BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Behind timely scoring and solid defense, Michigan State men’s soccer battled to a 1-1 draw with Bowling Green, in front of a rowdy crowd at Cochrane Stadium on Alumni Night on Friday.
The Spartans move to 1-3-1 this season, while the Falcons stand 0-2-3 through five games.
“I think we did some good things. I think our coaching staff had the guys prepared. I thought the first half we got what we wanted out of the game. We just need to execute in the final third a little better,” MSU head coach Damon Rensing said. “It was good in the second half. Again it was great to get that goal, which was a great team goal. It was obviously a little frustrating give up one, two minutes later, especially on a penalty. But I think we’ll just kind of continue to grow and move on and forward to Chicago State.”
Bowling Green maintained possession for much of the first half. Through the first 45 minutes of action, the Falcons out-shot the Spartans 13-2.
The Spartans had a pair of shots early on by junior forward Greyson Mercer and graduate midfielder Jack Beck. Mercer’s blast was the only shot on goal for Michigan State in the first 45 minutes of action.
The second half started with increased intensity by the Spartans. Mercer and Beck once again pressured the Falcons with back-to-back shots in the 53rd and 54th minutes, respectively.
Bowling Green responded, pushing MSU senior goalkeeper Owen Finnerty. In the 57th minute, the Falcons had a great chance by Eli Shope that Finnerty deflected off his fingertips to keep it scoreless.
The Spartans took the lead in the 66th minute with freshman midfielder Jack Guggemos’ first collegiate goal. Guggemos collected the pass from Mercer and slipped the ball past BSGU netminder Brendan Graves on the left side to put MSU up 1-0.
Bowling Green found the equalizer in the 69th minutes. After a Josh Adam foul in the box, Joey Akpunonu converted the penalty kick to tie the score at 1-1. The penalty kick conversion was the Falcons’ first goal of the season.
The final 20 minutes of the match were filled of tension as both sides looked for the game-winning goal. Sophomore forward Zack Babiak had an excellent chance in the 83rd minute, but the blast was corralled by Graves.
“I think we’ve got to be able to get our shots on goal. We are creating chances, but our shots are not are not as accurate as they need to be. So I think we have got to more shots on goal that in turn will…
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