Broncos Blank Falcons, 1-0

Saturday, October 3

Bowling Green, Ohio

12:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Western Michigan

October 03, 2009 | Men's Soccer

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Yllson Asani's goal a half-hour into the match lifted Western Michigan University to a 1-0 victory over the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team Saturday afternoon (Oct. 3). The Mid-American Conference match was held at a windy Cochrane Field.

* WESTERN MICHIGAN 1, BGSU 0 - Final Stats
* WESTERN MICHIGAN 1, BGSU 0 - PDF Boxscore

With the win, the Broncos improve to 3-6-0 overall and 1-0-0 in MAC action, while the Falcons drop to 1-7-2 and 0-2-0, respectively.

Western had a 16-12 advantage in shot attempts, and a 7-4 margin in shots on goal. One of BGSU's best chances came in the game's waning moments, as senior co-captain Hunter Van Houten took a free kick from approximately 20 yards out. Van Houten bent his shot over the wall, but the ball rang off the crossbar.

Early in the match on a breezy day at Cochrane, sophomore Byard Ebling looked to get the Falcons on the board. A pass freed Ebling down the left side, and as he entered the penalty area, he fired a shot that was blocked by WMU goalkeeper Casey Aubil. The rebound came to Ebling, but his follow-up try in traffic was just over the bar.

At the other end of the pitch, redshirt freshman Jeff Smoker went down to stop a shot by the Broncos' Kai Mendes with 17 minutes left in the opening half.

But, with just under 15 minutes remaining before halftime, the Broncos got on the board with what would prove to be the winning goal. Off a long throw-in from Doug Raak that sailed into the box, Asani headed the ball home.

The Broncos had a few more chances before the end of the half. With exactly five minutes left in the period, WMU's Joel Del Toro cut from left to right, and uncorked a hard shot that whizzed just wide of the upper right corner of the net. Then, in the final minute of the half, Del Toro stole an errant BG clearing attempt near the top of the 18-yard box. He took a touch, and fired a shot that Smoker was able to save, keeping the margin at a single goal.

In the second period, there were scoring chances at both ends in the early going. With just over a minute gone, a crossing ball by WMU was headed by a Falcon defender off his own goal. The ball hit the bar and bounded over for a corner kick. Off of that corner, Asani got his head on the ball, but the hard shot went wide.

Less than a minute later, however, some nifty passing from Ebling and freshman Chris McLean led to a right-side cross. Junior Thomas McLean got his head on that crossing ball, but the shot went just wide with 2:40 gone in the half.

Two minutes later, sophomore Tanner Fink hit a free kick toward the far post. Senior Jacob Lawrence got his head on that ball, but the shot went wide as well.

Chris McLean made a nice run, splitting several defenders, just 90 seconds later. He slid a pass to his left, toward redshirt sophomore Max Weston. Weston cut back to his right to elude a defender, but his ensuing shot was wide of the mark.

With just over 10 minutes gone in the period, Thomas McLean and Weston worked a give and go, resulting in McLean's cross from the left side of the pitch. The cross reached a charging Ebling in the area. In fact, the ball, Ebling and a WMU defender all arrived at the same time, and the ball deflected off of Ebling as the Bronco player ran into him. The ball went out of bounds for a goal kick.

Still within the first 15 minutes of the half, BG gained a throw-in on the left side of the field. The long throw went to Lawrence in the box, and the senior co-captain headed it backward to Chris McLean. McLean's diving header resulted in a hard shot, but the ball was off target.

Midway through the half, senior Tyler Deal hustled back to block a shot by Western's Sam Meyer, thwarting what appeared to be a good scoring opportunity for the Broncos.

Several minutes later, Weston won a corner kick for the Falcons. Van Houten took that corner, and Deal got his head on the ball. Deal's shot was on target, but Aubil was able to knock the ball out of play.

Just over 12 minutes remained when the Falcons strung five passes together, with Deal, Lawrence and redshirt soph Chris Jurtovski involved in the play. The passing resulted in a left-side cross off the foot of Deal, but the curving ball sailed through the area without a Falcon able to get on the other end of it.

With nine minutes on the clock, junior Dusko Topolic put Ebling through, and Ebling slid a pass toward Lawrence. But, offsides was whistled on the play.

Then, with just under five minutes left, the Broncos committed a foul just outside the penalty area, slightly left of center. Van Houten took the kick, and his curving shot beat Aubil, but rang off the crossbar. The ball bounded downward into the danger area, where a number of players from both teams had congregated. In traffic, Deal's one-time follow-up try sailed high.

BG had one more chance, as the Broncos were called for another foul near midfield with just over a minute left. Deal's long free kick sailed into the box, and Fink's header was on target. But, Aubil was able to make his final save of the day, and the Broncos held on for the win.

Aubil made a total of four saves en route to the shutout. At the other end, Smoker had six stops on seven shots on goal. After Western had an 11-3 advantage in shots in the first half, the Falcons led that category, 9-5, in the second period.

For the third consecutive game, the Falcons played without senior Cameron Hepple. Hepple, BGSU's leading scorer, missed the match due to injury.

The Falcons are home again on Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 6), stepping outside of conference play to meet Valparaiso University. That match is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field.