Grant's Late Goal Lifts Falcons Past Western, 2-1

Friday, October 5

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Western Michigan

October 05, 2012 | Men's Soccer

Baraldi has a three-point night in BGSU's win

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Junior Anthony Grant's goal with just over 14 minutes remaining lifted the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team to a 2-1 win over Western Michigan University Friday night (Oct. 5). The Mid-American Conference match was held at a rainy Cochrane Field.

BGSU 2, WMU 1 - PDF Boxscore
BGSU 2, WMU 1 - HTML Stats
Scroll down for postgame highlights and interviews with Eric Nichols and Anthony Grant

With the victory, the Falcons improve to 4-5-2 overall, and BGSU is now 1-2-0 in MAC play. The Broncos drop to 7-3-2 and 0-1-1, respectively.

For the second consecutive home game, sophomore Danny Baraldi had a three-point night. Baraldi scored the first goal of the match on a first-half free kick, then had an assist on Grant's goal.

Baraldi's goal began an incredibly busy stretch which lasted less than a minute in total match time, but which saw a great deal of action at each end of the pitch.

The BGSU soph scored at the 10:46 mark, and WMU starting goalkeeper Sean Lewis was injured on the play. Lewis had to leave the match, as Adriano Deabreu took his place between the posts.

Just 34 seconds later, the Broncos equalized on a goal by Jason Grant. BGSU 'keeper Michael Wiest was shaken up, but was able to remain in the match. The contest remained deadlocked until the Falcons' Grant scored at 75:43.

For the Falcons, the win snapped a five-game Western Michigan series winning streak. Prior to Friday night, BGSU's last win over the Broncos came in late October of 2007.

A light rain was falling as the match began, and the precipitation increased as the game wore on. The weather did not seem to affect the offenses early in the contest, as the teams combined for three shot attempts in the first two-plus minutes.

After Shane Lyons shot wide for the visitors with 1:10 gone, Baraldi came down the middle of the park and fired a hard shot just over the crossbar only 25 seconds later. WMU's Oliver Mayer uncorked a shot at the 2:06 mark, but that shot sailed high as well.

After that fast start to the match, the Falcons and Broncos combined for only one shot attempt over the next eight-plus minutes, as another Mayer effort was blocked by the BG defense. But, Baraldi gave the Falcons the lead with his team's next shot.

A WMU foul gave the Falcons a free kick approximately 25 yards out. Baraldi took that kick from the right side of the pitch, and the ball skipped off of the wet turf and past Lewis into the net. For Baraldi, who also scored in the 2011 match with the Broncos, the goal was his BG-leading fifth of the year, matching his total for his entire freshman season.

Baraldi's shot had gone just inside the far post, and Lewis remained down for several minutes, eventually being replaced by Deabreu. When play resumed, it didn't take the Broncos long to respond to the Baraldi goal.

The Falcons were whistled for a foul in the WMU end of the field, and a long free kick by Darren Jones sailed into the BG end. Lyons got his head on the ball, nodding it in the direction of Grant. Grant fired it into the net for his second goal of the year.

What appeared to be a quality scoring chance for the Falcons came with just over 20 minutes left. After some nifty ball movement enabled the Falcons to keep possession for a lengthy amount of time, junior Zach Schewee played a ball over the WMU defense to the onrushing Grant. But, the assistant referee's flag was raised, indicating offside.

Several minutes later, Schewee played a cross into the box for classmate Ryan Snashall, but Snashall's shot attempt was off the mark.

With only three minutes left before the intermission, a Western flurry saw the Broncos get a pair of shots from point-blank range. Wiest blocked an offering from Kyle Farris at the left post, then smothered a follow-up try by Sean Hazen. That sequence ended when Hazen slid into Wiest, drawing a foul and a yellow card.

The Broncos, who held a 10-6 first-half advantage in shots, fired the first five attempts of the second period. Jones blasted a free kick well over the bar in the 47th minute, but Erik Kelly picked up a loose ball in the box several minutes later and hit a low shot that went just wide of the left post.

After a Jones corner kick in the 56th minute of play, WMU's Yllson Asani hit a shot that was blocked, with the ball bouncing back to the Bronco senior. His second attempt went high, but the visitors were threatening to break the tie.

As the match neared the hour mark, however, the Falcons began to even the time-of-possession ledger somewhat. Snashall played a through ball to Grant, and as Deabreu came charging out of the penalty area, the BG junior poked the ball past him. A Western defender, however, was able to beat Grant to the ball and clear it out of play.

Each team had two shots over the next 15 minutes of play, before Grant gave the Brown and Orange the lead for good.

The winning goal came after a foul on the Broncos near midfield. Baraldi's long free kick from the right side of the field sailed into the penalty box, where fifth-year senior Zach Lemke got his head on the ball. Lemke, heading from left to right across the box, flicked it back behind him to the waiting Grant.

The BG junior, in traffic in the center of the box, managed to fire a low turnaround shot that beat the diving Deabreau. Lemke and Baraldi drew assists on the play, which proved to be Grant's second game-winning goal of the season.

The Broncos increased the pressure over the remainder of the match, but the Falcons defended well, turning each Western threat aside to earn the MAC win.

For the match, the Broncos had a 20-9 advantage in shots, including a 7-2 margin in shots on goal. Both of the Falcons' shots on target, however, found the back of the net. Wiest made six saves in his complete-game win for the home side.

The Falcons now step outside of conference play, heading to Columbus for a Wednesday (Oct. 10) match with The Ohio State University. That contest begins a stretch of three games in a seven-day span for the Brown and Orange, who will return to Cochrane Field next Saturday night (Oct. 13) to host the University at Buffalo. Kickoff for both the OSU and UB matches is 7:00 p.m.