KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's soccer team defeated Bowling Green by a score of 1-0 in a defensive battle at the WMU Soccer Complex on Saturday afternoon, improving to 11-5-1 overall and 2-1-1 in Mid-American Conference play. The Broncos have now earned seven shutout victories during the 2019 campaign and are 4-0-2 in their last six contests with the Falcons. 

"It was a great team win today," said head coach Chad Wiseman. "Bowling Green is a very strong defensive team. They sit in two deep blocks and it's hard to create anything against them centrally."

The lone goal of the match came in the 35th minute, when senior midfielder Anthony Bowie got free in the box and drove a ball past BGSU goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia for his sixth of the year. Bowie only trails freshman midfielder Charlie Sharp on his team in that category, as Sharp has scored seven goals this season. 

"We took advantage of our best chance in the first half with Bowie smashing one in," Wiseman remarked. "I thought we were very strong on both sides of the ball today. The chances we created were very dangerous and we were a little unlucky to not find a second goal."

Graduate transfer Sam Biek was outstanding for the Broncos defensively, helping his squad earn its second consecutive shutout following an overtime win at Detroit Mercy on Tuesday. 

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Isaac Walker made two saves in net for WMU and is now 9-2-1 on the year with six shutouts. He is currently tied for fourth all-time in program history for victories in a season. 

"We weathered the opening ten minutes of the second half when Bowling Green had us pinned back," Wiseman stated. "Daniel Nimick and Antonio Rizzo both had great performances off the bench for us."

Western Michigan will conclude regular season play next Saturday, as they will welcome SIU Edwardsville to Kalamazoo for a MAC match-up at 1 p.m.

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