BOWLING GREEN, Ohio. – Physicality was prominent in Drake's 3-1 road loss to Bowling Green on Saturday night. The Bulldogs rallied late, netting a goal in the 86th minute, but it wasn't enough to overcome Falcons' earlier scoring.
The Falcons got off to a fast start when Luciano Perez-Cernuda assisted Joshua Pedersen in the third minute to give Bowling Green an early 1-0 lead.
After the initial score, both teams began to settle in. In the 16th minute,
Jonathan Mendez hit the left post on a shot from outside the box. Mendez's first try was one of his three total shots.
In the first 45 minutes, the Bulldogs and Falcons tallied five shots each. None of Drake's five shots were on target, while Bowling Green had two shots on goal, one resulting in a save for keeper
Tomas Butkovic. It was a physical first half that included six total fouls and a yellow card for Bowling Green's Joshua Saavedra.
Shortly out of the half, Bowling Green found the net again as Caue Ramos and Aiden Ptacek teamed up to find Tyson McCoy, giving the Falcons a 2-0 lead by the 52nd minute. Later, McCoy assisted Luciano Perez-Cernuda in the 73rd stanza to extend Bowling Green's advantage to three.
Dalton Visconti, who subbed in during the 83rd minute, made his impact soon after stepping on the pitch, scoring an 87th minute goal to cut the lead to two.
Judah Shalit was credited with the assist on Drake's lone goal of the match as Visconti's connection was too late to start a threatening rally. Bowling Green held on for the 3-1 result.
"I don't have much to say," Drake head coach
Pat Flinn said. "We're in a tough spot right now, but you get what you deserve in sports. It's gut check time now. We wither fight for everything in the second half of our conference schedule or we let this season fade away."
The trend of physicality continued in the second half, as the Falcons totaled three yellow cards, two of which were assigned to Lucas Brinkman, resulting in him being sent off in the 74th minute. The Bulldogs and Falcons combined for a total of 14 fouls in the second stanza.
In total, Drake outshot Bowling Green 15 to 11. The Bulldogs put pressure on the Falcons late as they took six shots in the last ten minutes of the match.
Jonathan Mendez led the team with three shots while
Jack Dancer,
Judah Shalit, and
Preston Kipnusu each totaled two. On the other end of the pitch, goalkeeper
Tomas Butkovic was credited with three saves. The match featured 20 fouls, 4 of which resulted in yellow cards for Bowling Green while Drake wasn't booked once.
The Bulldogs will look to get back in the win column Oct. 17th when they host Western Michigan at Mediacom Stadium. The MVC bout is set to kick off at 6 p.m.
