Back-and-forth battle leaves Bulls with loss

A slow first half didn't stop the goals from pouring in during the final 45 minutes.

Down 1-0 at halftime, the men's soccer team came out against Bowling Green and displayed an effective offensive attack.

But in the end, a late Buffalo (5-8, 0-3 Mid-American Conference) mistake cost the Bulls in a 4-3 loss to Bowling Green (2-8-2, 1-2 MAC), pushing Buffalo's winless streak to three games.

With the Bulls and the Falcons tied at three late in the game, overtime seemed imminent.

But Falcon attacker Jacob Lawrence was fouled in the penalty box at the 85:33 mark, prompting a penalty shot. Lawrence nailed the game-winning goal to keep the Bulls winless in conference play.

'We played well,' said associate head coach David Hesch in a press release. 'We continually fought throughout the contest. Ultimately, our lack of discipline and mistakes hurt us.'

Despite the total of seven goals, the game started off slow. The Bulls seemed to continuously be on defense as Bowling Green applied constant pressure on their opponents' side of the field. During the first 45 minutes of the game, the Falcons repelled all of the attacks made by the Bulls and controlled possession.

'I thought in the first half there were at least a couple of opportunities that we should've taken advantage of and just capitalize on,' said head coach John Astudillo. 'And we didn't.'

The Falcons totaled seven shots in the half. One of the blasts violently ricocheted off of senior defender Tom Beckvermit's head, knocking him out for the remainder of the half.

Bowling Green's shots kept coming on goal, and one of them finally landed in the net. Falcons' midfielder Jacob Lawerence scored the only goal of the first half with a header off of a corner kick by midfielder Hunter Van Houten.

By halftime, it was clear to the Bulls that they needed to turn up the pressure.

'The coaches were definitely bringing us up,' said sophomore attacker Lucas Bassan. 'All of us knew that this was the game that we couldn't lose and we knew that we had 45 minutes to change the [direction] of the game. So we came up and ended up playing tough and hard.'

The affair quickly turned into a fast-paced physical soiree in the second half.

In the 46th minute, junior attacker Mike Unwin linked up with Bassan with a pass in between two Falcon defenders. Bassan capitalized and tied the game with his third goal of the season.

Buffalo's offensive players continued the scoring explosion. About 20 minutes later, junior forward Mike Unwin scored his seventh goal of the season off a freshman defender Akil Howard assist.

The Bulls' aggressiveness continued to show. The team took 11 shots in the half, five of which came from Unwin. Buffalo also had nine corner kicks during the half. Their physicality was evident as they picked up 10 fouls on the game, including one collision that took one of the Falcons out of the game.

Tempers flared as the players verbally contested some of these calls.

'As players, you're always going to question the referee,' Bassan said. 'But I think overall he did a good job.'

As the game continued, the Falcons mounted a comeback. Attacker Cameron Hepple belted back-to-back goals and gave BGSU a 3-2 advantage.

The Bulls' final response came at 78:40. Senior midfielder Alex Marrello shot a 40-yard unassisted cannon into Bowling Green's net, tying the game and setting up the disappointing finish.

'We got practice this Sunday. While most people are going to be sleeping are partying, we're going to be out here training,' Bassan said. 'We're going to be training hard the whole week and we're going to come back knowing that we are a better team than this and that we still got a few games to go.'

The Bulls' next game is this Friday at home versus MAC-power Akron. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

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