A crowd of over 700 flocked to Cochrane Stadium on a 74-degree Friday night to see the (2-2-0) Michigan State Spartans battle the (2-2-1) BGSU men’s soccer.
Both programs played last season, which also ended in a 1-0 victory for the Falcons, with the lone goal of that game coming from Bennett Painter. While Painter was the lone man on the scoreboard last season, it would be different in 2025
We began the game with a goal in the 5th minute, when senior forward Trace Terry would strike a shot with his left-foot in the top right corner.
This was Terry’s third goal of the season and his 21st goal of his career with the Orange and Brown. Showing his leadership throughout, as he is one of three members to be named captain for the 2025 season. The assistant on our first goal of the game was graduate defender Giovanni Soares, marking his first assist this season.
“Every game we have is a learning experience, it’s about our process,” said Terry about the mindset leading into today’s game.
“I really liked how we were playing… this team’s on a journey, we got a lot of work in front of us,” said head coach Eric Nichols postgame.
Our game tonight had multiple key plays as well, and not only the goal early on. There would be much more to come in the contest. Both teams would have multiple corner-kicks that were close to big opportunities, as well as shots on net.
During the entire game, the Falcons racked up a total of seven shots on net with two corner-kicks. Opposing them, the Michigan State Spartans would have 16 shots and record a total of six corner-kicks.
Still in the first half of play, however, Bowling Green and Michigan State would both have two corner kicks, yet Bowling Green had the advantage in the shot column. The Falcons had only one more shot than the Spartans as they had five to the Spartans’ four in the first half.
Other notable events we witnessed were a much more undisciplined match than expected. Bowling Green had nine total fouls in the first half alone, with 22 total. As well as the cards, BGSU had three yellow cards while MSU had two.
Next up, the Falcons will travel to Kentucky to take on the Wildcats on Sunday, Sept. 14, at 1:00 p.m.
