky back on Sept. 17.
“From getting to this stage of the season, two very competitive conference teams. There’s not going to be much between them,” said head coach Eric Nichols postgame. “Shots were almost even, fouls were almost even, corner kicks were almost even. Both teams were defending hard, and it ended up being a fair result.”
The Falcons will have plenty of time to recover and reset as their next match takes place on Sunday, Oct. 20, against Missouri State at 8 p.m. in another crucial MVC match.
