Falcons Score Early En Route to 2-0 Win over Belmont - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Sunday, October 25

Bowling Green, Ohio

3 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

7-6-2, 4-1-0

Belmont

6-5-3, 2-1-1

Team	1	2	Final F
Belmont	0	0	0
Bowling Green	2	0	2

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

October 25, 2026 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

BGSU captures key MVC match Sunday afternoon

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team scored a pair of early goals Sunday afternoon (Oct. 25), then made that lead stand up. The Falcons posted a 2-0 win over Belmont University in a key Missouri Valley Conference match at Cochrane Stadium.

The win was the sixth consecutive victory for the Falcons (7-6-2, 4-1-0 MVC). BGSU's six-match winning streak is the program's longest in almost three decades.

Senior Aiden Ptacek converted a penalty kick just 76 seconds into the match to give BGSU the lead, and freshman Luciano Perez-Cernuda doubled the advantage with a goal in the 10th minute.

The Bruins (6-5-3, 2-1-1 MVC) fired a total of 31 shots in the match, and had a 21-3 second-half advantage in that category, but senior Jason Ball and the Falcons did not let the Bruins put a dent in that multiple-goal advantage.

Ball made eight saves, and BG also had a pair of 'team saves' en route to a third consecutive shutout.

With the win, BGSU has clinched no worse than the third seed for the MVC Tournament, and the Falcons will host at least one conference tournament game in early November.

Currently, BGSU sits in first place in the MVC standings with 12 points. The Falcons (again, 4-1-0 in the league), lead Evansville (3-1-0) by three points and Belmont (2-1-1) by five. Both the Purple Aces and Bruins have a game in hand on the Falcons, but BG holds the tiebreaker with both UE and BU by virtue of head-to-head wins.

While BG increased the current win streak to six on Sunday, the loss snapped Belmont's five-match unbeaten streak. The Bruins had earned a result in eight of the previous 10 matches, going 5-2-3 before falling on Sunday.

The Falcons got on the scoreboard early, as mentioned. After a foul on Belmont in the Bruins' defensive third of the field, Ptacek took the ensuing free kick. The diagonal ball was played into the box, where it glanced off of a BG player's head, then bounced and hit the arm of a BU defender. A penalty kick was awarded, and Ptacek stepped up and converted that shot for a 1-0 Falcon lead.

BG doubled the lead just under eight minutes later. After a ball was cleared out of BU's defensive end of the field, senior Mads Christensen – one of five Falcons recognized in Senior Day ceremonies prior to the match – headed the ball back toward the Falcons' offensive end of the field.

The ball reached a cluster of players, including two from each team. Senior Joshua Saavedra – also part of the Senior Day festivities – knocked the ball forward with the outside of his right foot. It bounced into the penalty area, and BU goalkeeper Brody Sucher came off of his line to grab it, but he was beaten to the ball by fellow freshman Perez-Cernuda, who chipped it over the 'keeper. The ball bounced near the goal line before hitting the upper part of the net.

As mentioned, the victory came on Senior Day, with five Falcons recognized in ceremonies prior to the match. That quintet included Christensen, Enzo Gil, Michael Lindh, Saul Rios and Saavedra.

The Bruins entered the match averaging 1.92 goals per contest, good for 40th in the nation and first in the MVC. But, Ball and the Falcons withstood a Belmont barrage of shots over the final 80 minutes. BU had a 31-12 advantage in total shot attempts, albeit a much more narrow 10-8 lead in shots on goal, but never cut into the Falcons' two-nil advantage.

The goal and the celly🤩 #AyZiggy 🟠🟤 https://t.co/Zy4vhfes8Z
— BGSU Men's Soccer (@BGSUMSoccer) October 25, 2026

NOTE OF THE DAY
• The Falcons have won six games in a row for the first time in nearly three decades. No BG team has put together a six-match winning streak since the 1997 club won 11-straight contests. That '97 win streak began on Oct. 12 and did not end until the second round of the NCAA Championships in late November.

ALSO NOTEWORTHY
• The Falcons have quadrupled last season's conference win total, as BG went 1-4-2 in the MVC in 2025.
• The Falcons scored the first goal of the match just once in this season's first 10 games. But, BGSU has taken a 1-0 lead in each of the last five matches, and the Falcons have gone on to win all five.
• BGSU has recorded three consecutive shutouts for the first time in four years, since blanking Chicago State, Akron and CSU again from Oct. 13-21, 2022. The Falcons have not kept four-straight clean sheets since the 2017 team opened the season with five shutout wins in a row.
• Senior Jason Ball recorded his third shutout in as many matches and his fourth in eight starts this season. BGSU is 6-1-1 in those eight starts.
• Ball entered the day ranked second in the nation in save pct. and sixth in the country in goals-against average. He raised his save pct. to .913 and lowered his GAA to 0.50 in Sunday's victory.
• BGSU is now 9-3-2 in MVC home matches since joining the conference prior to the 2023 season. BGSU has averaged 1.93 goals in those 14 contests.
• Senior Aiden Ptacek's goal on Sunday was his first of the season and the second of his career.
• Freshman Luciano Perez-Cernuda scored his second career goal, and his second in as many home games. He also found the net in the Falcons' 3-1 win over Drake on Oct. 10.
• Senior Joshua Saavedra recorded his first assist of the season and his third as a Falcon in Sunday's win.
• BGSU is now 12-3-3 in Senior Day/Night matches since Eric Nichols became head coach of the Falcons. BGSU is unbeaten in the last 13 such matches, having gone 11-0-2 on Senior Day/Night since a loss to West Virginia in 2012.

B!G win today! #GoFalcons #AyZiggy 🟠🟤 https://t.co/f7oWBsclEU
— BGSU Men's Soccer (@BGSUMSoccer) October 26, 2026

UP NEXT
• The Falcons step outside of conference play for one final time, hosting Wilmington College on Wednesday night (Oct. 28). The match will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium, with Bud Lewis being honored prior to the start. Lewis, an All-American as a player at BGSU from 1971-74, then embarked on a legendary coaching career at Wilmington and remains one of the winningest coaches in NCAA Division-III history.
• Following the Wilmington match, the Orange and Brown will end the regular season with a trip to Chicago. BGSU will face UIC on Wednesday, Nov. 4, with that match set to begin at 7:00 p.m. at Flames Field

Gallery: (10-25-2026) 102526 msoc v Belmont - Drake Harlett

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
• For more information on the BGSU men's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUMSoccer), Instagram (bgfalcons and bgsumsoccer) and Facebook (BGMensSoccer) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.