Despite solid goalkeeping from freshman Tyler Blackmer, the Wright State men’s soccer team gave up an own goal in double-overtime to fall to Bowling Green 1-0 Tuesday evening as the Falcons took the I-75 Cup.
The Raiders drop to 3-8-1 on the season after losing their fourth contest in a row and have a very important home match against Green Bay on Saturday.
The match was scoreless until BGSU scored on an own goal that went off the head of a WSU defender in the 104th minute.
“You have to come out and give a full 90 (minute performance) every game,” Blackmer said. “When you don’t play a full 90, little moments like that will going to cost you. We can’t let that happen. [We] had to put that one away in regulation.”
Leading up to the goal, the Raiders’ defense was unyielding and Blackmer was spot on five saves on the BGSU offense.
“We had some players doing some really good things, I just think we’re not doing enough to win games right now,” WSU head coach Bryan Davis said. “We have to get back to work, tonight was not good enough.”
WSU’s offense failed to generate many chances and getting balls through the Falcons’ defense posed a tough challenge for WSU. The Raiders best chance came in the closing seconds of regulation as forward Brett Elder nearly booted a shot in before it was blocked wide of the net.
Blackmer, a 6-foot-3 freshman from Boise, Idaho, has been enjoying the most of his opportunity over the last month as the Raiders’ starting keeper.
“We all have to trust each other as a team,” Blackmer said. “It is not a sport where one player makes or break a team. So I do enjoy the pressure, I am not going to lie, pressure is great and I just like rising up to it.”
Saturday’s contest perhaps is nearly a must win in order for the Raiders to host a first-round matchup in the Horizon League Tournament. Green Bay enters Saturday’s contest with WSU just two points ahead of the Raiders.
“At this point in the Horizon League, we need to win a game,” Davis said. “We’re just losing and losing and it is a learned behavior.”
