INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Butler men's soccer team used a late penalty kick goal by Wilmer Cabrera Jr. to slip past Western Michigan 2-1 on Friday in the season opener for both teams. The Broncos led 1-0 at the half on a goal from senior midfielder Sam Biek before the Bulldogs answered with two tallies in the second stanza.
"Give Butler credit," head coach Chad Wiseman said. "They played harder than us on the day and deserved to win. If we're rating the 90 minutes overall, we were not as sharp as I would have liked to see. Player selection for the road trip and match is on me. I did not get that right tonight. We have a few days to reevaluate before our home opener."
Western Michigan had the better of play in the opening 45, registering three shots to Butler's two and scoring first. Just seven minutes into the contest, sophomore Eric Conerty nearly had the first goal of the campaign as his shot sailed just high. Cabrera Jr. registered both of Butler's shots in the opening half within the first 19 minutes.
In the 25th minute, Biek found the back of the net off a free kick, sending the ball into the upper right corner for Western Michigan's initial goal of 2019.
"We had a moment of brilliance with Sam's free kick goal," Wiseman said of the play.
Neither team registered a shot for the remainder of the opening half.
In the second half, Butler broke through in the 51st minute as Jack Haywood's through ball found Brandon Guhl's foot and allowed him to send it past Lukas Von Lienen for the tying tally.
WMU nearly regained the lead just five minutes later as senior captain Giuseppe Vitale's shot was saved by Butler's Gabriel Gjergji. With both teams going quietly for the next 10 minutes, it was Conerty who forced Gjergji into another save at the 75:20 mark.
Sophomore Mike Melaragni had another shot on goal in the 80th minute that would have put the Broncos ahead, but Gjergji again made the save.
From there, the Bulldog offense picked up the pace, with Griffin DeBolt and Cabrera Jr. firing at Von Lienen in the 81st and 82nd minutes.
Melaragni forced Gjergji into another save in the 84th minute, but could not knock it through the lower left and the contest remained even at 1-1.
Cabrera Jr. then earned the deciding strike. After his shot from close range was saved by Von Lienen, a foul was called on the Bronco goalkeeper, awarding Cabrera Jr. a penalty kick. Von Lienen guessed correctly and nearly got a hand on the ball, but could not stop it from going into the lower right corner for the deciding strike.
Freshman Dylan Sing tallied Western Michigan's last shot with 1:01 to play, but it went wide left.
"I was disappointed in some of our more experience players' performances tonight," Wiseman added. "We looked immature, lacked toughness and discipline at the most important times of the game."
Overall, Butler led the Broncos in shots 12-9 with 10 coming after intermission. Von Lienen finished with two saves while Gjergji had five for the Bulldogs.
Western Michigan hosts Niagara for its home opener on Monday and the team's annual Soccer Fest. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. with a live stream available on WMUBroncos.com.
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