Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Western Michigan 1, Bowling Green 0
Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's soccer team defeated Bowling Green by a score of 1-0 in a defensive battle at the WMU Soccer Complex on Saturday afternoon, improving to 11-5-1 overall and 2-1-1 in Mid-American Conference play. The Broncos have now earned seven shutout victories during the 2019 campaign and are 4-0-2 in their last six contests with the Falcons.
"It was a great team win today," said head coach Chad Wiseman. "Bowling Green is a very strong defensive team. They sit in two deep blocks and it's hard to create anything against them centrally."
The lone goal of the match came in the 35th minute, when senior midfielder Anthony Bowie got free in the box and drove a ball past BGSU goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia for his sixth of the year. Bowie only trails freshman midfielder Charlie Sharp on his team in that category, as Sharp has scored seven goals this season.
"We took advantage of our best chance in the first half with Bowie smashing one in," Wiseman remarked. "I thought we were very strong on both sides of the ball today. The chances we created were very dangerous and we were a little unlucky to not find a second goal."
Graduate transfer Sam Biek was outstanding for the Broncos defensively, helping his squad earn its second consecutive shutout following an overtime win at Detroit Mercy on Tuesday.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Isaac Walker made two saves in net for WMU and is now 9-2-1 on the year with six shutouts. He is currently tied for fourth all-time in program history for victories in a season.
"We weathered the opening ten minutes of the second half when Bowling Green had us pinned back," Wiseman stated. "Daniel Nimick and Antonio Rizzo both had great performances off the bench for us."
Western Michigan will conclude regular season play next Saturday, as they will welcome SIU Edwardsville to Kalamazoo for a MAC match-up at 1 p.m.
Akron 3, NIU 2
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio - A goal from freshman Will Jackson (Hudson, Ohio) with 2.7 seconds remaining in regulation lifted the University of Akron men's soccer team to an improbable come-from-behind 3-2 Mid-American Conference victory over Northern Illinois (7-8-1, 2-2-0 MAC) on Senior Night at FirstEnergy Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 2.
The Zips (5-9-2, 3-0-1 MAC) registered three unanswered goals, including a brace from junior David Egbo (Enugu, Nigeria), over the final eight minutes of regulation to erase a 2-0 deficit and earn the triumph.
By virtue of the 0-0 double-overtime draw between SIU Edwardsville and West Virginia, the Zips have secured an opening-round bye at the upcoming MAC Championships (Nov. 15-17). A win or a tie at West Virginia on Thursday, Nov. 7, Akron will claim its 20th regular season league title and first since 2016. The Zips also remain in the driver's seat to host the semifinal and championship matches at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Akron posted a season-best 31 shots in the affair, including a season-best 12 shots on goal. Egbo directed the Zips' offensive attack, equaling a career-high with a team-best seven shots, including a trio on net, en route to netting his fourth career multi-goal match. Adding four, four, three and three shots, respectively, for Akron was senior Christian Lue Young (Plantation, Fla.), freshman Mani Austmann (Gardabaer, Iceland), junior Daniel Strachan (Lakewood, Ohio) and Jackson. Nick Markanich led the Huskies with a team-high two shots.
Northern Illinois goalkeeper Martin Sanchez was stellar in net for the Huskies registering nine saves, while redshirt junior Tor Saunders (Seattle, Wash.) earned the victory without having to make a save.
Jackson's game-winning tally at the 89:57 mark was off a high-arching shot from the corner of the 18-yard box that garnered a fortuitous bounce over a sliding Sanchez and into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season. Earning the assist on the tally was Strachan.
The two sides battled through a scoreless opening 45 minutes with the Zips registering a 12-1 margin in first-half shots, including a 4-0 edge in shots on goal.
Strachan nearly opened the scoring in the match in the fourth minute (3:55) as his header off a free kick from sophomore Colin Biros (Jackson, Ohio) was pulled in for a save by Sanchez. He later added a shot on frame at the 29:19 mark that was again saved by Sanchez.
Redshirt junior Diogo Pacheco (Lisbon, Portugal) struck a ball in the 33rd minute (32:09) that was thwarted by diving save from Sanchez.
Sanchez made another diving save of an Egbo shot in the 36th minute (35:24) on what proved to be Akron's final shot on goal in the opening stanza.
Northern Illinois assumed a 1-0 lead at the 50:03 mark when Alex Welch delivered the Huskies' first corner kick of the night into the corner of the six-yard box where Anthony Markanich headed home his fifth goal on the campaign.
The Zips were unable to register a shot on goal in the second half until Lue Young's strike in the 67th minute (66:49), a shot that was denied by a save from Sanchez.
Pacheco followed with strike on net at the 68:29 mark that was stopped by Sanchez.
Akron was whistled for a foul in the box in the 72nd minute (71:51) resulting in Northern Illinois being awarded a penalty kick. Stepping to the line and connecting on his second goal of the season to push the Huskies' lead to 2-0 was Louis Sala.
Sophomore Pol Hernandez (Teia, Spain) got off a laser in the box at the 78:56 mark for Akron that only a spectacular diving save from Sanchez prevented the Zips from cracking the scoring column.
Facing a two-goal deficit, the Zips faced a pivotal moment in their season and Akron responded beginning with Egbo scoring his sixth goal on the year at the 81:53 mark to bring the Zips within a goal, 2-1. The ball was played in from the wing into the center of the box with a pair of passes for assists from Hernandez and Pacheco.
Just over a minute later in the 83rd minute (82:55), Egbo leveled the match at two with a diving header for his team-leading seventh goal of the season.
Austmann added a shot on goal at the 87:24 mark, before Egbo narrowly missed on a one-touch in the six-yard box in the 89th minute (88:36).
Jackson's game-winner sent Akron's four seniors in Skye Harter (Copley, Ohio), Lue Young, Tom Smart (Birmingham, England) and Leonard Sohn (Richmond Hill, Ontario) home victorious on a night where they were honored in pre-game Senior Night festivities.
Up next for Akron, the Zips close out the regular season with a 7 p.m. match at West Virginia on Thursday, Nov. 7, in Morgantown, W.Va.
SIUE 0, West Virginia 0 (2OT)
Box Score
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The West Virginia University men's soccer team played to a 0-0, double-overtime draw on Saturday, Nov. 2, at SIU Edwardsville. The two squads battled for 110 minutes before finishing scoreless at Ralph Korte Stadium in Edwardsville, Illinois.
The Mountaineers (6-7-2, 0-3-1 MAC) controlled much of the match, recording 17 shots and nine corner kicks on the night. Despite the draw, WVU tallied its fourth clean sheet of the season and first since Sept. 28.
"What a performance from our team on the road," WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. "We're really, really shorthanded right now, missing arguably the two best players on our team, but our guys fought tooth-and-nail and were the better team for 110 minutes tonight. It's disappointing to not get the goal that we deserved but give SIUE credit for being resilient and defending well. I thought our kids showed up tonight. The resurgence has to start somewhere – this is a good place for it to start."
West Virginia earned its first shot of the night in the 23rd minute when senior defender Albert Andres-Llop sent one over the bar on a free-kick attempt. Later, sophomore forward Tony Pineda missed a shot just wide in the visitor's first big chance of the evening.
WVU finished with four shots in a scoreless opening 45 minutes.
After halftime, freshman forward Rodrigo Robles Grajera nearly put the Mountaineers ahead in the 48th minute when his shot attempt was poked away by the SIUE keeper. That began a relentless, second-half Mountaineer attack in search of their breakthrough.
The Cougars (8-4-3, 2-1-1 MAC) fought off shots from freshman midfielder Luke McCormick, sophomore forward Josh DiMatteo and Pineda around the 60-minue mark, keeping the scoreboard even. Then, with just seconds remaining in regulation, DiMatteo was inches away from a game-winner on a header that trickled just over the bar. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native recorded five shots, including two on goal, in the contest.
Junior goalkeeper Steven Tekesky made a game-saving denial seven minutes into the first overtime period. The Raymore, Missouri, native came off his line to make a diving save to keep the match at 0-0. Tekesky finished with four saves in his 12th career shutout.
In the second overtime with SIUE down to 10 men, junior midfielder Pau Jimenez Albelda sent one just over the bar from the top of the box in the 106th minute in WVU's last big shot at a goal.
The Mountaineers held a 17-10 advantage in shots, including 5-4 in shots on goal. WVU also claimed a 9-3 edge in corner kicks. Along with DiMatteo, five other players finished with multiple shots in the draw.
Next up, West Virginia concludes the 2019 regular season with a Senior Night matchup against Akron on Thursday, Nov. 7, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium in Morgantown. The match marks the final Dollar Day of the season, with tickets and select concession stand items available for $1.
