Falcons, Bulls Play to 1-1 Draw

Saturday, October 18

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

9-3-1, 0-1-1MAC

Buffalo (Hispanic Heritage Night)

3-8-2, 0-0-2MAC

OT 3

OT 4

Buffalo

Bowling Green

Chase Betenson played 66 minutes, by far the highest total of his young career, on Saturday night

Photo by: Larry Clapper

October 18, 2014 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Teams each earn a point after trading first-half goals at Cochrane

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team earned a point in Mid-American Conference play Saturday night (Oct. 18), battling the University at Buffalo to a 1-1, double-overtime draw. The MAC match was held at Cochrane Field on the BGSU campus.

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With the result, the Falcons are now 9-3-1 overall and 0-1-1 in MAC play. The Bulls are now 3-8-2 and 0-0-2, respectively.

The Falcons' goal was an own goal in the 19th minute of play, as a UB defender inadvertently headed the ball into his own net. Less than five minutes later, however, the Bulls tied the match, as Sean Young redirected a teammate's low crossing ball into the net. Neither team would score again over the remaining 86-plus minutes of action.

"We were off tonight," said BGSU head coach Eric Nichols. "It wasn't what I would call BG soccer.

"Our goal, even though it was an own goal, was deserved, as we were putting pressure on Buffalo at that point in the match. And, their goal was deserved as well. The game definitely had its ebbs and flows."

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Heuton made five saves for the Falcons, while UB 'keeper Waleed Cassis made two stops. The Bulls outshot the Falcons by a 20-16 count on the night.

The visitors doubled up the home side in the shots-on-goal department as UB put six shots on frame to the Falcons' three. In addition to the own goal, BG's shots on goal came from sophomore Pat Flynn and freshman Chase Betenson.

Flynn's SOG was a beauty, as he hit a bicycle kick from the top of the 18-yard box in the first half, forcing Cassis into a save near the right post. Betenson, who saw the most action of his brief BGSU career to date, put a shot on target early in the first overtime period.

Less than four minutes into the match, the Falcons had the first shot of the evening, as a pass by Flynn put freshman Brad Macomber past the UB defense. Macomber fired a shot that went just wide of the right goalpost.

Five minutes later, the Bulls' first shot of the match came seemingly out of nowhere, as an effort from distance off the boot of Ryan Pereira skipped wide right.

Just over a minute after Pereira's shot, Flynn had back-to-back tries. After receiving a pass from fellow sophomore Joe Sullivan, Flynn saw a shot blocked by a UB defender. The ball popped up into the air, and Flynn turned his back to goal and attempted the aforementioned bicycle kick that was on target, but was saved by Cassis.

The Falcons continued to apply the pressure, as BGSU had seven of the game's first nine shot attempts, before UB's David Enstrom headed the ball over Cassis and into his own net at the 18:49 mark.

In the 24th minute of the match, though, the Bulls equalized. Daniel Cramarossa played the ball down the left side for teammate Marcus Hanson, who sent a low cross into the box. Young ran toward the near post, met the cross at the six-yard line and one-timed the ball into the lower right side of the net for the tying goal.

Young's goal marked the first allowed by BGSU in the run of play in a span of 402:59, since late in the Michigan State match on Sept. 24.

With 12 minutes left in the half, redshirt sophomore Danny Shea played a diagonal ball into the box from the right side, where Sullivan redirected it toward redshirt soph Max Auden. Cassis, however, barely beat Auden to the ball, sliding to grab it in the box to break up the play. Each team had one more shot in the first half, but BG's shot attempt went wide left and UB's try sailed well over the crossbar.

Early in the second period, Betenson made several nifty moves to elude his would-be defender. Betenson played the ball ahead to Sullivan, who won a corner kick, but the home team could not capitalize on that corner.

Three minutes into the half, a BGSU steal led to a cross into the box by Auden. Flynn played the ball to senior Vlad Lekarev, who hit a shot in traffic that was blocked by a defender. Sullivan's follow try from the right side of the goal sailed just wide of the far post.

Just over six minutes into the period, Sullivan's through ball found fellow Naperville, Ill., native Flynn, who lobbed a shot over Cassis and into the net. But, the assistant referee's flag was raised, indicating offside on the Falcons.

Midway through the half, an errant BG pass was picked up by Young. He shot from distance, but hit effort sailed over the bar. Exactly 20 minutes remained in regulation when Young found Russell Cicerone with a pass. Cicerone's return pass rolled just out of the reach of Young and went out of play for a BGSU goal kick.

With 12 minutes to go, Heuton made a big save off of a point-blank header by Enstrom. Five minutes later, Betenson got his head on a Sullivan cross at the other end of the pitch, but the freshman's shot went just over the crossbar.

Less than a minute after Betenson's shot, Heuton slipped as he ventured toward the right side of the six-yard box. UB's Steven Stryker seized possession of the ball and rolled a shot toward the open net. That shot, however, was wide left and rolled into the outside netting. The teams went to overtime.

In the first 10-minute OT period, the Bulls had a 4-1 advantage in shots, putting two of those tries on goal. Heuton came up with saves on Young and Abdulla Al-Kalisy, with the latter stop coming with mere seconds left in the period. BG's lone shot of the first overtime came from Betenson just under three minutes into the period, forcing Cassis into a save.

The second overtime saw four total shots fired, but all were off the mark. Auden and junior Ryan James had BG's shots in that period, with Auden's effort coming less than two minutes in, and the James shot going wide with 51 seconds to go. The Auden shot came after a steal by James, who poked the ball toward Auden in traffic in the box. Auden's off-balance turnaround effort went high. UB's shots in that period, by Cramarossa and Young, respectively, each were wide, and the teams each ended the night with one point.

"I've been very proud of this team all season," said Nichols. "There are a lot of things we've done well all season that we didn't really see tonight. There is a lot that we can take away from this game, and that we can learn from. It was like a mid-term test for us, and we will review this game, learn from it and look to get better as we prepare for Wednesday's match."

Betenson played 66 minutes, by far the highest total of his collegiate career, on Saturday night. He entered the UB match having played a total of 32 minutes on the season.

Shea made the first start of his BG career on Saturday, and played all 110 minutes. Shea, who sat out the 2012 season and played a total of five minutes last fall, had played 156 total minutes this year prior to the UB match.

The Falcons now hit the road for the next three matches, beginning with a Wednesday night (Oct. 22) contest at Ohio State. The road swing will see the Brown and Orange take on West Virginia (Oct. 25) and Detroit (Oct. 29) before returning home to begin the month of November with a pair of matches at Cochrane.