BGSU men’s soccer (5-7-2, 1-3-0) took on the Drake Bulldogs (6-0-6, 1-0-3) in a Saturday night matchup on the road in Des Moines, Iowa, losing 2-0 and suffering their third Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) loss of the season.

Drake goalkeeper Thomas Butkovic earned his sixth clean sheet of the year for Drake as they beat the Falcons for the first time in program history.

The Falcons started the game aggressively, getting three corner kicks in a row, coming inches away from a goal with 26 minutes to play in the first half. 

After that, the defenses for both teams tighten the screws as they trade runs down the field, which would not produce much of anything offensively.

Freshman midfielder Caue Ramos was helping the BG offense from the midfield position and forced a couple of Drake turnovers on their side of the field.   

With four minutes to go in the first half, redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Jason Ball made a save to keep the game tied at 0-0.  

Through the first half of gameplay, the two teams were evenly matched. Although BGSU had more shots on goal, 8-6, both teams only had one shot on goal apiece.  

Within the first five minutes of the second half, Drake gets on the scoreboard first with a rebound shot that finds the back of the net by Landon Benge.  

After the initial goal, the Bulldogs controlled the possession and just did their best to hold on to the ball as long as possible to keep the Falcons out of the game.  

The Falcons had a handful of chances to tie the match. The best opportunity came when Andrew Shaffer found Anthony Hernandez, whose shot was saved by Butkovic.

With five minutes left in the game, BG defender Giovanni Soares committed a foul in the box to give the Bulldogs a penalty kick, which Damian Segura put in the back of the net to ice the game.

The Orange and Brown are back in action on Saturday, Oct. 25, as they travel to Kalamazoo to face the Western Michigan Broncos, with kickoff set for noon.