NIU Spoils Falcons' MAC Opener in Overtime

Saturday, October 3

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

6-4-0, 0-1MAC

Northern Illinois

6-2-0, 1-0MAC

OT 2

Northern Illinois

Bowling Green

Moe Mustafa - Sept 29 v MSU - Amanda Cutcher photo

Freshman Moe Mustafa, shown here in Tuesday's MSU game, made his first collegiate start on Saturday night

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

October 03, 2015 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Giovanni Garcia scored seven minutes into overtime, lifting visiting Northern Illinois University to a 1-0 win over the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team Saturday night (Oct. 3). The match, the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams, was held at a rainy Cochrane Stadium.

With the win, the Huskies improve to 6-2-0 on the season. NIU has doubled the team's win total from a year ago. The Falcons drop to 6-4-0 overall.

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The winning play came after NIU gained possession at midfield. Albert Levett won the ball, took a dribble or two and played the ball to Garcia on his left. Garcia headed toward the north end of the Cochrane Stadium pitch and uncorked a dipping shot from roughly 25 yards out. The ball went just over the outstretched arms of BGSU goalkeeper Ryan Heuton, glanced off the underside of the crossbar and went into the net at the 96:39 mark.

The Huskies outshot the Falcons by a 16-12 count on Saturday night. But, after NIU had a 9-3 advantage in the first half, the Brown and Orange took nine shot attempts and had several other dangerous chances in the second period. Garcia's winner was the lone shot attempt of the overtime period.

The Falcons have lost three consecutive games for the first time in nearly four years, since BG dropped four consecutive contests to end the 2011 season.

Saturday night's game marked BGSU's first overtime contest of the season, after the Falcons had played seven OT games last season and a school-record nine such games the year before. Saturday's loss snapped a six-match unbeaten streak for BG in overtime matches. The Falcons had gone 5-0-1 in OT games since a 3-2 loss on the road vs. Duquesne last Sept. 7.

The Huskies, as mentioned, outshot the Falcons in the first half on Saturday. But, BGSU still created numerous chances before the break. With just under 11 minutes gone, junior Joe Sullivan played a curving free kick into the penalty area, but it was headed away by a Huskie defender just before it reached classmate Pat Flynn.

Four minutes later, Garcia uncorked a hard shot at the other end of the pitch. Heuton, who made a season-high six saves in the match, made the stop as he moved to his left, knocking the ball away for a corner kick which the BG defense then headed out of the box.

As the match neared its 22nd minute, the Huskies had a flurry off of another corner kick. But, Bertrand Gaschot's shot from the top of the box was blocked, and Luke Read's rebound try was smothered by Heuton on the left side of the six-yard box.

After an afternoon of off-and-on rain in Bowling Green, only a few drops of precipitation were falling when the match started. But, by the midway point of the first period, the rain had increased, and sheets of rain could be seen in front of the Cochrane Stadium lights.

Not long before the half-hour mark, NIU's Giovanni Pacheco hit a low shot from distance, forcing Heuton to make a difficult save on the wet field. He deflected the ball wide of the goal, and his teammates successfully dealt with the ensuing corner kick.

Just over 10 minutes remained in the half when a ball from Sullivan put Flynn down the right side of the pitch. Flynn headed toward the center of the field, working one on one against a defender. The junior created some space and got a shot off, but it was blocked by a defender. The ball wound up at the feet of redshirt junior Max Auden, but his shot from outside the 18 sailed well over the goal.

The Falcons put together several stretches of extended possession over the next few minutes, but could not create a shot on goal during that stretch. Then, with under five minutes left in the half, the Huskies looked to take the lead on a counterattack.

NIU's Kevin Rodriguez blocked a pass near midfield, and had nothing but open space ahead of him. He sailed downfield, eventually finding Nixon Urrutia with a pass. Urrutia headed into the box and looked for Cody Witkowski on the right side of the six-yard box. But, a BG player was able to knock the ball away from Witkowski and end the threat.

In the final minute of the period, a long free kick by junior Jacob Roth curved toward the goal as it sailed over a host of players from both teams. But, Roth's ball went just wide of the right post.

Early in the second period, NIU's Richard Hall played a dangerous diagonal ball toward the goal, but Heuton rose up over several players to punch the ball away. Several minutes later, Rodriguez made a long run down the left side of the field, but his shot was saved near the left post. Following the ensuing corner, a shot by Hall was blocked and another effort by Rodriguez was off target.

Eight minutes into the period, freshman Tate Robertson and senior Ryan James combined to work the ball down the left side of the field. Robertson played a cross into the box that went just past Sullivan and found Flynn in the box. The junior, surrounded by several defenders, got a shot off, but NIU 'keeper Andrew Glaeser grabbed the ball out of the air for his first save of the night. Glaeser wound up with four total stops in the match. That Flynn shot, in the 54th minute, was BG's first shot on goal of the match.

Three minutes later, BGSU was threatening again. After Flynn attempted to head the ball to Sullivan near the right post, it was knocked out of the box as a defender attempted a clearing ball. That ball, however, went to Robertson, who hit a curving shot toward the far post. But, Glaeser was able to move to his left and make the save.

With just over an hour gone, a long pass by senior Jake Martin nearly found Auden, who had split a pair of defenders near the top of the box. Glaeser, however, came off of his line in an attempt to break up the play. He kept Auden from being able to get a shot off, and Sullivan looked to poke the ball away from the scrum at the top of the 18, but could not uncork a shot, either.

With 26 minutes left in regulation, the Huskies committed a foul and Witkowski was shown a yellow card. Sullivan took the ensuing free kick, and his shot glanced off of the top of the crossbar and out of play for a goal kick.

Four minutes later work by Flynn, James and Sullivan resulted in a James pass finding Robertson on the left side. Robertson's curving ball caromed off of a defender before being saved by Glaeser at the far post. Then, another diagonal ball by Robertson from nearly the same spot on the field went just over the head of Flynn in the box.

With 16 minutes to go, a lengthy stretch of BG possession resulted in Robertson being fouled on the left side of the 18-yard box. A free kick by Sullivan, however, was blocked out of play.

One of BG's best chances of the night came with 10 minutes on the clock. after another Northern foul, a long free kick by Roth sailed over and through a bevy of players in the box, before Glaeser blocked it. The ball bounced tantalizingly toward the goal line, but the first player to reach it was a Huskie defender, who cleared it out of danger.

Under three minutes remained when redshirt freshman Bismark Agyeman played a long ball toward Flynn from the right side, but the assistant referee's flag was raised, indicating an offside call against the home side. That offside call was the final recorded statistic of regulation.

Glaeser, as mentioned, had four saves on the night. NIU had a 7-4 advantage in shots on goal in the game. The Huskies also had nine corner kicks to the Falcons' four, making the first time in 10 games this season that the Falcons did not have more corners than the opponent.

Falcon freshman Moe Mustafa made his first collegiate start in Saturday's match. Mustafa, who did not play in the Falcons' first eight matches of the season, made his debut on Tuesday (Sept. 29) vs. Michigan State, coming off the bench to play 32 minutes. On Saturday, he played all 96-plus minutes vs. the Huskies.

The Falcons now play eight of nine matches on the road to end the regular season. BGSU begins a four-game road swing with a Wednesday (Oct. 10) contest against Ohio State. That match begins at 7:00 p.m. at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.