After a scoreless ninety minutes, the Bowling Green State University men’s soccer team found a way to win in the golden-goal extra time against Cleveland State University.

With nine shots on the night, four on goal, the Falcons were able to capitalize on their ninth and final attempt as sophomore Jacob Roth put in a free kick to the far post.

The late-game attempt was set up by a “great solo run by Danny [Baraldi] to draw a foul,” head coach Eric Nichols said.

Then, at 20 yards out, at an extreme angle, the Falcons broke the tie and secured their ninth victory.

While the Falcons were able to move to 9-2 on the season with Mid-American Conference play approaching, they understand that their play must still be cleaned up.

“We have a lot still to work on; we were missing a little something in the attack,” Nichols said.

And when something small is wrong, it becomes a domino effect where all of the little things ultimately prevent you from doing what you’d like, and that’s score goals, Nichols said.

The Falcons were able to battle the rainy weather and secure the victory.

The success started with the defense, holding the Vikings to just four shots with none on frame. This effort gave goalkeeper Ryan Heuton his third shutout of the season in as many games.

While the dominant defensive effort was great, the offense found a way to outperform the Vikings.

“We had less possession for the game, but we had more dangerous shots,” Nichols said. “There were moments where we looked really good, but we definitely need to get better.”

With both teams on two-game win streaks, the Falcons played spoilers to the Vikings as they secured their third straight victory by a score of 1-0.

The match was the first extra time victory for the Falcons, after having suffered their first loss of the season against Duquesne in double-overtime earlier in the year.

Despite the lack of experience in plus ninety-minute games, the Falcons showed the necessary composure to effectively compete later in the season.

“It was huge for a number of reasons. We just stuck to our game plan and had confidence that we’d eventually get ours,” Nichols said.

Now, having completed out-of-conference play, the Falcons will look toward MAC play with Akron coming to Cochrane Field.

The Falcons will use a three-day break to prepare for the 5-3-1 defending MAC-champion Zips when they come to Bowling Green for the Saturday night match.