DEKALB, Ill. -- Charlie Maciejewski scored in the seventh minute of overtime to lift Bowling Green to a 2-1 victory over the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team on Saturday night at the NIU Soccer Complex. After falling behind, junior Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette) scored to bring the Huskies back level, only to fall in the extra session for the second consecutive game.

"Bowling Green came in with a very good game plan, executed it and we had a hard time breaking them down," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "I thought this was one of our poorer performances of the year, but that was based on how they played, they did a good job making things difficult for us.

"Obviously very frustrated to lose another overtime game. Now it's important to turn things around and get a good result against Drake."

The early moments of the match were extremely cagey with neither team creating much in the way of scoring chances until NIU junior goalkeeper Konrad Dziedzic (Schiller Park, Ill./West Virginia) made himself big and got a touch on a ball from Bowling Green's Tate Robertson. 

Two minutes later, the first good chance for the Huskies fell to junior Irvin Dominguez (El Paso, Texas/Richland College) as his shot was tipped over the crossbar by Falcon goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia. 

In the 42nd minute, NIU (7-5, 0-2 MAC) had the last good look of the opening 45 as freshman Louis Sala (West Bloomfield, Mich./Orchard Lake St. Mary's) rang a shot off the post, but the match went to the intermission scoreless.

Bowling Green (4-5-3, 1-0-1 MAC) broke the deadlock in the 56th minute as Ebenezer Ackon rose highest in the box and powered home a corner kick by Tate Robertson to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead. 

The lead lasted just over two minutes as Maertins netted his fourth goal of the season to bring the Huskies back level. Senior Kevin Rodriguez (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) began the buildup in midfield, playing the ball to Maertins who gave it to freshman Diego Sanz (Mompia, Spain/La Marina) out wide. Sanz played a perfect cross back to Maertins who finished past Mwembia from about 10 yards to equalize for NIU. 

With just over nine minutes remaining, Bowling Green was reduced to 10 men as Peter Pugliese received his second yellow card of the contest. 

Despite being down a man, the Falcons had the last real chance of regulation as a free kick in the middle third fell to Chris Sullivan in the box and his shot from a tight angle was stopped by Dziedzic, the follow-up by Moe Mustafa was skied harmlessly over the goal as extra time was need to separate the Huskies and Falcons. 

The first shot of the extra period was all Bowling Green needed as Achille Robin played a free kick into the path of Robertson who flicked the ball to Maciejewski all alone in the box and he finished to give Bowling Green the victory. 

Dziedzic finished the night with four saves for the Huskies, Mwembia had three stops for the Falcons. 

NIU will return to action on Tuesday night, Oct. 16, when the Huskies step back out of conference as they host Drake. Kickoff against the Bulldogs is scheduled for 7 p.m.