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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
IPFW
Petkus, Falcons Earn Second Home Shutout En Route to Double OT Tie
October 07, 2007 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 7, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Red-shirt junior Brent Petkus recorded his first shutout in goal as the Bowling Green State University Falcons (3-6-2, 0-1-0) fought the visiting IPFW Mastadons (3-8-2, 0-2-0) to a 0-0 double overtime tie. BGSU has now held four opponents scoreless to date. The Bowling Green defense has accomplished such a feat since the 2003 season when five teams did not record goals against then-keeper David DeGraff.
IPFW keeper Michael Knitter's 11 saves matched his offense's total shot attempts as the Falcons out shot IPFW 27-11. Seven of BGSU shots were blocked by IPFW defenders while nine others were off target.
Knitter was called on a game-high seven times in the second period as BGSU shot 13 total times compared to IPFW's three shot count. Of IPFW's three second half shots, just one was on target.
The Falcons opened the match with numerous scoring attempts including back-to-back shots rolling wide to the same area yards from Knitter's right hand by Abiola Sandy and Matt Klancic. The junior and the freshman finished the match with five and three shots, respectively. Sandy's five were a game high. Seven Orange and Brown jersey's went on to strike two or more shots in today's match.
As the pace of the game continued, each of the two squads found difficulty organizing their offense and Bowling Green posted a dry spell beginning with Ryan Davis' shot on goal at 9:24 that was not ended until Klancic's shot on goal at 18:50 was secured safely in Knitter's arms for the save. IPFW also faced an offensive draught at the same time that was bookmarked by Petkus' save against Chas Parry at 9:52 and lasted until the BG keeper stopped Jorge Ramirez's SOG at 22:23.
In the final 10-minutes of regulation, Hunter Van Houten set-up back-to-back corner kicks that resulted in a blocked Tyler Deal shot and a save on a hard placed Kyle McNayr kick to the upper right corner of the net. Knitter was forced to make an acrobatic play to maintain the tie and keep McNayr's attempted goal off the scoreboard. Van Houten was awarded another pair of corners with under six-minutes remaining but the Falcons were unable to strike a late goal.
Tensions flew, especially in the second overtime period, as BGSU put Knitter to the test three more times but did not sneak any past the Don's. On the other hand, IPFW spent much of the extra time on defense. The visitors final shot on goal came in the 98th minute as Parry tried to turn a free kick after BGSU's Thomas McLean picked up his fourth yellow card of the season. IPFW was called for nine fouls while BGSU was caught with 20 team infractions.
Bowling Green has now pushed five of their eleven matches to extra minutes. BGSU is 0-2-0 when the match ends in the first OT, but is 1-0-2 when forced into a second overtime period.
At Mickey Cochrane Stadium in 2007, the Falcons have taken three-of-four past the regulated 90-minutes. In those games BGSU is 1-2-1, has seen three decided in overtime and each has had a one goal differential. Petkus' first career start came against Akron on October 16, 2005 and at the time of the road match, the Zips were ranked the top team in the Mid-American Conference and in the country. In that match, Petkus held Akron scoreless in the first half before allowing three goals in the second and also recorded seven saves. Similarly today, he recorded an additional seven saves - one shy of his career high of eight which he recorded at St. Mary's (Calif) on September 25, 2005.
The University of Cincinnati Bearcats now becomes the next opponent on the Falcons schedule and will host the Orange and Brown on Wednesday, October 10 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Bowling Green will have their third match under lights when the UC match kicks-off at 7:00 p.m.
Four days later, BGSU will return home for their second MAC match of the season. Bowling Green will host Hartwick, a first year league contender, at 1:00 on Sunday, October 14.
#BGSU SOCCER#
