DEKALB, Ill. -- In a hard-fought contest that featured 52 total fouls, the 22nd-ranked Northern Illinois University men's soccer team and 17th-ranked Bowling Green each remained unbeaten in Mid-American Conference play as the Huskies and Falcons played to a 1-1 draw on Saturday night (Oct. 16) at the NIU Soccer Complex. Zachariah Thomas (Burnaby, British Columbia/Moscrop Secondary) opened the scoring for NIU, and Jacob Erlandson canceled out the early Huskie lead. 

"It was everything we expected coming in," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "Bowling Green is ranked number 17 in the country and their work rate is phenomenal. I don't think there is another team in the country that covers as much ground as they do, they are relentless out there. We matched that well, we managed to find our opportunities to play out and I thought we were the stronger team at the end. 

"We are always disappointed when we don't win, but I think this was a good college soccer game between two teams that are having really good seasons, so the tie is probably a fair result."

After tonight's result, NIU is now 10-1-1 overall, 2-0-1 in league play, and is unbeaten in its last 10 matches. Bowling Green is 9-2-2, 2-0-1 in the conference. 

Bowling Green had the first chance of the contest from a free kick as the Falcons played the ball toward the end line before cutting it back for a shot by Michael Montemurri that was stopped by NIU goalkeeper Martin Sanchez (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) in the seventh minute. 

Three minutes later the Falcons hit the crossbar as NIU attempted to clear the second ball from a corner, but it fell to Kale Nichols. This first shot was blocked and the rebound came right back to him and he cannoned his second attempt off the woodwork before in was scrambled away by the Huskies. 

It was the Huskies that went in front on the quarter-hour mark as Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) forced a turnover and fed the ball to Thomas near the top of the box. Thomas took one touch to get away from a Bowling Green defender before slotting his second touch past Bowling Green goalkeeper Logan Kowalczyk from about eight yards to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. 

The Falcons pulled the goal back through Erlandson in the 34th minute. Bowling Green won a foul wide by the touchline and Nathan Masters whipped the ball in to near the top of the six-yard box where Erlandson rose above the crowd and headed home the tying goal.

Erlandson's goal ended a streak of 714:40 for NIU without conceding a goal, a stretch that dated back to Sept. 7 at Eastern Illinois. 

After the interval, neither goalkeeper was called into action until the 78th minute when Pepe Martinez (Sant antoni de vilamajor, Spain/Western Michigan) backheeled an initial shot from Enrique Banuelos (Mexico City, Mexico/Virginia) but it was easily collected by Kowalczyk.

Three minutes later, NIU was nearly back in front as Nick Markanich got on the end of diagonal ball from his brother, Anthony Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais), worked around one defender and looped a ball toward goal that was cleared off the line by a Bowling Green defender. 

That was the final chance for either side in the 90 minutes as the contest went to overtime. 

NIU had the only two chances of the first extra, 10-minute period as Miguel Maynez Jr. (El Paso, Texas/New Mexico) fired a shot from inside the 'D' that was held by Kowalczyk in the 93rd minute. In the 98th, Eddie Knight (Frisco, Texas/Lone Star) collected the ball 10 yards from goal and quickly turned with a shot that sailed over the crossbar. 

The Huskies had a penalty shout with just over two minutes left in the second overtime but neither team recorded a shot in the final 10 minutes as NIU and Bowling Green were forced to share the points. 

Sanchez made three saves in the contest for NIU, Kowalczyk had two stops for the Falcons. 

Next weekend, the Huskies head south to make a two-game swing through the State of Georgia, beginning on Thursday, Oct. 21, when they face Georgia Southern.