BGSU men’s soccer (2-3-2) lost 3-0 to the Bellarmine Knights (4-2-2), suffering their third loss of the season, and their first defeat at Cochrane Stadium since Nov. 5, 2023.
After conceding a goal to Bellarmine’s Martin Cadagan in the first half, the Falcons went down to 10 men after a straight red card in the 29th minute of the match to Caio Tascheto.
It didn’t get better for BG, who went into halftime down 2-0 and couldn’t win the second half.
“Really disappointing performance. Score aside, red card aside, we just came out really flat,” said head coach Eric Nichols post-match. “I’m not sure why, we’re gonna have to all look inside and find out why we came out like that. The first 20 minutes are really bad. I just told the guys I think we were losing this game, regardless of the red card, unless we were able to change. Just a really flat performance.”
The first goal for the Knights came off a long throw into the penalty box. The second came from Nick Harshaw, and the third and final came from Johan Nissen-Lie, both from the run of play after the Falcons were down a man.
How did Bellarmine get their chances? Self-inflicted wounds, says Nicholas.
“They weren’t causing us problems. It was we causing ourselves problems,” said Nichols. “Tempo was slow, and the movement off the ball was slow; decision making was slow. And we just kind of played into traps, and then we weren’t urgent when there was a loose ball…we were second to everything. You’re not going to win many games like that.
Bowling Green has now moved to 1-1-1 at home this season. Despite a win over Michigan State and a result on the road against nationally ranked Kentucky, Nichols wants to see more intensity from the Falcons as they head into Chicago to face DePaul on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
“I want to see the urgency. Winning is hard. We kind of came out here, let we were gonna just slap the ball around and have our way, and we’re just naive about that,” said Nichols. “We’ll see do we learn how hard it is to win and what it’s going to take in every single moment. And if we do, then this team has a chance.”
Kick-off for the match against the Blue Devils is set for 3:00 p.m. Falcon Media Sports Network will have coverage of the match on bgfalconmedia.com.
