Lawrence, Falcons Battle Hartwick to 2-2 Tie

Sunday, October 25

Bowling Green, Ohio

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Hartwick

Jacob Lawrence BGSU vs. Ohio Wesleyan Aug. 22, 2009

October 25, 2009 | Men's Soccer

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Senior Jacob Lawrence scored two goals less than seven minutes apart in the second half, helping the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team to a 2-2 tie with Hartwick College. The Mid-American Conference match was held at Cochrane Field.

* BGSU 2, HARTWICK 2 - Final Stats
* BGSU 2, HARTWICK 2 - PDF Boxscore
* BGSU's Cumulative Stats - PDF

The Falcons now have records of 2-9-3 overall and 1-2-1 in MAC play. The Hawks, who entered the match unbeaten and untied in conference action, are now 8-2-3 and 3-0-1, respectively.

"We agreed at the beginning of the day that, at the end of the game, we would evaluate ourselves on our work rate," said Falcon head coach Eric Nichols. "We wanted to be able to match Hartwick's work rate and effort, and perhaps even outwork them, and I am very pleased with our performances in those areas today.

All four goals on the afternoon came within a span of just over 14 minutes, in the final third of the second period. The visitors took the lead in the 72nd minute, when Steven Amaya's shot deflected off of a BG defender and into the net.

Only 3:16 later, the Hawks were whistled for a handball in the penalty area, and Lawrence buried the resulting penalty kick to tie the score.

The senior gave the Falcons the lead at the 80:59 mark, drilling a header past HC goalkeeper Jeremy Vuolo. Lawrence's fellow co-captain, Hunter Van Houten, drew the assist after placing his corner kick in the vicinity of Lawrence's head.

But, the Hawks were awarded a PK of their own with just 4:42 remaining in the second half, and Michael Cunningham converted.

"We showed today that we can score goals," said Nichols. "We scored two goals against a team that doesn't give up many goals at all. We also showed that we can defend set pieces. That (Hartwick) is a team that is very effective on set pieces -- 75% of their goals come from set pieces. We fended off a lot of them today, and I am very impressed and pleased with the way we were able to do that.

"When you are winning a game with under 10 minutes to go, you'd like to be able to close it out. But, in all honesty, we haven't been in that situation very many times this year. We need to get better at it, and hopefully we will have a chance in these next four games to show that we've improved in that area."

The Falcons had the first solid chance of the day, just over six-and-a-half minutes into the contest. Van Houten ripped a shot that HC goalkeeper Jeremy Vuolo somehow kept out of the net. Van Houten's screamer was headed toward the top part of the goal, but Vuolo was able to leap and get a hand on it. The ball went just over the crossbar and out of play for a corner kick as the Hawks' goalie fell into the goalpost.

A third of the way through the half, a Falcon defender played a long ball forward to sophomore Byard Ebling. With three Hartwick players surrounding him, Ebling was able to lay the ball back to Lawrence, who hit a 25-yard shot that was on net, but directly at Vuolo.

Nearly twenty minutes had elapsed when a loose ball came to Lawrence just outside the penalty box. His effort, from about 20 yards out, skimmed along the top of the grass and went just wide of the right post. Lawrence led all players with a total of eight shot attempts on the day.

With approximately 12 minutes remaining in the half, the Hawks had a dangerous opportunity, as a free kick from the left side of the pitch found the head of HC's Brian Gordon. Gordon got a head on the ball to redirect it toward net, where Falcon freshman Dylan Schoettley reacted quickly to get a hand on the shot. But, one of Schoettley's better saves of the day would not show up in the final statistics, as the Hawks were whistled for offsides just prior to the shot. The teams went to halftime locked in a scoreless tie.

And, that tie lasted for over half of the second period as well, although each team had several chances during that stretch. Three minutes into the half, redshirt junior Ahmad Smith took a pass from redshirt freshman Zach Lemke on the left side of the penalty area. Smith attempted to place a shot into the far corner of the net, and the soft shot rolled just wide of the right post.

A few minutes later, Lemke worked a give-and-go play with Lawrence, but Lawrence's shot was stopped by Vuolo.

Just under 30 minutes remained in the half when Lawrence got his head on a Van Houten corner kick. The shot was hard and on target (a harbinger of things to come), but Vuolo was able to knock the ball out of bounds for another corner. That Van Houten CK, from the other side of the pitch, found the head of Smith, but his shot was wide.

Two minutes later, Sam Wright had what appeared to be a dangerous chance for the visitors. But, as Wright looked for an opening to shoot at the top of the 18-yard box, Falcon sophomore Tanner Fink knocked it away to end the threat.

With 26 minutes remaining in the half, a Hartwick free kick found the head of Jakob Karlgren, but Schoettley made a point-blank save on Karlgren's shot, keeping the match scoreless for the time being. However, HC's next chance resulted in a goal.

With just over 19 minutes on the clock, HC's Owen Botting took a corner kick from the northwest corner of the field. The ball hit several players in the box, and came to Amaya just outside the 18-yard area. Amaya's low shot deflected off at least one leg, changing direction just enough to avoid Schoettley's diving effort and nestling inside the left post. After playing a very spirited game to that point, the Falcons found themselves down by a goal.

But, that deficit would not last for long. Off of a BGSU throw-in deep in the Hartwick end of the field, a Hawk defender was called for a handball. Lawrence picked a corner and deposited the ball there, tying the score at the 74:22 mark.

Hartwick looked to regain the lead with 10 minutes left, as Nick Roydhouse's backheel pass found teammate Dan Summers in stride. Summers, on the left side of the box, aimed and fired, but his shot was high.

The action was just heating up, as a foul on the Hawks resulted in back-to-back yellow cards with 9:23 left in the half. Van Houten lined up the Falcons' free kick, and unleashed a 20-yard shot that Vuolo was able to tip over the bar once again.

Just 15 seconds later, Van Houten played a corner kick into the box, where it found the head of Lawrence. Lawrence put a great deal of power behind his shot, and there was nothing Vuolo could do to prevent the ball from finding the back of the net. Van Houten drew the assist on the goal, which came at 80:59.

Schoettley saved a free-kick off the foot of Cunningham with six-and-a-half minutes left, and it looked like the Falcons might be able to stave off the Hawks. But, with 4:42 left, a Hartwick player went down in the box, and a PK was awarded. Cunningham converted, and the match was tied, 2-2.

Neither team had another shot attempt over the final minutes of regulation, and the teams went to overtime.

In the first OT session, the Falcons had all three shot attempts and the only corner kick. Two of the shots came off the boot of Lawrence, and both were blocked. His first of those two shots came midway through the period, and the rebound came to Lemke. From approximately 22 yards out, Lemke hit a scorcher that was headed toward the lower left corner, but Vuolo was able to make the save and keep his team alive.

Lawrence's second shot of the period came with 2:47 remaining, after receiving a pass from junior Dusko Topolic. But, a Hartwick defender was able to lunge and block the shot attempt. The teams headed to a second OT period.

The visitors had both shot attempts in the final 10-minute session, but neither of them were on target. Midway through the period, Jumol Harewood possessed the ball and was looking to free himself for a shot, but Fink was able to knock the ball away

Only a few minutes remained when senior Tyler Deal played a ball into the penalty area for the Falcons. Smith chested the ball in the direction of onrushing sophomore Colin Armstrong, but a Hawk defender was running with Armstrong and got a toe on the ball to poke it away.

The Hawks had one final surge left in them. With 40 seconds remaining, junior Thomas McLean dispossessed an opposing forward of the ball for the time being, but the Hawks got the ball back, and won a corner kick in the final seconds. Botting played the corner kick into the box, where a deflection sent the ball in the direction of Roydhouse. His shot attempt, however, was blocked out of the 'danger area' as the clock wound down.

Hartwick had 19 total shots to the Falcons' 14, and the visitors had a narrow 9-8 advantage in shots on goal. Schoettley made seven saves for the Brown and Orange, while Vuolo -- who surrendered more than one goal for the first time this year -- had six stops for the Hawks.

HC had 11 corner kicks to BGSU's six, and the teams combined for 36 fouls (24 by BG) and seven cards (five on Hartwick). The Hawks played the final 7:15 of regulation and the two OT periods a man down after Summers received a red card.

After a Wednesday (Oct. 28) match at Wright State, the Falcons will return home for the final three games of the regular season. That eight-day stretch will see Northern Illinois (Oct. 31), Detroit (Nov. 4) and Florida Atlantic (Nov. 7) all come to Cochrane Field.

FALCON NOTES
* The Falcons played without leading scorer Cameron Hepple on Sunday ... Hepple had scored seven of the team's 14 total goals entering the Hartwick match, and has a total of 15 points on the year.

* Senior Jacob Lawrence's two-goal game was the third of his career, and his second this fall ... in fact, Lawrence has had two goals in each of the Falcons' last two MAC matches ... he found the net twice, including the game-winning penalty kick with under five minutes left, in last weekend's 4-3 win at Buffalo (Oct. 16).

* Lawrence now has four goals and 10 points on the season, ranking second on the team in both categories ... he has tied his career best in goals, having also scored four times last fall ... Lawrence's 10 points represents a career high in that category.

* Lawrence now has 10 goals and 25 points in his BGSU career ... he ranks second among active Falcons, trailing only Hepple (14 goals, 37 points).

* Lawrence has a three-game point-scoring streak ... he had two goals against both UB and Hartwick, and had the primary assist on Ahmad Smith's goal at Michigan State Wednesday (Oct. 21).

* Senior Hunter Van Houten's assist on Lawrence's second goal was the 10th of his career ... Van Houten leads all active Falcons in that category.

* Van Houten also leads all BG players in assists this season, with four.

* Former Falcon goalkeeper Scott Vallow was in attendance at Sunday's contest ... Vallow, a member of the 2009 BGSU Hall of Fame class, was in town for Saturday's induction ceremonies.

* BGSU became the first team to score more than one goal against the Hawks this season ... Hartwick had allowed only five goals in the season's first 12 matches ... HC had not surrendered as many as two goals in a game since a 2-1 loss to Akron last Nov. 1 -- a span of 17 games.