Falcons Push No. 1 Notre Dame to the Brink

Tuesday, September 19

South Bend, IN

7:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

5-3-0

Notre Dame

6-0-0

Bowling Green

Notre Dame

Freshman Chris Sullivan battles Felicien Dumas for possession (photo by Mike Miller)

September 19, 2017 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Late goal gives the Fighting Irish a 2-1 win Tuesday night

By: NOTRE DAME, Ind. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team gave the number-one team in the country everything it could handle on Tuesday night (Sept. 19), but the host University of Notre Dame got a late goal to edge the Falcons, 2-1. The non-conference matchup was held at Alumni Stadium.

Sophomore Chris Brennan scored early in the second half to offset Jon Gallagher's first-period goal for the Irish. Brennan's goal came off of a flick-on by senior Keaton Reynolds, the Falcons' lone Indiana native, in the 51st minute. But, Thomas Ueland scored off of a give-and-go play with 13:23 remaining in the match to keep the Fighting Irish (6-0-0) unbeaten.

Sophomore Anthony Mwembia was credited with four saves for the Falcons (5-3-0), and also had the first assist of his collegiate career.

LINKS
WATCH THE REPLAY: ACC Network Extra / WatchESPN
FINAL STATS: PDF
This Week's BGSU Notes as a PDF
2017 BGSU Men's Soccer Weekly Releases/Notes
MAC Office Announces Preseason Poll
2017 BGSU Men's Soccer: Schedule | Roster | Record Book
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FIRST-HALF HIGHLIGHTS

7' – The first shot of the match was taken by Peter Pugliese, as a series of quick passes from Chris Sullivan to Brennan to Reynolds to Tate Robertson moved the ball from the right side of the pitch to the left. Pugliese took Robertson's pass, cut the ball back to his right and fired a shot, but it was blocked at the top of the 18-yard box.
12' – Brennan played a long ball ahead to Reynolds, who won a corner for the Falcons. BG had back-to-back corners, and off of Robertson's second CK, Reynolds outleaped his defender and got his head on the ball, but the shot was off line.
16' – The Fighting Irish had back-to-back corner kicks of their own, but Mwembia tipped both of them away, and was fouled as he knocked the second corner out of the box.
21' – The Irish got on the board, as Jon Gallagher scored off of a short right-side cross by Jack Casey.
21' – Dominic Grida played the ball back to Brennan, who fired a curving shot around a pair of defenders, but UND 'keeper Chris Hubbard was there to make the save.
25' – After some nifty defending by Alexis Souahy and the Falcons, BG looked to go on a counterattack. Brennan and Robert Miller III headed forward, but a pass from Brennan was just a little too far for Miller to reach in the box.
29' – Moe Mustafa checked into the match, marking his first action after missing three-straight contests due to injury.
31' – Jeff Farina had two chances in as many minutes for the Irish. After heading a corner hick over the crossbar, he fired a low crossing ball wide of the left post as Mwembia challenged.
34' – Gallagher poked the ball past a charging Mwembia from approximately 35 yards out as the BG 'keeper came out to thwart a breakaway, but Gallagher's shot trickled just wide of the right post.
38' – Off of a corner kick, Farina's far-post header went to Mwembia, who made the save.
39' – Robertson's left-side diagonal ball sailed into the box, as Brennan attempted to hold off a defender. But, the Falcons were unable to get a shot off.
42' – Notre Dame's Kyle Dedrick ripped a shot from outside the box, and the effort rang off the right post. Then, Brennan made a long run through five players, but the fifth Irish player knocked the ball off of the sophomore's foot just before he entered the box.

SECOND-HALF HIGHLIGHTS

47' – Brennan played a ball ahead to Robertson on the left side of the pitch. Robertson moved forward, then attempted to hit a return ball to Brennan in the box. But, it was just out of Brennan's reach, and Hubbard caught the ball on one bounce.
49' – Off of a Notre Dame corner kick, the ball bounced around in the box. Mwembia tipped away the original kick, but Blake Townes controlled the ball and played a cross back toward the other side of the box. BG defended well, however, and the Irish were unable to get a shot off as the ball went out of bounds for a Falcon goal kick.
51' – The Falcons got the equalizer off the foot of Brennan with 39:18 left in the second half. Off of a long goal kick by Mwembia, Reynolds got his head on the ball, flicking it past the Irish defense to the onrushing Brennan. The sophomore, on the run, made no mistake, firing the ball past Hubbard and into the right side of the net.
57' – The Irish applied the pressure after a BG foul deep in the Falcons' own end, but a Gallagher shot was blocked and the Falcons cleared the ball momentarily.
61' – On a counter, Brad Macomber played a ball ahead to Miller, who laid it off to Brennan. Brennan's shot from distance, however, sailed wide of the target.
64' – Mwembia came off his line to grab an entry ball by Casey before the leaping Ueland could get there.
67' –Pugliese stole a Notre Dame pass in his own penalty area and made a long run before being fouled at midfield. Off of the ensuing free kick, however, a diagonal ball was grabbed by Hubbard.
69' – Mwembia made a nice diving save to grab a Casey shot that seemed ticketed for the lower left-hand corner of the goal. Casey cut back to elude a defender and hit a hard shot, but Mwembia made a nifty diving effort to his right.
73' – After some hard work by Reynolds enabled BG to maintain possession in the Notre Dame end, a Macomber diagonal ball was headed out of play for a corner. Off of the short corner, Sullivan's pass found Zach Buescher, but the freshman's acrobatic shot went wide.
77' – The Irish retook the lead as Ueland scored off of a combination play with Farina. Ueland poked the ball home from the right side of the box, approximately 12 yards out.
79' – Pugliese was unceremoniously dumped near midfield, and Robertson's free kick was headed just barely wide of the goal by Reynolds.
80' – Mwembia made another great diving save, this time denying Gallagher's shot at the upper left corner of the net.
86' – A long run by Pugliese got the ball past midfield, and he found Reynolds who in turn found Brennan. But, as he looked to bring the ball from left to right across the box, the BG sophomore was called for a questionable foul.
87' – Macomber nearly lost the ball on the right side, but stole it back and hit a diagonal ball into the box, But, Hubbard corralled the ball.

STATS

Notre Dame held advantages of 18-7 in total shot attempts and 6-2 in shots on goal.
Hubbard made one save for the Irish, while Anthony Mwembia had four stops for the Falcons.
Notre Dame had 13 corner kicks to the Falcons' four.
Seven Falcons played all 90 minutes of the match. That group included Mwembia, Zach Buescher, Dominic Grida, Brad Macomber, Peter Pugliese, Alexis Souahy and Tom Wrobel.
Notre Dame made only one substitution in the entire match.

FALCON NOTES

Earlier on Tuesday, the latest United Soccer Coaches poll was announced, and Notre Dame was ranked No. 1 in the nation. The match marked BGSU's first contest against the country's top-ranked team in nearly five years, since a match at Akron in the 2012 Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The Notre Dame match is the third in a four-game stretch that sees the Falcons face three nationally-ranked foes. In addition to the Irish, Michigan State is ranked No. 6 and Ohio State is ranked No. 25 in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll. MSU was ranked No. 1 in the country in the latest Top Drawer Soccer poll, released Monday (Sept. 18).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES AND NUMBERS

Sophomore Chris Brennan second a goal for the second-straight match. He also found the back of the net late in Saturday's Cincinnati contest.
Senior Keaton Reynolds, who had the primary assist on Brennan's goal vs. UC, again headed the ball to Brennan for an assist on Tuesday night.
With a team-leading 12 points this fall, Brennan has matched his point total for all of last year. He leads the 2017 Falcons with four goals and is tied for the BG assists lead, with four.
Junior Moe Mustafa saw action on Tuesday night, coming off the bench to play 39 minutes. Mustafa scored seven points in four matches, leading the team in scoring to that point, before suffering an injury in practice and missing the next three matches.
Sophomore Anthony Mwembia, as mentioned, made four saves on Tuesday night. He now has an even 100 saves in his BGSU career.
Mwembia now has a goals-against average of 0.75 and a saves percentage of 83.8% this fall. For his Falcon career, Mwembia's GAA is 0.73 while his saves pct. is 83.3%. The Toulouse, France, native has 13 shutouts in 26 career matches at BG.
Additionally, Mwembia picked up his first assist as a Falcon, with the second assist on Brennan's goal.

UP NEXT

The Falcons are in the midst of a four-game stretch in which the opponents had a combined record of 22-4-1 entering Tuesday's action. BGSU wraps up that four-game stretch on Friday (Sept. 22) heading to Columbus to face No. 25 Ohio State. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

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