Sullivan, Falcons Best Buffalo, 1-0

Friday, October 4

Buffalo, NY

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Buffalo

October 04, 2013 | Men's Soccer

Wiest posts fourth shutout of season (second in as many matches)

By: BUFFALO, N.Y. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

BGSU men's soccer - Aug 20 2013 - Michael Nemeth photo

Freshman Joe Sullivan scored in the 81st minute, lifting the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team to a 1-0 win over the host University at Buffalo Friday night (Oct. 4). The Mid-American Conference match was held at UB Stadium.

FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF

With the win, the Falcons improve to 2-4-4 overall and 1-1-0 in MAC play. The Bulls drop to 1-7-3 and 0-1-0, respectively.

Senior Michael Wiest made two saves in posting his fourth shutout of the season, and his second in as many matches.

BGSU outshot Buffalo by a 17-7 count, and the Brown and Orange put 11 of those shot attempts on goal.

Junior Danny Baraldi picked up the assist on Sullivan's winner, which came at the 80:18 mark.

"Obviously, it's great to get a win," said BGSU head coach Eric Nichols. "We feel like we've been playing well, and haven't gotten the results we felt like we deserved.

"We pushed hard tonight, and the guys had a great mentality going in. A lot of credit goes to Buffalo - although I thought we created more chances, they were dangerous at multiple times. It was a really tough match, a good performance for us, and a big step forward for us in the conference race."

Baraldi led all players with four shot attempts on the night, with three teammates -- Sullivan and seniors Anthony Grant and Zach Schewee -- firing three apiece. All three of Sullivan's attempts were on frame, while Baraldi and Schewee put two shots on goal apiece.

Waleed Cassis made 10 saves in goal for the home team. BGSU had a total of five corner kicks to the Bulls' one in the match.

Both of Wiest's saves came in the opening half, as he stopped shots by Russell Cicerone and Nicolai Berry within the first 24 minutes of the contest.

The Falcons, having concluded a season-long five-match road swing, now return home for three-straight games at Cochrane Field. BG opens that homestand on Tuesday night (Oct. 8) vs. Detroit in a 7:00 p.m. kickoff.

FALCON NOTES
* Freshman Joe Sullivan's goal was the first of his young career, and -- obviously -- his first game-winning goal as a Falcon.

* Sullivan's goal was the Falcons' second in three matches, after BG had been blanked in the previous five games ... BG scored at Marshall last weekend (Sept. 27), with that goal coming on a penalty kick ... Sullivan's goal was the Falcons' first from scrimmage in a span of 798:25.

* BGSU's eight goals this season have been scored by eight different players.

* Junior Danny Baraldi picked up his first assist of the year on Sullivan's goal ... Baraldi now has 40 career points on 12 goals and 16 assists ... he leads all active Falcons in career goals, assists and points.

* Senior Michael Wiest posted his fourth shutout of the season, and his second in as many matches ... Wiest now has 17 career clean sheets.

* Wiest lowered his goals-against average fo just 0.83 this season ... his career GAA stands at 1.02.

* Buffalo allowed a double-digit shots-on-goal total for the first time since last season's BGSU match ... that game also resulted in a Falcon win, as BG topped UB by a 3-0 score at Cochrane Field (Oct. 13, 2012) ... the Brown and Orange had 2012 season-high totals of 28 shot attempts and 14 SOG in that win.

* Wiest gave up five goals, the most of his BGSU career, in the Falcons' last trip to UB Stadium, two years ago (Oct. 9, 2011) ... he has bounced back to blank the Bulls in each of the teams' last two meetings.