DAYTON, Ohio -- The Western Michigan University men's soccer team was a minute and a half away from another draw, but a late penalty kick handed the Broncos their first loss of the season to the Dayton Flyers.
WMU played from behind for most of Sunday night's 2-1 loss at Dayton after a goal in the first two minutes of the match. The Brown and Gold were able to find an equalizer in the second half as forward
Vitor Geromel had his second goal in as many games in the 76th minute. Western Michigan looked to be into control of the game with three shots in the final nine minutes, but a yellow card in the 89th after a VAR challenge gave the Flyers their winning penalty kick opportunity.
"It was a tough result for us tonight," said Head Coach
Chad Wiseman after the match. "We didn't do enough positive things to win the game. But I'm not sure we deserved to lose the game either. It was a very poor decision by the official at the end of the game [to award a penalty shot after VAR] and is not acceptable at this level."
Forward
Sahel Yessen earned his second point of the 2026 season with the assist on Geromel's score and led the team's offense with four shots across 66 minutes of action. Geromel was the only other Bronco with multiple shots, taking two attempts while five other players had a shot each. Goalkeeper
Alex Lindewirth had another busy match in net, facing 11 shots with three saves through 90 minutes.
The match began with a quick offensive attack from Dayton with a shot and a corner kick in the first minute. The Flyers were able to score off the set piece, putting WMU on the defensive for most of the first half. Yessen recorded the Brown and Gold's first shot of the night at the 22nd minute mark, using some quick footwork to get inside the 18 with a quick attempt going just wide. It then became a back and forth affair on shot attempts until the end of the first half with Western Michigan getting the last attempt in the 41st minute from midfielder Josh Nicholson.
The Broncos began the second half back to defending as Dayton controlled possession for first 15 minutes. WMU's offense began to pick up steam in the 64th minute on another close shot attempt from Yessen. After spending more time in their attacking third, the Brown and Gold scored their equalizing goal in the 77th minute as Yessen put a quick cross through the box to Geromel at the eight, who turned and fired the ball in the bottom right third of the net.
After the goal, Western Michigan held Dayton without a shot until VAR gave the Flyers a PK opportunity in the 89th minute. Dayton was able to score on the last minute PK, as the Broncos recorded their first loss of the season.
"It took us way too long to get into the game," said Wiseman. "Our decisions once we were on the ball are just not good enough right now. This level demands better decisions if you want results."
WMU returns home to Kalamazoo for a weekday matchup on Thursday, August 27. The Brown and Gold will take on the Wisconsin Badgers in their first night game at WMU Soccer Complex on the 27th. Kickoff on Thursday is set for 7:00 p.m.
