Hot in Cleveland: Unbeaten Falcons Earn a Last-Second Win

Wednesday, September 7

Cleveland, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

4-0-0

Cleveland State

2-2-0

OT 3

OT 4

Bowling Green

Cleveland State

Chris Brennan vs Appalachian State - Aug 28 2016

Chris Brennan's Golden Goal lifted the Falcons past CSU Wednesday night (photo by Larry Clapper)

Photo by: Larry Clapper

September 07, 2016 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Brennan's Golden Goal vanquishes Vikings, 1-0

By: CLEVELAND, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Freshman Chris Brennan's goal with just four seconds left in the second overtime lifted the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team to a 1-0 win over host Cleveland State University Wednesday night (Sept. 7). The non-conference match was held at CSU's Krenzler Field.

LINKS
FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
VIDEO: BGSU-CSU REPLAY ON ESPN3

The victory improves the Falcons' record to 4-0-0 on the young season, while the Vikings drop to 2-2-0 on the year. CSU's other loss was also a 1-0 defeat, on the road against nationally-ranked Wake Forest.

Senior tri-captain Jacob Roth, a Cleveland native, drew the lone assist on Wednesday night's winning goal. After Brennan was fouled with just seven seconds left in the period, the clock was stopped as a yellow card was assessed to a CSU player. Roth played a long free kick into the penalty area, toward a maze of players. Brennan ran onto the ball and headed it past Viking goalkeeper Sebastian Kalk,

"Whenever Roth's taking a free kick, you know there's going to be good service," said Brennan. "Usually, I don't get a chance to get in on those free kicks; I'm usually framing outside the box.

"Peter (Pugliese) had gotten in there, and I saw my chance, like 'Peter, let me get in there. Let me win a header.' And, the service, like usual, was perfect, and I took my chance."

Brennan's goal sparked a wild celebration near the BGSU bench.

"Chris won us that free kick, kind of out of nothing," said BGSU head coach Eric Nichols. "He won his tussle and was going by the defender before he was fouled. I think we had a lot of options on that free kick, and when you have Roth, who can pretty much put it on a dime, that's a dangerous spot. Chris is hungry in front of goal, and that was a tricky little finish. He's a goal-getter, and he got us that one."

Freshman Anthony Mwembia made eight saves, the highest total of his young career, as he and the BGSU defense earned a shutout for the third time in this season's four matches.

The Falcons held advantages of 23-15 in total shot attempts and 11-8 in shots on goal. Kalk made 10 saves in goal for the Vikings.

Brennan's goal was his team-leading third of the season. He is second on the team in points, with six. Roth's assist was his BG-best fourth of the year.

On a warm, humid night in downtown Cleveland, the Falcons had several early chances to put a shot past Kalk. In the 12th minute, sophomore Peter Pugliese came up with a steal and fired a ball on frame, but the CSU 'keeper grabbed the ball out of the air.

Two minutes later, redshirt sophomore Bismark Agyeman played a long ball forward. Kalk reached it first and, standing just outside the penalty area, tried to clear it away. But, senior Pat Flynn poked the ball away, and it was all the Viking goalie could do to knock the ball away from Flynn and out of bounds for a BG corner kick.

That corner, taken by senior Joe Sullivan, found the foot of sophomore Moe Mustafa near the far post. Mustafa put his shot on net, but Kalk was able to make the save with a diving effort.

Midway through the period, sophomore Tate Robertson's pass put Pugliese through on the left side. Pugliese's close-range shot was blocked by Kalk at the near post.

Just over a minute later, a CSU diagonal ball found the head of Lawrence Karpeh in the box. Karpeh flicked the ball onto goal, but Mwembia made a spectacular save, leaping to deflect the ball off of the crossbar.

The Falcons had several more chances before the halftime horn sounded. Junior Alexis Souahy headed a Roth free kick just wide of the upper-right-hand corner of the net. Then, after Brennan, Flynn and Souahy combined to move the ball into the 18-yard box, Sullivan slid a pass to Flynn on his right, but Flynn's shot was stopped with a diving effort, as Kalk turned it wide of the near post.

The ensuing corner kick wound up at the feet of Roth, who played a ball into the six-yard box. Souahy headed it home in the 34th minute, but an offside call negated the goal.

In the 40th minute, a long ball by Sullivan fell into the path of freshman Robert Miller III. Miller let the ball bounce once on the artificial turf, then hit a hard shot toward goal, but his effort sailed high.

With under three minutes left in the period, Miller nearly stole the ball from Kalk, as Flynn had done earlier in the period. But, the CSU 'keeper was able to kick the ball off of Miller's leg, and it rolled over the end line for a goal kick.

Several steals by the Falcons led to solid chances, but no shots on goal, in the early stages of the second half. Junior Brad Macomber picked a Viking player's pocket near midfield, but Robertson's cross was broken up just before Macomber could reach it in the box. Then, Sullivan stole the ball, but a CSU defender just was able to get a toe on the BG senior's pass near the box.

The home team had several chances, as Hesham Hammouda hit a one-timer and Gabriel Pewu fired a turnaround shot. But, Hammouda's shot rolled directly to Mwembia, and Pewu's effort was wide left.

In the 64th minute, Brennan stole the ball and played a pass ahead to Miller on the left side. Miller's hard, low shot forced Kalk to make a diving stop. The ball rolled across the six-yard line, but a CSU defender got to it first and cleared it out of danger.

In the 73rd minute, off of a long throw-in, Roth rang a turnaround shot off of the crossbar. Then, just over a minute later, his free kick from midfield forced Kalk to make a leaping save.

With approximately 10 minutes to go, a Viking shot glanced off of the left goalpost, then hit Mwembia and rolled out of bounds, but CSU was unable to take advantage of the ensuing corner kick.

Junior Keaton Reynolds had a pair of shots on target with under eight minutes to go. First, he made a run down the left side and cut the ball back, but his roller was saved. Then, with less than six minutes remaining in the half, he took a through ball from Agyeman on the other side of the pitch. But, Reynolds's shot was stopped at the near post.

In the final seconds of regulation, a long ball by Roth found Flynn in the box. Flynn, on the dead run, chested the ball down, but it bounced to Kalk, and time ran out.

Midway through the first overtime period, Brennan won a corner kick after a long serve by Agyeman, but the Vikings successfully dealt with that corner. A minute later, though, another long ball by Agyeman found the head of Mustafa, but his shot went just wide.

The hosts had two shots in the final four minutes of the first OT period, but one sailed well over the bar and the other was hit directly at Mwembia.

In the second overtime, Mwembia made an easy save in the first minute, and one minute later, Pugliese blasted a shot that went over the bar at the other end. Midway through the period, a CSU entry ball was deflected by a Falcon defender, but it went to Hammouda. His dipping volley, however, was corralled by Mwembia.

Under two minutes remained when a shot by Sullivan was blocked just outside the box in the center of the field. Less than one minute was left when a Sullivan corner kick was caught out of the air by Kalk.

As the seconds ticked away, however, Brennan poked the ball past the last CSU defender approximately 45 yards away from goal, and the Falcon freshman was fouled in the process. The clock was stopped with seven seconds left as the Viking backliner was given a yellow card. And, the resulting free kick by Roth led to the first Golden Goal of Brennan's collegiate career.

"It's a great feeling, not only to find a win on the road, but also to get a shutout," said Brennan. "It just seemed like, coming into overtime, our will to win was on display. We wanted it, and we were ready to win the game, and that's what happened."

The Falcons have won three consecutive matches vs. Cleveland State, all by shutout, and BGSU is undefeated in the last seven trips to Cleveland. BG is 6-0-1 on the road against CSU since the Vikings' last home win, in November of 1990.

BGSU's last trip to Krenzler Field also resulted in a 1-0 overtime win. And, the winning play in that Falcon victory also came via a Roth free kick. Two years ago (Oct. 7, 2014), the then-sophomore scored a Golden Goal on a free kick in the 100th minute.

"It's an unbelievable feeling to get a win here," said Roth, a product of St. Ignatius High School. "I had a lot of family and friends here, so it was great to play in front of them, and even better to help my team come away with a W."

"I feel for Cleveland State," said Nichols. "We've been on the other side of games like this, and those are tough, tough losses. With that said, I do think we deserved to win. They had a lot of possession, but we created the chances. We weren't nearly as sharp in our transition to attack as we generally are. But, this is a great team win; a gutsy win on the road against a very good team, and I think that speaks to our resolve. There are a few cracks that we saw today, though; cracks that we need to fix if we want to be champions."

The Falcons return to the road for a Saturday (Sept. 10) match against Western Illinois University. That contest is set for 1:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. Eastern). Then, the Brown and Orange will return home to face Wright State University on Tuesday night (Sept. 13), in the teams' annual battle for the I-75 Cup. That match will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium.