Third (Consecutive Over)time's the Charm as BG downs WSU, 2-1

Tuesday, November 4

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

12-5-1

Wright State

10-6-2

OT 2

Wright State

Bowling Green

Jacob Roth scored both BGSU goals on PKs as the Falcons downed Wright State

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

November 04, 2014 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Roth converts two PKs, the second in OT, as the Falcons keep the I-75 Cup

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Sophomore Jacob Roth banged home his second penalty kick of the match in the 100th minute, lifting the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team to a 2-1 win over Wright State University Tuesday night (Nov. 4). The non-conference match was held at Cochrane Field on the BGSU campus.

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POST-MATCH VIDEO: Roth | Landsberger | Nichols

With the win, the Falcons improve to 12-5-1 on the season. BGSU has doubled last year's win total. The Raiders drop to 10-6-2 on the year.

The victory enabled the Falcons to keep possession of the I-75 Cup, the trophy that goes to the winner of the BGSU-WSU match. The Falcons are now 4-1-0 against the Raiders since the schools' head coaches, BG's Eric Nichols and WSU's Bryan Davis, came up with the idea for the cup prior to the 2010 season.

BGSU has won three consecutive matches, all of which have required overtime. On Tuesday night, Roth's winning goal came at the 99:01 mark.

The win was also BG's third-straight OT victory in the Wright State series.

"I like the way this team has responded," said Nichols. "We set a goal a few games ago, after we had some tough results. We talked about the last four games and what we wanted to do. They've responded really well. It hasn't always been the best soccer, and we've had some crazy results, but we've dealt with things and come out on top in these last three games."

With five starters sitting out of Tuesday's match for various reasons, the Falcons got key contributions from several new faces. BG's starting XI included eight freshmen or sophomores, with a pair of true frosh coming off the bench to give BG a spark as well.

Prayag Jina and Keaton Reynolds were those two first-year Falcons off the bench, and they figured significantly in the buildup to both BGSU goals.

Roth's first penalty came with 1:47 left in the opening half, and came after Jina slid a pass through the WSU defense to Reynolds. Reynolds was pulled down in the box, and a PK was awarded.

The Raiders tied the score at the 62:16 mark, when Jake Stovall scored off a deflection after a corner kick. But, in overtime, Roth played a diagonal ball to Jina, who laid it off for Reynolds, who was charging through the box. This time, Reynolds was decked by a WSU defender, and the Falcons' second PK of the night was given. Roth once again sent that PK past Raider goalkeeper Tyler Blackmer, and the Falcons had the win.

Jina had played in six matches off the bench prior to Tuesday night, with a total of 111 minutes in those six appearances. Against the Raiders, he played a career-high 49 minutes.

Reynolds had not seen match action since playing 30 minutes in the Findlay match back on Sept. 2, his only previous collegiate appearance. The Noblesville, Ind., native played 23 minutes on Tuesday.

The visitors had a 25-14 advantage in shots, and WSU had a slim 8-7 lead in shots on goal. Redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger made a career-high seven saves en route to his eighth win of the season. Blackmer had five stops at the other end of the field.

The Raiders fired the first three shot attempts of the night, including two off the boot of Eric Lynch. The sophomore took a whopping 10 shots vs. the Falcons, and had the assist on his team's lone goal. But, freshman Brad Macomber took the game's next two shots. First, he took a pass from redshirt sophomore Max Auden, cut the ball back and shot toward the far corner, but Blackmer made a diving stop in the 12th minute of the match.

Then, after Auden was fouled deep in the WSU end of the field, Roth's free kick was blocked, and the deflection came to Macomber, who fired a low shot through traffic. But, Blackmer saw the ball all the way, and made the save.

Three Naperville, Ill., natives were involved in BG's next chance, as sophomore Pat Flynn and redshirt soph Danny Shea combined to work the ball downfield in the 18th minute of play, and Flynn slid a pass to Auden. But, Auden's hard shot sailed just high from approximately 20 yards out.

Midway through the period, Flynn pounced on an errant Raider pass in the WSU end of the field, but his shot went over the bar as well. Less than a minute later, BG won the ball back, and a right-side cross from Flynn just missed connecting with Macomber in the penalty area.

With 12 minutes left in the half, Macomber and junior Ryan James worked a give-and-go, and Macomber played Flynn through the Raider defense, but the Falcons were called offside.

Eight minutes remained in the period when a foul gave the Falcons a free kick in the center of the field. Roth blasted a shot from distance, forcing Blackmer to leap to his right to tip the ball away from the upper-left-hand corner of the net. Soon after, Landsberger corralled a shot by AJ Paterson, expertly playing the ball after a short-hop on the wet grass.

The night's first goal came after the Falcons surged forward toward the WSU end. James found Jina with a pass, and Jina put Reynolds behind the WSU back line. When Reynolds was pulled down from behind, Roth buried the ensuing PK with 1:47 left before halftime. Landsberger made a save on Lynch with just over a minute left in the period, and the Brown and Orange took that 1-0 lead into the intermission.

Nine minutes into the second period, James picked up a loose ball after a Falcon free kick was blocked. He sliced between two defenders and headed into the penalty box on the left side, but Blackmer was able to make the save as James shot from a tough angle.

In the 63rd minute, though, the Raiders found the tying goal. A Lynch corner kick was deflected to Stovall, and the sophomore tapped it home for his sixth goal of the fall. Lynch drew the lone assist on the play, and the teams were all even at 1-1.

With just over 15 minutes to go in the half, Reynolds took a pass from Shea and was promptly fouled just outside the box on the right side. But, the Raiders were able to deal with the resulting free kick.

Two minutes later, the Raiders had a good chance to take the lead. A crossing ball took a deflection in the box, and Landsberger attempted to grab it with a diving effort on the right side of the six-yard area. A Raider player kept the ball away from the BG 'keeper, however, and crossed the ball toward Lynch. With an open goal in front of him, though, Lynch saw his header go wide right from approximately 10 yards away.

With only 12 seconds left in the second half, the Falcons were called for a foul, and the clock was stopped. Lynch's free kick, however, was blocked by the BG wall, and the match headed to overtime.

BG dominated the early portion of the OT period. The Falcons controlled the kickoff, and held the ball for the first 30 seconds. That sequence of passes included James, Shea, Auden, Flynn and Macomber, but as Macomber slid a pass forward in the direction of Jina, the home team was ruled offside.

A minute later, however, BGSU put together another lengthy display of possession. This time, Macomber, Auden, freshman Ian Haskin, Jina and Shea were all involved. Shea's low right-side cross was blocked out of play for a throw-in, and off of that throw, Flynn's cross was also blocked out of play. After another throw, a shot by Roth sailed high. Finally, after nearly three minutes of the OT period, the Raiders were able to clear the ball out of their own end.

With four minutes gone, however, Flynn took a pass from Shea and fired a diagonal ball into the box. Auden, who headed home two goals in BG's last game, made a diving effort, but the ball was just beyond his reach.

Against the run of play, WSU's Brett Elder got his head on a left-side cross from a teammate. For a split-second, it looked like Elder's shot might catch Landsberger leaning the wrong way, but the Falcon 'keeper recovered in time to make the save near the left goalpost.

The BG back line, led by junior Jake Genrich and senior Jon Kumher, blocked shots by WSU's Bryce Rockwell-Ashton and Lynch over the next few minutes, and after the Lynch shot, the home team headed the other way. James and Shea were involved in the buildup, with Shea playing a ball to Roth on the right side, in front of the BGSU bench. Roth's diagonal ball found Jina, who slid it forward to Reynolds, leading to the foul in the box and the game-winning PK by Roth.

Roth led the Falcons with four total shots, putting three on goal. Both Macomber and Flynn had three shot attempts on the night. At the other end, Lynch put three of his 10 total shots on target, but Landsberger saved all three.

The Falcons now prepare for the final match of the regular season. BGSU heads to DeKalb, Ill., this weekend for a Saturday (Nov. 8) match vs. Northern Illinois University. The Falcons need a win or a tie against the Huskies to have a chance to qualify for next weekend's Mid-American Conference Tournament.

"Saturday is definitely a do-or-die game," said Nichols. "I think our team likes that; I think they like the idea of that. We know it will be a real battle, but we're looking forward to it. It's basically a MAC Tournament game; win and hopefully move on, lose and we're done. Like I said, our guys have responded really well these last few games, and we are looking forward to heading to NIU this weekend."

FALCON NOTES
* The Falcons have doubled last year's win total. The 2013 club went 6-7-6 overall.

* As mentioned, BGSU has won three consecutive matches, with all three requiring overtime. All three 'Golden Goals' came with 1:18 or less remaining in the period. Tuesday night, Jacob Roth's penalty kick came with 59 seconds left in the first OT. On Saturday (Nov. 1), redshirt soph Max Auden headed home a ball from Roth with just 14 seconds remaining in the first OT for a win over Western Michigan. Less than a week ago (Oct. 29), soph Pat Flynn scored with 1:18 to go in the second overtime as BG won, 1-0, at Detroit.

* BGSU has also won three-straight OT matches in the Wright State series. Two years ago, Ryan James scored as the Falcons topped the Raiders, 3-2, at Cochrane Field. Last season, the Brown and Orange benefitted from an own goal in the second overtime for a 1-0 victory in Dayton.

* BG's starting lineup included just one senior and two juniors. Three redshirt sophomores, two true sophs and three freshmen comprised the remainder of the starting XI vs. the Raiders.

* Roth now has 14 points on the season, ranking second on the team in that category. He has three goals this fall, with two coming in overtime against Horizon League schools. Roth's first collegiate goal came just under a month ago (Oct. 7) on a free kick at Cleveland State. That goal came at 99:15, while his goal vs. WSU came at the 99:01 mark.

* BGSU finished the home portion of the schedule with a 6-2-1 mark. The six wins at Cochrane Field are the program's most in a season since the 1996 Falcons went 9-0-1 at home.

* The Falcons have won two matches in the month of November for the first time since the 2003 season. That '03 club went 2-1-1 in November, with the lone loss of the month coming in the championship match of the MAC Tournament.