BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The IU Indianapolis men's soccer team opened the 2025 campaign with a 1-1 road draw at Bowling Green, who was recently picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason polls. Senior transfer Youri Keijser registered a goal in the opening minutes of the second half and senior Cameron Maung-Maung made four saves in an impressive performance in goal. 

Equally impressive was the defensive work done in the middle by Brady Horn and Jago Thompson-Roberts, helping bottle up a BGSU attack that scored 40 times a season ago. 

"Mixed feelings, I'll be honest, and I think the guys share the same thought," head coach Sid van Druenen said. "I think if we isolate the performance from the result, we're very, very happy with the performance. I thought the guys competed in a very, very tough environment. I think we won a lot of the physical battles. I think we outshot the opponent and I don't think we did that at all last year, so I think a lot of positives. 

"Flip side of that is we felt like we could've gotten a win here today and so the result is disappointing for us. Overall for the first game, it's not bad, but I do want to make it clear that there was more in the game tonight."

BGSU (0-0-1) had the better run of play in the opening 45 minutes, but each side had scoring chances before halftime. The Jaguar attack ran largely through Nathaniel Isom on the left side and a couple testers from Stan Klaver from long distance. However, it was the Jags that struck first in the second half, continuing to excel on the flanks. 

Christian Nielsen got free on the right side and calmly sent a ball through traffic in the 49th minute, leading to Keijser redirecting a shot past BGSU goalkeeper Enzo Gil for the season's first goal. The Jags continued to press for a second goal behind Isom and Keijser before the Falcons stemmed the tide midway through the stanza. 

BGSU pulled even in the 78th minute when Bennett Painter got on the end of an Andrew Shaffer corner kick and lasered a header past Maung-Maung for an equalizer. 

Junior Jose Antonio Herrera nearly authored the winner in the final minute with a blast on frame, forcing Gil to a sprawling save to punch the attempt over the bar. The Jags were unable to threaten on their fifth and final corner kick of the evening. 

BGSU finished with an 11-5 margin in corner kicks while the Jaguars had a 17-16 shot advantage. Keijser led the Jags with four attempts and Klaver had three. IU Indy forced Gil into seven saves while Maung-Maung made four saves - two in each half. 

The Jaguars will continue the stretch of five road games to open the season on Sunday night (Aug. 24) when they take on Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m.