SPRINGFIELD - No. 15-ranked Missouri State men's soccer extended its winning streak to five games and unbeaten streak to 10 matches in a 2-1 thriller against Bowling Green at Betty & Bobby Allison South Stadium on Sunday. Two of the Bears' leading scorers, senior forwards Jesus Barea and Fumiya Shiraishi, paved the way for Missouri State to extend its lead in the Missouri Valley Conference.

"The conference this year is just so strong," head coach Michael Seabolt said. "Bowling Green showed that tonight how good a team they are. They're a top, top team. We've played a lot of good teams this year, and they're very good."

The Bears controlled the tempo and owned the ball for much of the 90 minutes. Missouri State outshot Bowling Green, 14-5. The first half set the tone as the Bears put up five shots in the first 24 minutes and led the category, 9-1, in the first 45 minutes. Missouri State was brimming to score going to the half with three consecutive shots in the final six minutes.

Missouri State kept the pressure up from the moment the whistle blew to start the second half. Barea broke away in transition in the 50th minute with only goalkeeper Brendan Graves to beat. Graves deflected the initial shot from Barea back to him, but his rebound shot went over the top of the net.

Shiraishi put the Bears on the board first in the 58th minute on a running left-footer that Graves got a hand on, but couldn't keep from hitting the top of the net. The goal was Shirashi's fifth of the season to add to his career-high in a season. Freshman midfielder Daniel Souza and freshman defender Victor Wachowicz set Shiraishi up with the assists.

"It was a great game against a tough team," Souza said. "We knew that we had to stick together to score against them."

The intensity ratcheted up from there. Bowling Green (9-3-2, 3-1-1) brought in forward Bennett Painter in the 62nd minute. After a pair of Bowling Green yellow cards, Painter notched his 10th goal of the season less than 10 minutes later to tie it up.

The Bears once again showed their knack for scoring in the clutch late in games. A throw-in from junior Eli Zelkind into the box to senior Daniel Normann set up a perfect cross to Barea for the game-winning score in the 84th minute. 

"We immediately went back on the front foot to get the second goal," Seabolt said. "It was a great goal from Fumi to get us started and a great goal from Jesus, but as always, they were both team goals because the team worked so hard all night."

The goal was Barea's 13th of the season, the sixth-most by a Bear in a single season. He added his name to the top of the Missouri State history books. His match-leading six shot attempts elevated him to become the program's all-time leader in shot attempts (241), surpassing Jamal Sutton's career total of 236.

"We know that we have more than 11 good players," Normann said of the team. "We know we have a lot of players that can do a lot of good stuff. We're starting to really become a team and it showed again today. There's a lot of noise around the team right now. We're just trying to stay locked in and focus on the stuff we can do something about."

MoState created set pieces all night off of Bowling Green fouls. The Falcons committed a season-high 22 to add to their league-leading total. 

This 34th win for Seabolt as Bears head coach puts him in sole possession for the second most in program history behind Jon Leamy (309).

Missouri State (10-2-1, 5-0-1 MVC) secured its sixth straight double-digit win season. The Bears will have a quick turnaround in their late homestand as they welcome the Saint Louis Billikens (5-2-6, 3-0-3 Atlantic 10) for the first time to Springfield on Wednesday. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m. and admission will be free.