Falcons, WVU Battle to Scoreless Draw

Saturday, October 14

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

6-6-1, 0-1-1MAC

West Virginia

7-3-4, 0-0-2MAC

OT 3

OT 4

West Virginia

Bowling Green

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

October 14, 2017 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

BGSU blanks Mountaineers for third consecutive meeting

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team battled visiting West Virginia University to a scoreless draw on Saturday night (Oct. 14). The Mid-American Conference match was held at Cochrane Stadium.

The double-overtime result gives the Falcons records of 6-6-1 overall and 0-1-1 in MAC play. The Mountaineers are now 7-3-4 and 0-0-2, respectively.

LINKS
FINAL STATISTICS: PDF
VIDEO: In the Nest: Mwembia
This Week's BGSU Notes as a PDF
2017 BGSU Men's Soccer Weekly Releases/Notes
BGSU Photo Galleries *
BGSU Men's Soccer Videos
MAC Office Announces Preseason Poll
2017 BGSU Men's Soccer: Schedule | Roster | Record Book
Join the Falcon Club Today!
* all sports - choose "men's soccer" in the drop-down link at the top right of the page

NOTE OF THE NIGHT

The Falcons are unbeaten in the last four meetings with West Virginia, and BGSU has kept clean sheets in each of the last three matchups vs. the Mountaineers. BGSU picked up a 1-0 win over No. 22 WVU in Morgantown in last year's MAC opener, and the Brown and Orange captured a 2-0 victory in the teams' regular-season meeting at Cochrane two seasons ago. The Falcons lead the overall series with WVU by a 6-2-3 count.

POST-MATCH INTERVIEW WITH COACH NICHOLS

STATISTICS

The Mountaineers outshot the Falcons, 10-6, but BGSU had a 3-2 advantage in shots on goal.
The teams combined for just three total shots in the first half. A total of 10 of the game's 16 shots came in the second period.
Each team had three corner kicks, and the Falcons were whistled for 18 fouls to the visitors' 10.
Sophomore Anthony Mwembia made two saves for the Falcons, while WVU's Steven Tekesky had three stops at the other end of the pitch.

FIRST-HALF HIGHLIGHTS

3' – The first shot of the match came from junior Ebenezer Ackon. Ackon, making his BGSU debut on Saturday night, headed a cross wide of the mark.
8' – Junior Tate Robertson played a through ball to freshman Chris Sullivan. Sullivan got into the 18-yard box and fired a shot from the right side, but it was hit directly at Tekesky.
22' – After a foul on the Falcons, the Mountaineers were awarded a free kick approximately 30 yards away from goal. But, Pascal Derwaritsch's free kick was blocked by freshman Zach Buescher. It wound be WVU's lone shot attempt of the opening period.
32' – Robertson's pass sent sophomore Chris Brennan down the left side of the pitch and into the box. But, as Brennan looked to cut the ball back, it was deflected by a WVU defender and hit Brennan in the hand, giving the visitors a free kick.

SECOND-HALF HIGHLIGHTS

51' – Robertson's flick-on put Brennan down the left side. The soph cut the ball back and took it from left to right across the top of the box, but he was knocked off the ball and the Mountaineers cleared it out of danger.
60' – BGSU was able to string together approximately six passes on the left side of the pitch, but as he looked to enter the 18-yard box, sophomore Charlie Maciejewski was dispossessed bya defender.
63' – Buescher fired a low shot from distance, but the ball went right to Tekesky.
65' – Jorge Quintanilla had what was arguably WVU's best chance of the match. The ball fell to him in the middle of the box, but he put his shot wide right.
68 – Brennan's serve from the right side was met by Moe Mustafa in the box, but the junior's header was saved by Tekesky.
70' – BG worked the ball into the WVU end of the pitch, stringing together several passes to get into the 18-yard box. But, junior Dominic Grida's low pass was just a little behind Brennan, and the Mountaineers were able to get to the ball and clear it out of danger.
74' – Again, BGSU worked the ball downfield. This time, however, Sullivan's cross from the left side was grabbed by the WVU keeper.
78' – One of BGSU's best chances of the match came after a Robertson free kick from the right side. He played a ball into the box, and Brennan pushed it along. Mustafa met the ball near the far post with a sliding effort, but put his shot over the crossbar.
79' – WVU's Rushawn Larmond saw his shot saved by Mwembia, and the Mountaineers got the ball back almost immediately. This time, Jad Arslan put a shot wide of the frame.
86' – After a long throw-in by Brennan was headed along by senior Alexis Souahy, Grida hit a shto that went just over the bar.
90' – With only 30 second left in regulation, Derwaritsch hit a turnaround shot that forced Mwembia into a diving save.

FIRST OVERTIME

93' – The only shot of the first overtime period came from WVU's Ryan Kellogg, and it was wide right.
98' – Robertson and the Falcons had two corner kicks in the final three minutes of the period, but the visitors were able to clear each kick out of danger.

SECOND OVERTIME

103' – Ethan Shim hit a hard turnaround shot from approximately 25 yards out, but the ball sailed high.
110' –The only other shot of the period came as the final seconds ticked away. Larmond hit a shot from distance, but it was always curving right of the target.

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE

The Falcons are now 4-1-1 at Cochrane Stadium, with five shutouts in the six home matches this fall to date. BGSU has outscored opponents, 8-3, at Cochrane in the fall of 2017.
BGSU is now 9-1-5 at home since the start of the 2016 season, and the Falcons have outscored the foes, 26-8, in those 15 matches.
Since the start of the 2014 season, BGSU has a record of 21-5-6 at Cochrane. The Falcons went 5-0-4 at home last year, 6-2-0 in 2015 and 6-2-1 in '14. Four of the five home losses in that time have come by identical 1-0 scores.
The Falcons have outscored the opponents, 70-21, at Cochrane, dating to the final home game of the 2013 season. BG has scored at least two goals in 21 of the 33 matches in that time, with three or more goals in 10 of those games.

FALCON TEAM NOTES

BGSU now leads West Virginia, 6-2-3, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons are 3-0-1 in the last four meetings with the Mountaineers.
A total of 14 players saw action for the Falcons in Saturday night's match.
In the last two years (since mid-October of 2015), WVU is 2-8-2 vs. MAC competition. During that time, the Mountaineers have been shut out by conference foes on five occasions. Three of those shutouts have come at the hands of the Falcons.
Overall, BGSU has been blanked in back-to-back matches for the first time since late September-early October of 2015.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES AND NUMBERS

Sophomore Anthony Mwembia posted his seventh shutout of the season, lowering his goals-against average to 0.90 and raising his saves percentage to 78.9%. In his career, Mwembia now has 15 shutouts in 31 career starts with the Falcons. He has a career GAA of 0.80 and a career saves pct. of 81.4%.
Junior Ebenezer Ackon saw the first action of his BGSU career after being cleared to play by the NCAA. Ackon, a native of Cape Coast, Ghana, was in the starting lineup and played 83 minutes vs. the Mountaineers.
Five Falcons played all 110 minutes of Saturday night's match. That quintet included Mwembia, seniors Brad Macomber and Alexis Souahy and juniors Moe Mustafa and Tate Robertson.

EXTRA TIME (A FEW BGSU OVERTIME-RELATED NOTES)

Saturday night marked the Falcons' second overtime match this season, and BG's second in as many home matches. The Brown and Orange picked up a 1-0, double-OT win over Duquesne in the final match of September (Sept. 27).
BGSU played a total of seven OT contests last year, with five in the last seven games of the season.
The Falcons are 1-0-1 in overtime matches in 2017, after going 1-2-4 in such games a year ago and 0-2-1 in 2015.
BGSU is now 13-8-25 in overtime matches in the Eric Nichols Era, and the Falcons are 6-3-13 in home OT contests in that time.

UP NEXT

The Falcons hit the road to face Akron next Saturday evening, Oct. 21, in BG's third MAC matchup in as many Saturdays.
Then, the Brown and Orange will close the home portion of the schedule with matches vs. Fort Wayne (Oct. 24) and Northern Illinois (Oct. 28) at Cochrane. All of BGSU's October matches are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. local time.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS

For more information on the men's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Facebook (BGSU Men's Soccer), Twitter (@BGAthletics and @BGSUmenssoccer), Instagram (bgsumenssoccer) and Snapchat (BGSU Men's Soccer) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.