On a night where festivities surrounded Cochrane Stadium, BGSU men’s soccer (3-4-2, 0-1-0) opened up Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) play with a 3-0 loss to Evansville (3-2-5, 1-0-0). Suffering their second loss at home this season and being shut out.
However, what the scoreline says may not be reflective of Bowling Green’s performance. What did the match come down to? Moments, according to head coach Eric Nichols.
“I thought actually that our performance was pretty good, and it was moments that stung us this pass here, missed tackle there. I don’t think the score reflects the 90 minutes,” said Nichols postgame. “Now it’s a matter of us being able to build on the moments we had. “
Senior midfielder Andrew Shaffer echoed the same sentiment. But gave credit to the Purple Aces for taking advantage of their chances.
“Tough result…It’s just execution in certain moments offensively and defensively were missing, and if those get corrected, the conversation is obviously a lot different, but they executed really well in front of the goal,” said Shaffer.
The Falcons met Evansville twice last season, losing both once in the regular season and the other in the MVC championship game. What the match tonight reminded the Falcons of was how intense matches in the MVC are, and how the margins between winning and losing are slim.
“It’s important for us to be able to execute in the heat of the moment, in the intensity,” said Shaffer. “That’s something that we’re gonna keep improving on. And again, I think no one is jumping off the ship, and this team is going to stay together, and we are going to get back to work tomorrow in the film room, and we will correct this.”
Bowling Green will remain at home for their next match. Taking on Northern Kentucky on Tuesday, Sept. 30. The Falcons have already bounced back from a 3-0 loss before, and Nichols and the Falcons are looking to do it again.
“We responded last time, you know, unfortunately, [we’ve] been here before exactly here before. I’m convinced they’ll respond,” said Nichols. It’s not fun to have to dig out of these holes, but we’ve got character on this team, we’ve got character on this approaching staff, we’ve got a lot of support.”
Kick-off is set for 7:00 p.m. Falcon Media Sports Network’s Lucas Kleimeyer and Tyler Kavalecz will have the call on WBGU-PBS YouTube channel.
