The Falcons won in overtime this Saturday 1-0 against Northern Illinois.
This was BG’s first overtime win this season and their second Mid-American Conference win in a row making its record 3-5-4 overall and 2-1-0 in the MAC division.
“We worked so hard, especially in the MAC, we know that the MAC is just a battle every year,” said midfielder Brandon Silva.“It just comes down to moments. Like I said we work hard and for it to pay off like that in the MAC is a good feeling and we look forward to continuing that feeling.”
In front of a home crowd BG out shot Northern Illinois 27-10 and attempted more corner kicks. The Falcons goalkeeper Michael Wiest helped keep their opponent scoreless with 10 saves while Northern Illinois goalkeeper only had two saves.
The Falcons midfielder Ryan James was taken down in the second half, giving forward Anthony Grant the chance to score with a penalty kick, but his shot was too wide and he was unable to get the goal for his team.
Neither BG nor Northern Illinois could score in regular time, forcing the game into overtime.
Recovering from the missed penalty kick Anthony Grant shot his third goal of the season and the teams’ only goal of the game at the 101:06 mark which was assisted by defender Sean Sikich.
“When I missed that PK I turned to my teammates and let them know that I would make up for that, I told my coach as well I got this,” Anthony Grant said. “I just went out there delivered and got the victory.”
“To outrun a guy like that in that pace and get past him and finish calmly, that’s hard work,” Grant said about his winning goal.
This was the Falcons’ first time winning against Northern Illinois in almost six years, the last win they received against them was in 2007 when they took the win 3-1.
“We’ve been playing really well this season,” head coach Eric Nichols said. “We have created tons of chances and gotten lots of shots, dominated possessions a lot of times; I feel like we are doing the right thing.”