Buckeyes Net Golden Goal with Just Three Seconds Left

Wednesday, October 7

Columbus, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

6-5-0

Ohio State

5-4-2

OT 3

OT 4

Bowling Green

Ohio State

Teams take the field - BGSU OSU - Jason Samuelsen photo

photo by Jason Samuelsen, BGSU men's soccer

October 07, 2015 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Auden scores for Falcons in 2-1 road loss

By: COLUMBUS, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Host Ohio State University scored with just three seconds left in the second overtime, posting a 2-1 win over the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team Wednesday night (Oct. 7).

With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 5-4-2 on the season, and OSU is unbeaten over the last six matches (4-0-2). The Falcons drop to 6-5-0 on the year.

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Austin Bergstrom and Christian Soldat scored for the Buckeyes, with Bergstrom giving the home team an early lead and Soldat netting the Golden Goal.

Redshirt junior Max Auden scored the Falcons' goal, late in the first half, with assists from sophomore Alexis Souahy and junior Jacob Roth.

"I'm really proud of that effort and that performance," said Falcon head coach Eric Nichols. "This one is certainly going to sting quite a bit. We didn't come here for a tie, but to be three seconds away from a tie, it's going to hurt. And, I thought we had chances to win the game.

"But, all in all, we are going to get stronger from this."

The winning play came after a foul on the Falcons on the right side of the field, approximately 25 yards out. Liam Doyle quickly took the ensuing free kick for the hosts, playing a ball into the box toward several onrushing Buckeyes. Soldat, at the six-yard line, got a body part on the ball and knocked it into the net. There were three seconds on the clock when the ball crossed the line, but the clock continued to run down to zero.

Doyle assisted on both Buckeye goals on the night. He took a corner kick in the game's ninth minute, finding Bergstrom at the far post.

BGSU's goal came in the 39th minute. Roth, on the right side of the pitch near midfield, played a long ball toward the left goalpost. Souahy, stationed near that post about five yards from the touch line, headed the ball across the face of goal. Auden was near the right post and nodded the ball home.

The match featured 38 fouls and 24 shot attempts, but just five shots on goal. The home team scored on the second shot attempt of the night, with Bergstrom scoring with 7:30 gone.

Bergstrom's goal came just over a minute after Kenny Cunningham took a through ball and sent a low shot toward the far post. The ball got past BGSU goalkeeper Ryan Heuton, and may have been heading wide of the far post, but Roth took no chances, knocking the ball away from goal with a hustling, sliding effort.

The Buckeyes had an 8-4 advantage in corner kicks on the night, including five in the first 16 minutes of the match. OSU had three-straight corners in the 16th minute of the match, from the right, left and right corners, respectively. The first two each were knocked out of play by BG defenders, before senior Ryan James cleared the third corner out of the Falcons' defensive end.

The Falcons looked to counter over the next few minutes. After a throw-in on the left side, junior Pat Flynn looked for classmate Joe Sullivan on the left side of the box, but Flynn's pass was knocked away. Then, moments later, BG won a corner kick, and that corner was sent out of the penalty area by an OSU defender. James came up with the ball, but his resulting shot was high.

In the 24th minute, Sullivan played a dangerous-looking diagonal ball into the box, but a Buckeye defender headed it away. Three minutes later, James worked some magic, deftly eluding several defenders as he brought the ball along the end line on the right side of the box. He slid a pass to Sullivan, but Sullivan's shot hit a teammate before OSU cleared the ball away.

With 11 minutes left in the period, another attempted clearance by the Buckeyes was blocked by Flynn, who quickly fired a shot from approximately 20 yards out. But, the ball went wide left. Then, after freshman Tate Robertson nutmegged a would-be defender and was hauled down, Sullivan took the ensuing free kick and played a ball into the box. That ball found the head of freshman Moe Mustafa, but his effort went just over the 'bar.

The Falcons continued applying pressure, and eventually broke through. Flynn made a long run from left to right across the top of the box, but his hard shot was blocked. James crossed the ball to Sullivan, who saw his shot blocked by OSU goalkeeper Chris Froschauer from point-blank range. But, at the 38:28 mark, BG got on the scoreboard on Auden's first goal of the season. The teams entered the halftime break deadlocked at a goal apiece.

The Buckeyes possessed the ball in BG's end for most of the first 15 minutes of the second half, but the Falcons had arguably the best scoring chance during that time. Six minutes into the period, Flynn sent a ball ahead to James, who was racing toward goal with an OSU defender on either side of him. As the trio neared the 18-yard line, one of the Buckeyes attempted to knock the ball away, but his effort went toward his own goal, and the ball hit the crossbar before the home team could clear it.

James came up with a steal in OSU's end of the pitch in the 62nd minute, and slid a pass ahead to Flynn. But, as Flynn attempted to play the ball to Sullivan on his left, the assistant referee's flag was raised, indicating offside against the Falcons.

Three minutes later, after a BGSU foul just outside the Falcons' own 18-yard box, Doyle's free kick hit the right goalpost before bouncing away.

As the match passed the 70-minute mark, Auden attempted to play a ball over the top to James. But, his pass was just out of the reach of James, and Froschauer was able to grab it.

A Roth diagonal ball went on frame in the 75th minute, after a quick throw-in by redshirt freshman Bismark Agyeman. Then, with under 10 minutes to play in the second half, another diagonal ball from Roth got through the Buckeyes' back line, finding Robertson on the left side of the box. He slid his shot just wide of the far post, and the ball was also just out of reach of the diving effort of Sullivan near that post.

Only a minute remained in regulation when Agyeman stole the ball just over midfield. He quickly found James, who played a ball to Flynn on his right. Flynn entered the box and hit a shot, but it was just wide of the near post. After a foul on the Falcons, a long free kick by the home team went over the end line near the corner flag, and the resulting goal kick by Heuton was the last play of the second half.

The first 10-minute overtime saw the teams combine for seven fouls and just one official shot. Six-and-a-half minutes into the period, after a foul by the Bucks near midfield, a laser by Roth was blocked, and the ball was cleared. One minute later, freshman Ryan Ross split a pair of defenders on the left side of the field, near the penalty area, and Ross went down as he tried to get past those Buckeye backliners. Play continued, however, as the hosts cleared the ball away.

The lone shot of the period came after a Yaw Amankwa corner kick for the hosts. Kyle Culbertson got his head on it, but the shot went over the bar. In the last minute of the period, Robertson nearly had a shot for the Falcons, but as he tried to bloop the ball past a defender, it was knocked away.

The first OT period ended just after an Ohio State throw-in sailed into the box. The ball went toward Heuton, who was fouled as he attempted to grab it. The final seconds ticked away, and the teams headed to a second overtime.

Early in that period, the Falcons saw James and Ross look to work a combination play, but the ball went over the end line for an OSU goal kick. BG won the ball back, and after a Buckeye foul, a free kick by Roth bounced through the box and out of play.

The home team looked to counter, and Jacob Duska took a pass near the top of the box. But, Duska slipped and fell as he tried to take his shot, and the ball caromed off a BG defender and out of play for a corner kick. That corner was headed away by a Falcon defender.

With two minutes left, a long ball from Roth found Flynn approximately 25 yards away from goal. Flynn's one-touch pass hit the hand of a Buckeye defender, giving the Falcons a free kick, but that shot sailed high. The Buckeyes netted the winner, as mentioned, with just three seconds remaining.

The Falcons continue a four-match road swing Saturday (Oct. 10), as BGSU will take on IUPUI in a 12:00 p.m. start.