Bowling Green senior midfielder Mathias Drumm (17) moves the ball against Southview’s Jeff Chopp during the first half of a soccer match Tuesday night at Bowling Green High School. Visit www.sent-trib.com to view a photo gallery.
Scott W. Grau | Sentinel-Tribune
The 5-2 score may not show it, but Bowling Green boys soccer passed the test in their Northern Lakes League loss to Sylvania Southview at Bobcat Stadium Tuesday.
Neither team dominated possession, but Southview blew it wide open in the final 13 minutes of the second half. For the first 66 minutes-plus, neither team had more than a one-goal advantage.
BG junior defender Eli Metzger found the right side of the net on a penalty shot just three minutes and 33 seconds into the second half, tying the game at two goals apiece.
Metzger’s PK was a result of senior midfielder Mathias Drumm getting knocked down twice in the box while trying to navigate to the net.
Drumm was knocked down once, got back up and it looked as if he had a solid shot at the goal from inside 20 yards, and he was knocked down again.
The game remained tied until Southview senior forward Tyler Pawlicki hammered home a 20-yard shot off a throw-in, putting the Cougars up for good, 3-2, with 24:15 remaining.
Southview sophomore midfielder Marcus Gonzales-Schell added a fourth goal on a 25-yard shot from the right corner that sailed over BG junior goalkeeper Max Haynes’ head and into the net.
Pawlicki finished his hat trick, scoring his third goal and the Cougars’ fifth on a breakaway with 8:25 remaining.
Southview improves to 10-3-1 overall and is 4-1-1 in the NLL, while BG falls to 7-4-2 and 2-3-1.
“We have these teams that we just can’t get over the hump with, like Southview. We’re trying,” BG coach Josh Fox said. “We were close, but things kind of slipped away at the end.”
The first half set the pace as neither team dominated, and it was the Bobcats who struck first. Drumm beat a defender, scoring just four minutes and 38 seconds after the opening kickoff.
The Bobcats’ 1-0 lead lasted only 26 seconds as Southview senior defender Nate Schuele took possession into a corner and dished left to Pawlicki, whose shot tied the game at 1-1.
BG nearly took a 2-1 lead when Drumm sent a pass forward to junior forward Ethan Decker, who beat a defender and was one-on-one with junior goalkeeper Kyan Martin, but his shot struck the right goalpost.
Less than a minute later, Southview junior defender Markus Lepard scored on a header to put the Cougars up, 2-1, which stood until after halftime and Metzger scored on his PK.
Southview outshot BG. 16-10, including 12 on goal by the Cougars and six on goal by the Bobcats, if you count two BG shots that struck the crossbar. Haynes had seven saves and Martin had two.
Drumm had played mostly defense and midfield until the BG coaching staff moved him to the front line, where he has scored in four games straight. He was a major force again on Tuesday.
Drumm now leads the team with 34 points on 13 goals and eight assists and the Bobcats had won five straight, outscoring opponents 35-1, heading into Tuesday’s loss.
“We have always had him in more of a defensive position,” Fox said. “We were going through a stretch there where we struggling to put the ball in the back of the net.
“We just needed somebody technical and clinical in front of the goal, and I think since we’ve made the move, we’ve scored around 10 goals.”
Metzger remains a force at midfield, where 13 times he changed the direction of the game with a steal or interception. He also had three shots, including two on goal.
“He’s been doing that since he was a freshman,” Fox said. “You could tell as soon as he came into the program that he was a talented player.
“He gets complimented by the other coaches — he creates a kind of controlled chaos, if you will. He always just finds a way to end up with the ball at his feet. He’s a real talented player and we’re lucky to have him for one more year.”
Southview coach Andy Kufel said the perennial powers of the NLL can no longer write off the Bobcats as an automatic win.
“Josh is a great coach. He’s been working hard with the program for a couple years now and he’s been a very positive role model for his players,” Kufel said. “This is a result of that. He’s put in a lot of work, and they are playing off that. It’s good to see because it makes for more competitive games, which we all love.”
BG has three regular season games remaining before heading into the Division II tournament. Fox is hoping the Bobcats can make a run.
“I really like this squad. This senior class is the group that I came in with,” Fox said. “We have got a strong junior class, too, and we knew that this would be the year if we wanted to do something.
