Falcons Weather Storm, Top Huskies in OT to Advance to Akron

Tuesday, November 12

Bowling Green, OH

5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

12-6-1, 2-3-0

Northern Illinois (Quarterfinals)

7-10-1, 2-3-0

Northern Ill.

Bowling Green

Photo by: Isaiah Vazquez/BGSU Athletics

November 12, 2019 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Final Stats BGSU-NIU Photo Gallery (Isaiah Vazquez)MAC Tournament Bracket BGSU-NIU Highlights Charlie Maciejewski Interview Eric Nichols Interview Photo Gallery

Robin's 95th-minute PK lifts BGSU past NIU for the second time in four days

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Junior Achille Robin's penalty kick in the 95th minute lifted the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Northern Illinois University on Tuesday evening (Nov. 12). The Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal-round match was held at a frigid Cochrane Stadium.

With the win, the fourth-seeded Falcons (12-6-1) advance to the semifinals of the league tourney. BGSU will face top-seeded Akron on Friday evening, at UA's FirstEnergy Stadium.

The Huskies, the fifth seed for the MAC Tournament, see the season come to an end with a record of 7-10-1.

Robin's goal came midway through the first scheduled overtime period. Senior Charlie Maciejewski played a quick pass to junior Vinny Worner, who put the ball between the legs of a Huskie defender in the box. As he attempted to get past that would-be defender, Worner was taken to the ground, and a PK was awarded to the Falcons.

Robin stepped up to take the kick, and NIU goalkeeper Martin Sanchez guessed correctly and may have even gotten a glove on the shot. But, Sanchez could not keep the ball from finding the back of the net to give the Falcons the walk-off win.

Robin had a three-point night, with an assist on the Falcons' opening goal. Freshman Michael Montemurri gave the Brown and Orange the lead with exactly seven minutes gone. The defender knocked home a flick-on from sophomore Kale Nichols after Robin had gotten his head on a diagonal ball.

The Huskies tied the match nearly midway through the first half. Jan Maertins converted a one-time effort from close range after a nifty play from Anthony Markanich. Markanich saved a ball just before it crossed the end line, hitting a short cross from the left side into the center of the box for Maertins.

But, after that 22nd-minute goal by the visitors, senior goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia and the BG back line held the Huskies off of the scoreboard for the remaining 73-plus minutes of the match. Mwembia made eight saves in the win, tying his season high.

The match was played in temperatures in the high teens or low 20s, less than 24 hours after an early-season storm resulted in several inches of snow in the area on Monday.

NOTE OF THE NIGHT: HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE
• The Falcons' total of six home wins this season is the program's highest since the 2015 club also went 6-2-0 at Cochrane. No BG team has had more home wins since the 1996 squad had a 9-0-1 mark at Cochrane.

BONUS NOTE OF THE NIGHT: CONFERENCE TOURNEY WIN AT COCHRANE
• Tuesday night saw the Falcons win a MAC Tournament match at Cochrane Stadium for the first time in 16 years. BGSU picked up a pair of victories in the 2003 league tournament, downing NIU (2-1) in the quarterfinals and top-seeded Kentucky (1-0) in the semifinal round.

FIRST-HALF HIGHLIGHTS
• 2' | The Huskies played a long ball forward, and an NIU player was behind the BGSU defense. Goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia came rushing out of the box to deflect a shot attempt, but it was ruled that the ball had hit his hand. Mwembia was assessed to the BG senior, and a free kick was awarded from approximately 30 yards out. That free kick, off the boot of Alex Welch, was blocked by the BG wall, and Welch's follow-up try was also blocked.
• 3' | The Falcons attacked at the other end, and sophomore Jensen Lukacsko played a diagonal ball into the box. Senior Charlie Maciejewski got his head on the serve, but his shot sailed over the goal.
• 6' | Junior Vinny Worner took a pass from Maciejewski and won a corner kick, but that Chris Sullivan kick was grabbed by NIU goalkeeper Martin Sanchez near the far post, with BG junior Achille Robin lurking in the vicinity.
• 8' | GOAL | With exactly seven minutes gone, the Falcons got on the board. Lukacsko's serve from the right side was headed by Robin just outside the box. Robin's header went toward sophomore Kale Nichols, who nodded it into the path of the onrushing Michael Montemurri. The freshman defender, on the far side of the box. hit a shot from approximately eight yards out that got between Sanchez and the near post.
• 11' | Maciejewski won a corner kick for the home side, and off of that corner, the ball was deflected back toward Montemurri. He hit a shot, but it went directly to Sanchez.
• 13' | At the other end, Christian Molina played a ball to Jan Maertins, who hit a shot that forced BG senior 'keeper Anthony Mwembia into a leaping save. Mwembia parried the ball out of play for a corner kick. Off of that corner, Luis Hernandez hit a hard shot from outside the box that Mwembia also saved. Anthony Markanich wound up with the ball and played a left-side cross to Maertins, who popped a shot into the air. The ball bounced off of the top of the crossbar and out of play.
• 18' | Maciejewski was fouled, and junior Chris Sullivan fired a shot off of the ensuing free kick. That Sullivan effort glanced off of the top of the bar and went out for a goal kick.
• 22' | GOAL | The Huskies equalized nearly midway through the half. A long ball was played forward, and appeared to be going out of bounds. Anthony Markanich, however, tracked it down before it crossed the end line. In one motion, Markanich saved the ball and crossed it into the center of the six-yard box from the left side. Maertins was there to trundle it home.
• 35' | Sullivan's pass found Maciejewski in the box, but the senior's shot sailed wide.

SECOND-HALF HIGHLIGHTS
• 52' | After stealing the ball deep in the NIU end of the field, Sullivan worked a nifty combination play with Worner. Sullivan received the return pass and took the ball toward goal, before it was knocked out of play by a Huskie defender. The ensuing corner kick resulted in a long shot by Maciejewski that was blocked away for another corner.
• 53' | That BG corner saw Maciejewski find Sullivan, who hit a hard shot from a very difficult angle in the box, and Sanchez was able to grab it without giving up a rebound.
• 54' | The Huskies counters, and Nick Markanich blasted a shot that was parried by Mwembia.
• 56' | NIU had a grade-A scoring chance soon after, as Welch's through ball found Maertins behind the BGSU back line. Mwembia came charging off of his line, but Maertins was able to push the ball to his right to elude the BG 'keeper. With an open goal in front of him, Maertins attempted a quick shot from the right side of the 18-yard box, but his shot was just wide of the near post, hitting the outside netting.
• 58' | Despite the miss, the visitors seemed to have seized the momentum. Two minutes later, Nick Markanich blasted a shot that forced Mwembia to block it out of play.
• 62' | After a pass toward the center of the field, and NIU player nearly whiffed on a shot attempt, barely getting his foot on the ball. The ball deflected directly to Nick Markanich, who hit a one-timer from the center of the box. But, Mwembia was there to make one of his six second-half stops.
• 70' | The Falcons had a good chance to break the tie with just over 20 minutes to go in regulation. Senior Chris Brennan took a pass from Maciejewski and beat his defender on the left side. Brennan took the ball to the end line and crossed it into the goalmouth. An NIU player inadvertently deflected it toward Sanchez, who blocked the ball. A BG player got a boot on it, knocking it to Sullivan in the center of the box, but the junior's shot from close range was blocked, and the Huskies cleared the ball away.
• 77' | Welch found a streaking Nick Markanich on the left side, and Markanich blasted a shot. But, Mwembia was equal to the task, making a diving save.
• 81' | NIU, in the BG end of the field, gave the ball away with an errant backpass. Sullivan pounced on the loose ball near midfield, and worked a combination play with Brennan before getting it to Maciejewski, who won a corner for the Falcons.
• 82' | That corner kick resulted in a shot at the far post by freshman Nathan Masters. His effort was blocked from close range, and a follow-up attempt by junior Zach Buescher was off the mark.
• 86' | The Falcons won a free kick in the NIU end, and the serve resulted in headers by both Robin and Montemurri. Off of the latter header, Sanchez was able to come up with the ball in the goalmouth as Nichols and others poked at it.
• 88' | The Huskies threatened with the second-half clock winding down, as Welch put a free kick into the box, but a header (by either NIU's Pierce Ugarte or a BG defender) was saved by Mwembia.

OVERTIME HIGHLIGHTS
• 95' | GOAL | The Falcons won the ball in the NIU end. Lukacsko fired a pass forward to Maciejewski near the 18-yard line, and the senior settled it and quickly hit a backheel pass to Worner. Worner put the ball through an NIU player's legs, but as the junior attempted to go around his would-be defender, he was taken to the ground and a penalty kick was awarded. Robin successfully converted that kick to give the Falcons the win and a trip to the semifinal round.

FINAL STATISTICS
• The Huskies had advantages of 20-14 in total shot attempts and 9-5 in shots on goal. Nick Markanich led all players with six shots, including four on frame, while fellow Huskies Alex Welch and Jan Maertins had four shot attempts apiece.
• For the Falcons, Michael Montemurri, Charlie Maciejewski and Chris Sullivan each had three shot attempts. Montemurri put all three of his shots on goal in Tuesday's win.
• Robin had his first three-point night, with an assist on Montemurri's goal and the winning goal.
• Anthony Mwembia made eight saves, tying his season high. He made six of those stops in the second half.
• For the Huskies, Martin Sanchez had three saves on the night.
• NIU had seven corner kicks to BG's five.

FALCON TEAM NOTES
• BGSU has advanced to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament for the third time in the last four seasons. In both 2016 and '18, the Falcons were the number-two seed for the league tourney. The 2016 season saw only four teams qualify for the tournament, so there was no quarterfinal round. Last year, BG earned a quarterfinal-round bye.
• Tuesday's match marked BGSU's first MAC Tournament victory since 2014. BG's last win in league tourney play came over West Virginia, a 3-2 win in the semifinal round in Akron. That WVU contest also was decided in overtime.
• The Falcons were playing a home match in the MAC Tournament for the first time in 12 years, since a 3-0 loss to NIU in the quarterfinal round of the 2007 league tourney.
• BGSU now has an all-time record of 19-17 in the MAC Tournament, and the Falcons are 7-5-0 in quarterfinal-round matches.
• The Falcons have a record of 5-2-0 in overtime contests in the league tournament.
• BG is now 6-3-0 at Cochrane Stadium in MAC Tournament action.
• Tuesday's match marked the third time the Falcons have hosted a MAC Tournament quarterfinal-round match, and all three have come against NIU. BG downed the Huskies, 2-1, in the 2003 tournament, but NIU picked up the aforementioned 3-0 victory over the Falcons in '07.
• All three of those home contests vs. the Huskies came with BGSU as the tournament's number-four seed and NIU as the fifth seed for the tourney.
• The Falcons are now 6-1-0 this season, and 62-8-6 in the Eric Nichols Era, when scoring two goals in a match.
• BGSU finished the home portion of the 2019 schedule with a 6-2-0 record. The Falcons scored a total of 19 goals in those eight matches.
• The Falcons' total of six home wins this season is the program's highest since the 2015 club also went 6-2-0 at Cochrane. No BG team has had more home wins since the 1996 squad had a 9-0-1 mark at Cochrane.

FALCON PLAYER NOTES
• Junior Achille Robin's goal on Tuesday night was his second career game-winning goal, and his second GWG in a week. He scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win at Wright State last Tuesday night (Nov. 5).
• Robin is now second on the season in both goals, with five, and points, with 14.
• Robin had the first three-point match of his BGSU career, with an assist on the Falcons' first goal. He now has four assists this season to tie for third on the team.
• Freshman Michael Montemurri scored his second goal of the season, and his first since the Falcons' win over Wisconsin on Sept. 6. The goal vs. the Badgers came in his collegiate debut.
• Sophomore Kale Nichols picked up his third assist of the year on that Montemurri goal. Nichols is fourth on the team with nine points this season.
• Senior Anthony Mwembia now has a career total of 242 saves, and ranks seventh on that BGSU list. His next target is Paul Shoemaker, who made 259 stops from 2005-08.

WHAT'S NEXT?
• The Falcons, as mentioned, have advanced to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament. BGSU, the tourney's number-four seed, will meet top-seeded Akron in Friday's (Nov. 15) second semifinal match at UA's FirstEnergy Stadium. The BGSU-UA match is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m.
• Friday's first semifinal in Akron will see second-seeded Western Michigan face sixth-seeded West Virginia. The Mountaineers did not win a MAC match during the regular season, but upset third-seeded SIUE on the road in Tuesday's other quarterfinal. The WMU-WVU match begins at 3:00 p.m. at FirstEnergy Stadium.
• Friday's semifinal survivors advance to Sunday's (Nov. 17) championship match, set for a 1:00 p.m start in Akron.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• For more information on the men's soccer program, follow the Falcons on twitter (BGSUmenssoccer), Instagram, (bgsumenssoccer), and Facebook (BGMensSoccer) as well as right here on the web at BGSUFalcons.com.

Gallery: (11/12/2019) M.Soccer v Northern Ill. - Nov 12 2019