The Bowling Green men’s soccer team’s undefeated record came to an end Sunday as they lost to the Robert Morris Colonials 1-0. The Falcons are now 5-1 on the season.

Head Coach Eric Nichols said that he was satisfied with how the team played despite the loss.

“I was really happy with the whole game,” Nichols said. “We defended really well, I know they got a goal, but we shut them down otherwise.”

The deciding goal was scored at 20:18 by Robert Morris forward Neco Brett, who leads the Northeast Conference in goals as well as shots.

“It was a little bit of a fluke,” Nichols said. “It just happened that a ball basically landed to him, he took a shot, and it deflected into the goal.”

The team also outperformed Robert Morris in shot totals, getting ten shots directed on goal to one by the Colonials.

“We pushed and pressed, we did everything we needed to do,” Nichols said. “We just didn’t catch our break to get a goal.”

Nichols also said that the goal scored against the team relatively early made it easier for Robert Morris to defend the remainder of the game.

“When they get a goal, and they’re winning, it’s easier for them to attack,” Nichols said. “We really need to keep them from scoring, and that will keep teams opened up for us.”

Nichols also said the team will need to continue to maintain an offensive attack as early as possible in the season’s remaining games.

“Allowing that goal made it easy for Robert Morris to then defend, so we need to attack early. It’s much easier when they don’t have a goal that they’re defending.”

In the team’s next match at home against the Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne Mastadons next Friday night, they look to continue to do more of the same both on offense and defense.

“Soccer can be a tough game,” Nichols said. “[We’ll] just continue doing what we’re doing, trying to get back on the winning side is important. As well as we play, we need to win.”

Nichols also said that the team will continue to be focused on a victory against IPFW, despite going through this heartbreaking loss.

“They’re certainly salty about the loss,” Nichols said. “We’ll be hungry to improve upon the result, but I saw a lot of very positive things. The challenge for our team is to decide how we are going to respond.”

With the team’s defensive performance, they were able to increase their streak of games with five shots on goal or less to six games.