Falcons Fall, 1-0, at No. 5 Western Michigan

Sunday, November 5

Kalamazoo, MI

11:00 AM ET

Bowling Green State University

7-9-1, 1-3-1MAC

Western Michigan

15-2-1, 5-0-0MAC

Bowling Green

Western Michigan

Ball - Team - Aug 9 2017 practice - MJC photo

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

November 05, 2017 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

BGSU's season comes to an end Sunday morning

By: KALAMAZOO, Mich. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Brandon Bye's goal midway through the second half lifted host Western Michigan University to a 1-0 win over the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team Sunday morning (Nov. 5). The Mid-American Conference match was held at the WMU Soccer Complex.

With the win, the Broncos – ranked fifth in the country – clinched the outright MAC regular-season title, and Western will host the conference tournament next weekend. The Falcons see the 2017 season come to an end with an overall record of 7-9-1 and a MAC ledger of 1-3-1.

Head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons have seven seniors on the 2017 roster.

BGSU MEN'S SOCCER LINKS
BGSU-WMU MATCH STATISTICS: PDF
Final 2017 Statistics: PDF
All 2017 Box Scores: PDF
VIDEO: In the Nest: Mwembia
This Week's BGSU Notes as a PDF
2017 BGSU Men's Soccer Weekly Releases/Notes
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BGSU Men's Soccer Videos
2017 BGSU Men's Soccer: Schedule | Roster | Record Book
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* all sports - choose "men's soccer" in the drop-down link at the top right of the page

NOTE OF THE DAY

Sunday's setback was BGSU's fifth match against a team ranked in the top 25 in the country this season. All five matches came on the road, and all five contests resulted in one-goal losses for the Falcons. BG dropped 1-0 decisions to WMU, then-No. 6 Michigan State and No. 25 Ohio State, and the Falcons fell by 2-1 results to then-No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 19 Akron, with the latter match requiring overtime.

QUOTING COACH NICHOLS
"We gave everything we had today. We have zero regrets. I am hurting for our seniors because they have given so much to our program."

"Qualifying for the MAC tournament is extremely difficult and getting more so each year. Ultimately we shot ourselves in the foot too many times this season."

"I am sad for our seniors. They represented BG Men's Soccer in the most upstanding way, both on and off the field, and I couldn't be more proud of them."

FIRST-HALF HIGHLIGHTS

7' – The Broncos had what appeared to be a good chance in the box, but junior Peter Pugliese made a stellar play to deny WMU a shot.
22' – Junior Tate Robertson hit a free kick from the right side, and the ball found the head of classmate Moe Mustafa, but Mustafa's shot sailed over the crossbar.
23' – Sophomore Chris Brennan turned and fired a shot from the top of the 18-yard box, but the blast was deflected and went just wide of the near post.
30' – Robertson's cross was settled by Pugliese in the box, but the junior's shot was blocked by a Bronco defender.
34' – Freshman Chris Sullivan slotted a through ball to Pugliese, but the pass was just a little out of the junior's reach. Brennan drew a free kick on the play, but his free kick was blocked by the WMU wall.
40' – WMU's Anthony Bowie got a chance from the left side, but he dragged his shot just wide of the goal.

SECOND-HALF HIGHLIGHTS

48' – Pugliese ripped a shot from approximately 30 yards out, testing WMU goalkeeper Drew Shepherd with the first shot on goal of the match. But, Shepherd was able to stop the low shot and keep the match scoreless.
50' – BGSU won a corner, and WMU cleared the Robertson kick out of the area. But, the Falcons got three more services into the box before the hosts finally cleared the ball away for good.
53' – The Broncos made a foray into the BG end, and a cross found Pepe Martinez, but Martinez hit a shot that went wide right.
54' – Just over a minute later, Kosti Moni's strike from 25 yards out also sailed wide.
57' – WMU served a cross into the box that was headed off of the crossbar by Bowie. Moni's follow try was blocked, and the ball was collected by Martinez, who ripped a shot that was turned aside by sophomore Anthony Mwembia.
65' – The Broncos took the lead as Brandon Bye's low shot found the back of the net at the 64:20 mark.
66' – Pugliese found some space on the left side of the pitch, before being brought down and drawing a free kick near the edge of the box. But, that free kick was cleared.
68' – Sullivan's shot was saved by Shepherd with 67:06 gone.
70' – A Western free kick was headed just wide of the goal by Ben Thornton.
76' – BGSU earned a corner kick, but after several headers back and forth, the Falcons were whistled for an offside call.
79' – The Broncos' counterattack after a BG turnover resulted in a shot by Bowie, but Mwembia made a nice save to keep the Falcons' deficit at a single goal.
82' – A BG free kick found the head of junior Ebenezer Ackon, but Shepherd scooped up the chance.
86' – Sophomore Charlie Maciejewski's shot from the top of the box was sliced just wide of the post.

MAC STANDINGS
School (Overall) MAC Pts.
1. Western Mich. (15-2-1) 5-0-0 15
2. Akron (14-3-1) 4-1-0 12
3. SIUE (7-9-1) 2-3-0 6
4. West Virginia (9-5-4) 1-2-2 5
5. Bowling Green (7-9-1) 1-3-1 4
6. Northern Ill. (3-11-1) 0-4-1 1

STATISTICS

The Broncos were credited with a 10-5 advantage in total shot attempts, and Western had three shots on goal to the Falcons' two.
Both BGSU sophomore goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia and WMU's Drew Shepherd made two saves.
WMU's Anthony Bowie led all players with three shot attempts. No player on either team had more than one shot on goal.
Nine Falcons played all 90 minutes on Sunday. In addition to Mwembia, that group included seniors Brad Macomber and Alexis Souahy, juniors Ebenezer Ackon, Moe Mustafa, Peter Pugliese and Tate Robertson, sophomore Chris Brennan and freshman Zach Buescher.

FALCON NOTES

The BGSU-WMU match was originally scheduled to be held on Saturday (Nov. 4) at 1:00 p.m., but was postponed due to inclement weather.
Sunday's match was slated to start at 11:00 a.m., but actually wound up kicking off closer to 10:00 a.m.
The Falcons have seven seniors on the 2017 roster. That group includes Aaron Davis, Theo Jamilloux, Prayag Jina, Billy Larsen, Brad Macomber, Keaton Reynolds and Alexis Souahy.
Macomber and Souahy played all 90 minutes on Sunday, and each player was on the pitch for all 1561-plus minutes of the 2017 season.
Sophomore goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia, like Macomber and Souahy, also played every second of every 2017 match.
Macomber played in 72 career matches, tops among 2017 Falcons. He made 51 starts in his four years, including all 36 contests over the past two seasons, and played a total of 4,655 minutes as a Falcon.
Souahy started all 55 of BGSU's matches during his three years with the program. During that entire time, he was on the bench for a total of 29 seconds.
Sunday's match was the eighth consecutive BGSU-WMU meeting to be decided by one goal or less.

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.