BGSU men’s soccer (5-7-2, 1-3-1) earned a point on the road in Kalamazoo, tying the Western Michigan Broncos (4-8-3, 1-1 at WMU Soccer Complex.
Bowling Green senior forward Trace Terry converted a penalty kick in the 82nd minute, scoring right down the middle past Bronco goalkeeper Alex Lindewirth.
The Falcons now sit on four points in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), and find themselves in seventh place, just one spot out from the MVC Tournament.
Despite going down 1-0, Bowling Green kept itself in the match with redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Jason Ball making six saves, including five in the first half.
Western Michigan outshot the Orange and Brown 23 to eight, and had 14 corner kicks to BG’s eight.
Both sides showed aggression in the early going of the first half, with physical battles in the midfield and challenges being put in for second balls.
Sahel Yessen found the opening goal for Western Michigan in the 20th minute, using his pace and skills on the left wing to make his way into the box and get a deflected shot off through multiple Falcon defenders, with the ball just creeping over the line to make it 1-0 WMU.
The Broncos nearly added a second goal just moments later, with a blast from Jonathan Stout that sailed over the crossbar.
In the 32nd minute, Ball made a spectacular save inside his six-yard box on Yessen, pushing it out for a Bronco corner.
Another Western Michigan chance came off a breakaway from Emiel Nieuwhof, who had just one Falcon defender to beat, but chipped his shot just wide of the goal as Ball came out of his net.
The Falcons trailed by one heading into halftime, and were outshot 14 to two in the first 45′. The Broncos also had 10 corner kicks to just four for BG.
In the second half, Stout had an unmarked header off a deflected Nieuwhof cross that went wide of Ball’s goal. A few minutes later, Ball made another big save, diving to his right off a Liam Smith header on the back post.
The Falcons’ penalty kick came in the 82nd minute, after a Terry header redirected towards junior midfielder Joshua Saavedra, who was fouled in the box, giving Bowling Green a chance to equalize in the spot.
Terry stepped up and buried his ninth goal of the season from the spot to tie the match up at 1-1.
Bowling Green had one last piece of defending to do, after a flurry of Bronco chances in the box following another Ball save, redshirt-sophomore midfielder Aiden Ptacek blocked a follow-up shot by WMU.
Next up, the Falcons will return to Cochrane Stadium for their home finale, taking on the UIC Flames (8-1-4, 1-0-3) on Halloween night, with kick-off at 7:00 p.m.
Falcon Media Sports Network’s Lucas Kleimeyer and Henry Kosko will have the call on WBGU-PBS YouTube channel.
