Bowling Green boys soccer needed a win against visiting Springfield Tuesday for the Bobcats to claim a Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division championship.
The Bobcats did not lose, but the problem was they did not win either. Springfield played the Bobcats to a scoreless tie and as a result the Blue Devils claimed their first boys soccer title in school history.
“Going through the entire year this is our sixth draw, but the other five might not have felt like this one,” Springfield coach Adam Sloan said.
“But, yeah, it’s one of those situations that the boys battled for 80 minutes and to go 0-0 against these guys is unbelievable. It is their second crazy battle against BG this season (Springfield won 3-2 on Sept. 12).”
Because the NLL awards three points for a win and one point for a tie, BG would have had 24 points with a win Tuesday and Springfield would have finished with 23 with a loss.
As it turned out, Springfield, 9-1-6 overall and 7-0-3 in the NLL, finished with 24 points and BG, 11-3-1 and 7-2-1, finished with 22 points because of the 0-0 tie at Bobcat Stadium.
“I think obviously they had two ways they could have won tonight, right? They could have won the game and obviously they could draw,” BG coach Josh Fox said.
“But they played defensive, had a lot of guys behind the ball and just kind of asked us to figure it out, put one in the back of the net and we just couldn’t get one.”
It is not like BG did not have chances, outshooting the Blue Devils 15-9, including 7-5 in shots on goal. BG had 12 corner kicks to Springfield’s four.
BG had four corner kicks in the first nine minutes and the Bobcats outshot the Devils 9-3 in the first half alone, controlling possession at the same time.
In the second half, the Bobcats did not get a shot off the first 25 minutes-plus. The Bobcats’ first shot on goal was with 14:05 remaining when senior forward Grant Sonner almost converted on a CK from senior midfielder Cole Ash, but Springfield junior goalkeeper Cole Murphy made a diving stop.
Off two consecutive corner kicks from Ash three minutes later, Springfield’s back line made repetitive non-goalie saves. Non-goalie saves from the Blue Devils were adding up late in the game to keep Murphy protected.
BG junior forward Luca Brininger had a shot that looked like a winner, but again Murphy made the dive and with his hand deflected the ball away, leading to another CK with six minutes remaining.
Brininger and senior defender Paul Archer had consecutive shots with four minutes remaining that were stopped by the back line, and Ash had one more CK attempt in the final minute, but the Bobcats could not convert.
Fox said the offensive strategy was executed, it just did not lead to the payoff the Bobcats wanted.
“We had talked about the past couple weeks we kind of reverted to the long ball, just playing more direct, and that would have fit in with what they were doing today,” Fox said.
“We definitely tried to possess the ball more today and kind of build it up the field. You just have to find space, even as well as we did possess the ball. It’s tough to beat their guys parked in front of the net.”
Sloan admitted that his strategy became more and more about defense as the game came to a close, knowing a tie would get them the league title.
“I think it boils down to a game situation,” Sloan said. “I don’t know if I can say it affected the strategy but when you get within 10 or 15 minutes left you start realizing that maybe I don’t necessarily sub different.
“But we started putting in a little bit more defensive guys on wings for something to protect our defensive third.”
Sloan, in his fifth year at Springfield, said for his team to bring home a first-ever league championship in boys soccer is historic.
“We’ve had some good teams. Every year we have kind of set goals to build on the season before,” Sloan said.
“Last year we went 11-6-1 and when we started the seniors I looked at the seniors and said, ‘Guys, what are we looking at this year? You tell me the goals.’
“They said, ‘Coach, let’s get double digit wins. Let’s try to make it to a district final. More importantly, let’s try and see if we can get this new NLL Cardinal thing — see how that works out.’
“It’s one of those years as the season goes on you start looking up and going, ‘Oh, we can start believing now.’ The hard work that the boys have put in more than me to have a culture like this, and to have it culminate tonight is just outstanding.”
Murphy finished the game with seven saves, but his back line had more than double that in non-goalie stops as the Blue Devils earned their sixth shutout of the season.
BG senior goalkeeper Max Haynes had five saves as the Bobcat defense earned its eighth shutout.
The Bobcats and Blue Devils may be on a collision course to meet again in a Division I district semifinal.
On Saturday, October 21, BG hosts the winner of Toledo Whitmer (7-7-1) and Fremont Ross (3-10-2) at noon to advance to the district semifinal. Springfield hosts Clay (7-8-1) on October 21 to advance.
As long as both win, they would meet on Tuesday, October 24 at 5 p.m. at Springfield Community Stadium in Holland. in that game someone will have to score, even if it means going to penalty kicks.
