By Nicholas Huenefeld

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

OREGON — Tomas Meek made sure the Bowling Green High School boys soccer team stayed undefeated in NLL Cardinal Division play, tallying a pair of goals and assists to lead the Bobcats past Clay in a hard-fought match on the road at Clay Memorial Stadium Tuesday.

“(Another game with) a little bit of adversity,” BG coach Josh Fox said. “We’re down a couple guys, and we rose above it. That’s kind of been the story all season. We kind of find a way and survive until the next one.”

Clay was up for the challenge on Tuesday, especially after Josh Medina’s goal on a handspring throw-in gave the Eagles the lead 10:28 into the game.

A hand ball led to a high free kick for Bowling Green with 22:23 left in the half, but the Bobcats kept knocking and secured back-to-back corner kicks moments later.

The second of those was a high looping cross headed toward the goal by Meek to Luca Brininger, who delivered the equalizer on another header with 18:46 remaining.

Bowling Green caught a break around eight minutes later as Medina, who had given the Bobcats trouble with his throw-in ability, received his second yellow card, which gave them a man advantage the rest of the way.

“Unfortunately, a lot like Saturday against Lake, we came out slow,” Fox said. “I don’t know if this is a theme or if it’s that point in the season where guys are tired. I also think we’re getting everybody’s best shot.

“Credit to Clay, though. They came out with a mindset of wanting to pull off the upset and ruin what we are seeking, which is to win the division. I was a little nervous there at first.”

After splitting a pair of goals in the first half, Bowling Green didn’t need long to take the lead as Meek broke free from his defender on a through ball from Jack Hover and put it in the back of the net just 16 seconds in.

“Nothing was going right in that first half,” Meek said. “We had to switch something in the second half. The guys all stepped up. We got a quick one early, and that just lifted us up right from the beginning. We kept pushing, ended up finding a second one and held on.”

Clay answered back just 1:56 later on a direct free kick from just outside the box.

Three minutes after that, Hayden Fox’s 40-yard shot went just wide left and another three minutes after that, Meek had a 20-yard shot saved.

The Bobcats kept knocking and eventually took a 3-2 lead with 22:25 left when Meek’s shot from 17 yards out from left of the goal did the job, via another assist from Hover.

With just under 14 minutes left, Bowling Green appeared to deliver the knockout blow as Meek sent a through ball to Adin Metzger, who sent a laser from right-to-left into the far corner for a 4-2 advantage.

“We talked at halftime about having to find this balance,” Fox said. “We were playing too calm and too casual with the advantage, or we’d be too sped up, too in a hurry, and it led to poor decisions, poor passes.

“As the game grew on, we kind of found that balance a little more so of understanding we had time and space, but still feeling that pressure that they were providing on the ball with 27 and 7, who did a really nice job with relentless motors and putting us under pressure.”

Kole Evans made a diving save on a point blank shot from Clay less than a minute later, but another foul deep in BG’s territory led to the third set-piece goal for the Eagles, as they scored on the rebound off another direct shot.

BG’s Owen Cleland helped his team keep the lead with a strong header away following a Bobcat foul at the 30-yard line with 2:45 remaining.

Clay also had a potential game-tying shot go high 35 seconds later.

After the dust settled, Bowling Green (8-1, 5-0 NLL) was able to respond from Saturday’s loss against Lake, which was their first of the season.

“I saw a lot of positive attitudes,” Meek said. “We definitely took a hit at Lake, but it was also a wake-up call. I was happy with all of the guys who got fit over the weekend, so we’re ready.”

Clay fell to 2-6-2 overall (0-4-2 NLL).