Falcons Open Season with 2-0 Win Over IUPUI

Friday, August 29

Bowling Green, Ohio

6:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

1-0-0

IUPUI (Camper Reunion Night)

0-1-0

IUPUI

Bowling Green

August 29, 2014 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Flynn, Baraldi find the net; Landsberger makes five stops in collegiate debut

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

BGSU's Jacob Roth takes a free kick during first-half action of
the Falcons' season-opening 2-0 win Friday night

Goals by Pat Flynn and Danny Baraldi lifted the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team to a 2-0 win over IUPUI Friday night (Aug. 29). The match, the season opener for both clubs, was held at Cochrane Field on the BGSU campus.

The Falcons won the regular-season opener for the fourth consecutive season, and all four of those matches have been shutout victories at Cochrane. BGSU now has a record of 5-0-1 in season-opening matches in the Eric Nichols Era, having outscored the opposition, 14-0, in those six matches.

LINKS
BGSU-IUPUI POST-MATCH NOTES
FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
POST-MATCH VIDEO: Flynn | Landsberger | Nichols

The win was the 400th in program history. BGSU now has a record of 400-343-78 since the inception of the varsity program in 1965.

Flynn, a sophomore in his first season with the Falcons, scored in the 27th minute to give the home side the lead for good. Baraldi, a senior tri-captain, doubled that lead with an unassisted goal just over an hour into the match.

Redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger made five saves to earn a shutout in his first collegiate match. Those five saves included several spectacular stops, and the Falcons had a 'team save' as well, as Flynn headed a ball off the goal line in the second half of play.

BGSU outshot the visitors by an 18-11 count, and the Falcons put nine shots on goal to the Jags' six. Baraldi and sophomore Joe Sullivan tied for game honors with four shot attempts, and Baraldi put three of his efforts on frame.

The Falcons' advantage in shots included a 12-3 margin in the opening period. The Jags fired the first shot of the night, as Landsberger parried, then grabbed, a shot from Ryan Olans at point-blank range with just under five minutes gone. But, BGSU then took the next nine shots of the evening.

Sophomore Jacob Roth's long ball forward found the foot of Flynn, who fired a low shot that was saved by IUPUI 'keeper Eduardo Cortes with just over 10 minutes gone. Two minutes later, Flynn slid a pass to Baraldi, who blasted a hard shot that was right at Cortes.

A Roth corner kick found the head of classmate Jake Genrich, but his shot sailed over the crossbar. Moments later, Flynn put senior Vlad Lekarev down the right side, but his shot attempt sailed just wide of the upper-right-hand corner of the net.

Midway through the opening period, Flynn received a pass and played a nifty backheel to Baraldi at the top of the box. Baraldi put a great deal of force behind his low shot, but Cortes was able to make the save.

With 20 minutes to go before halftime, BGSU possessed the ball for nearly a minute, stringing together a double-digit total of passes, before junior Ryan James fired a shot from distance that cleared the bar.

Just over a minute later, the Falcons got on the board. Redshirt sophomore Max Auden, on the left side of the pitch, slid a pass to James. The junior nearly fell down as he stepped on the ball, but quickly recovered to maintain possession. James slid the ball to an open Flynn at the top of the box, and the DePaul transfer took a touch before neatly tucking the ball away in the lower-left corner of the net. James and Auden drew assists on the goal, which came at the 26:03 mark.

The Falcons, already owning the lion's share of the possession in the opening half, seemed to gain additional energy after the goal. BG quickly got the ball back, and Baraldi was fouled outside the box. His free kick sailed just high from 25 yards out.

Just over a minute later, a Lekarev cross was redirected by Baraldi. The ball went to sophomore Joe Sullivan in the box, who put his one-timer inches wide of the far post.

The second half saw the Jags play the Brown and Orange a little more evenly in the early going, although Sullivan's curving shot nearly found the far post in the 51st minute. For the second time in the match, Genrich got his head on a Roth corner kick, again putting the ball over the bar.

As the match reached the hour mark, Baraldi doubled the home team's lead. The senior stole the ball deep in the IUPUI end, and with only the 'keeper to beat, quickly fired the ball into the lower-right-hand corner of the goal. The unassisted marker gave the Falcons some insurance, which would come in handy as the visitors had several solid chances over the remaining 30 minutes of play.

With 19 minutes to go in the match, Landsberger made back-to-back saves on IUPUI's Jacob Singer. The redshirt soph ventured to the left side of the six-yard box to deny the visiting striker. The ball caromed high into the air, and Singer tracked it down a little closer to the center of the box. Somehow, though, Landsberger scrambled to his feet, got into position and made a diving save of the follow-up try.

Ten-and-a-half minutes remained in the contest when the Jags' Lance Davis played a corner kick from the left side. An IUPUI teammate headed the ball back across the goalmouth, and Emmanuel Usen hit a shot from close range. Landsberger got a glove on the ball with a lunging effort, but the shot continued toward the goal line. Flynn, however, was stationed in the goalmouth, and headed the ball off of the line, enabling the Falcons to clear the ball out of danger.

The remainder of the match saw just one more shot on goal, as Landsberger stopped an effort by Usen with just over eight minutes to go. Landsberger's clean sheet, as mentioned, came in his first-ever match as a Falcon.

At the other end of the pitch, Cortes made seven stops in his 62-plus minutes of work. Christian Lomeli played the final 27:03 in goal for the Jaguars and did not face a shot on net.

The Brown and Orange will return to the Cochrane Field pitch on Tuesday night (Sept. 2), hosting the University of Findlay in a 7:00 p.m. start.