KALAMAZOO, Mich.- Western Michigan battled from behind, scoring two second-half goals to defeat Bowling Green 2-1 Saturday. The Bronco win, coupled with a Hartwick loss against Northern Illinois, secured WMU the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament. The Broncos advance to postseason play for the third time in as many seasons under head coach Stu Riddle.
"We had a couple of players step up today and drive this team to victory," said Riddle. "We spoke prior to the game about eliminating individual errors and creating individual brilliance and we got some brilliance from Sean (Lewis) and Kai (Mendes) today.
"This team has proved to be very resilient, to come from two goals down twice last week to earn a tie and from a goal down to day to win in such an important game is terrific."
Bowling Green took a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute when Danny Baraldi scored off a free kick at the top of the 18. The Falcons' leading scorer curled his shot to the right of the wall and past WMU keeper Sean Lewis. BGSU held a slight 6-5 shot advantage in the first half.
Western Michigan evened the score at one goal apiece just after the 62 minute mark when Luis Lemus connected with Pat Schiffer. Lemus chased down a ball punched out off a free kick and served it back into the box from the right side. Schiffer muscled his way in the air to get a poke past BGSU goalkeeper Miguel Rosales. Rosales initially appeared to make the save, but as he was scrambling on his stomach the ball squirted over the line.
The goal for Schiffer was his fourth of the season, and couldn't have been sweeter for the senior captain, coming in his final home game. A Bowling Green protest led to a second yellow card and an early exit for Zach Schewee, forcing the Falcons to play a man down the rest of the game.
A penalty kick two minutes later gave BGSU a golden opportunity to retake the lead but Lewis came up with his biggest save of the season. Brandon Silva sent his strike low to Lewis' left, which the sophomore keeper batted away. Derek Scrauben got rid of the rebound and the score remained tied at 1-1.
Kai Mendes netted the game winner in the 69th minute, ripping a bullet into the far right corner. Uriah Polley skillfully worked his way through the midfield and played out wide to Mendes racing down the left wing. Mendes cut back through the 18 and unleashed his fourth goal of the season from the corner of the six.
Lewis made two more big saves in the next five minutes, coming off his line and diving to his right to stop a shot by Silva and then punching a screamer off the foot of Rodcliff Hall over the top of the net. He finished the game with three saves.
With the victory, WMU improved to 6-11-2 on the season and 2-2-2 in the Mid-American Conference. Bowling Green was eliminated from postseason contention and finishes the year 7-8-3, 1-4-1 MAC.
Western Michigan will face No. 1 seed Akron Friday, Nov. 11, at 5 p.m. in the MAC Tournament Semifinals. No. 2 seed Northern Illinois and No. 3 seed Buffalo follow in the second semifinal game at 8 p.m. Akron earned the right host the conference tournament once again at FirstEnergy Stadium after winning its seventh-straight regular season title. The Broncos and Zips met in the championship game last year, Akron taking the title and going on to win the school's first ever national championship.
