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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Wednesday, August 29
Bowling Green, OH
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Michigan State
Falcons Face MSU, Marshall at Cochrane Field this Week
August 28, 2012 | Men's Soccer
BGSU MEN'S SOCCER NOTES - PDF
MICHAEL WIEST NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Scroll to the bottom of the page for interviews with Eric Nichols, Joey D'Agostino & Zach Lemke
Click here or scroll down for highlights from the Falcons' win over Saint Bonaventure
Then, Marshall University comes to town for a Saturday-night match (Sept. 1). Kickoff for that contest is also set for 7:00 p.m. at Cochrane. All 10 of BGSU's home matches in 2012 will be held under the lights.
Live stats for Saturday night's match, and for all BGSU home contests, will be available via BGSUFalcons.com.
The Brown and Orange opened the regular season with a 3-0 win over Saint Bonaventure on Saturday night (Aug. 25), before a crowd of 2,076 on 'Alumni Night' at Cochrane. It marked the second-straight season and the third time in the four years of the Nichols Era that BGSU posted a shutout win in the home opener.
Sophomore Danny Baraldi and juniors Brandon Silva and Ryan Comiskey scored the Falcons' goals vs. the Bonnies. Baraldi, who was involved in 13 of BG's 22 goals in 2011, gave the hosts the lead in the 20th minute of the match, converting a pass from junior Anthony Grant.
Comiskey was taken down in the box midway through the second half, and Silva converted the ensuing penalty kick for a 2-0 lead. Comiskey sealed the deal with a goal of his own, closing the scoring with 10-and-a-half minutes remaining. Senior Chris McLean drew the assist on BG's final goal.
Michigan State is 0-1-1 on the young season, having played a pair of defensive battles over the weekend. The Spartans tied Valparaiso, 0-0, on Friday (Aug. 24), as goalkeeper Bryce Dobbins made four saves in his first collegiate start. Then, on Sunday (Aug. 26), New Hampshire scored in the 103rd minute for a 1-0, double-overtime victory over the Green and White.
Last year, coach Damon Rensing's club finished with an overall record of 7-8-4 and a 2-2-2 Big Ten Conference mark. The Spartans were picked to finish third in the Big Ten in 2012, in the league's preseason poll.
Marshall is 1-0-0 on the season, after a 2-0 win over Wright State on Friday in Charleston, W.Va. The Thundering Herd got a pair of goals from Tom Jackson in the win over the Raiders, while Daniel Withrow posted the shutout. On Monday (Aug. 27), Withrow was named the Conference USA's Defensive Player of the Week. He was named the league's preseason Defensive Player of the Year earlier in the month.
A year ago, head coach Bob Gray's club finished with an 8-8-1 overall record, including a 4-3-1 ledger in league play. Gray welcomed back 17 letterwinners from that club.
The Falcons trail Michigan State by a narrow 17-16-6 margin in the all-time series between the teams. BGSU is 10-8-2 in home matches against the Spartans. MSU won 2-1 decisions from the Falcons in both 2009 and 2010, and the teams battled to a 0-0, double-overtime deadlock in rainy East Lansing last season (Oct. 19, 2011). In last year's match, Michael Wiest made five saves en route to the shutout.
BGSU leads Marshall, 8-3-1, in that series. The teams' last meeting came on Sept. 1, 2009, exactly three years to the day before this year's matchup between the Falcons and Herd. In that 2009 game, BGSU picked up a 2-0 win at Cochrane Field in Nichols's first match as coach of the Falcons. That victory snapped a three-match series unbeaten streak for the Thundering Herd. BG is 5-1-0 in meetings with Marshall at Cochrane.
Following this week's matches, the Falcons will take to the road for the next three games. That stretch includes a pair of matches in Conway, S.C., against Wofford (Sept. 7) and host Coastal Carolina (Sept. 9), as well as a trip to Cleveland State (Sept. 14).
ADDITIONAL FALCON NOTES
• Nichols has announced the addition of Tanner Planck to the 2012 roster. Planck, a freshman from Valparaiso, Ind. (Wheeler H.S.), practiced with the team on Tuesday (Aug. 28) and will be in uniform for the Michigan State match.
• In Saturday's SBU match, junior goalkeeper Michael Wiest made a total of seven saves to tie his career best. The shutout was the seventh of his career (in 14 starts), and his fifth in eight career starts at Cochrane Field.
• For his efforts vs. the Bonnies, Wiest was named the MAC Player of the Week on Tuesday. It marked BGSU's first conference P-O-W honoree since November of 2010.
• The Falcons played without several veteran players, including junior Zach Schewee, against SBU. Schewee, who had started all 36 matches since coming to BGSU, sat out the contest due to a double-yellow red card received in the final game of 2011.
• Saturday's win came before a crowd of 2,076 at Cochrane. That attendance figure is the second-largest single-game total in the last 15 years, trailing only the crowd of 2,133 for the 2011 season opener, a 2-0 win over #9 Michigan.
• Sophomore Danny Baraldi now has 20 career points to lead active Falcons. Baraldi has six goals and eight assists in 19 career games at BGSU.
• Junior Ryan Comiskey's goal was the fifth of his Falcon career, and he now has 12 points since coming to BG. Another junior, Brandon Silva, now has four goals and 10 points as a Falcon.
• Junior Anthony Grant scored his first career point at BG in his Falcon debut, with an assist on Baraldi's goal. Grant, a transfer from McKendree (Ill.) University, had a school-record total of 53 points for the Bearcats last season.
• Grant was one of two first-time BG starters, along with freshman Jake Genrich, for the Brown and Orange.
• Senior Chris McLean also scored his first career point with an assist on Comiskey's goal vs. the Bonnies.
Off The Pitch: Jack Bennett (Oct. 22, 2025)
Thursday, October 23
Off The Pitch: Ryko Bodurov (Oct. 16, 2025)
Friday, October 17
Eric Nichols Post-Match Interview (Oct. 10, 2025)
Saturday, October 11
Trace Terry Post-Match Interview (Oct. 10, 2025)
Saturday, October 11