Falcons, Jaguars Share the Points on Opening Night

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Junior Bennett Painter scored in the 78th minute as the Bowling Green State University men’s soccer team battled IU Indy to a 1-1 draw on Thursday night (Aug. 21) at Cochrane Stadium.

On the opening night of the regular season, the Falcons and Jaguars battled through a scoreless first half that featured only three total shots on goal. But, Youri Keijser put the visitors on top early in the second half, turning home a low cross from Christian Nielsen.

The Falcons pressed for the equalizer, and that tying goal came with 12:27 to go. Senior Andrew Shaffer took one of the Falcons’ 11 corner kicks of the evening, and the ball found Painter in the center of the penalty area. The junior made no mistake, heading the ball down, where it caromed off of a defender and went past goalkeeper Cameron Maung-Maung and into the net.

In his BGSU debut, junior goalkeeper Enzo Gil made seven saves, including a spectacular stop in the final minute of play. With the Jaguars on the counterattack, Gil made a headlong dive to tip a Jose Antonio Herrera shot over the crossbar.

At the other end of the pitch, Maung-Maung had four saves on the evening.

Tonight’s Man of the Match, sponsored by The Clay Pot Bistro, is Andrew Shaffer!#GoFalcons #AyZiggy 🟠🟤 pic.twitter.com/VWn5yBv5JU

— BGSU Men’s Soccer (@BGSUMSoccer) August 22, 2025

NOTES

• Bennett Painter now has career totals of 17 goals and 40 points in 34 career matches with the Falcons.

• Painter has moved into a tie for 20th place on the BGSU career list for goals.

• Andrew Shaffer now has 14 career assists, leading all active Falcons in that category. He has 30 career points.

• Six players made their respective BGSU debut. Enzo Gil, Giovanni Soares, Caio Tascheto and Joshua Saavedra all were in the starting lineup, while Michael Lindh and Bradley Poppell each saw action off the bench.

• The Falcons are now 11-1-5 in regular-season openers in the Eric Nichols Era. BG is unbeaten in the last seven such matches.

• BGSU now leads the series with IU Indy, 7-1-4, and the Falcons are unbeaten in the last 11 matches with the Jaguars after a loss in the first-ever meeting, in 2004.

UP NEXT

• The Falcons will play three-straight road games, beginning Sunday night (Aug. 24). BGSU travels to Indianapolis to face Butler in a 7:00 p.m. start.

FOR MORE INFORMATION…

• For more information on the BGSU men’s soccer program, follow the Falcons on Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUMSoccer), Instagram (bgfalcons and bgsumsoccer) and Facebook (BGMensSoccer) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.