Falcons Explode Offensively for 8-0 Dismantling of 'Dons

Tuesday, November 5

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

IPFW

November 05, 2013 | Men's Soccer

Comiskey scores two goals to lead BGSU attack in final home game of 2013

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Ryan Comiskey v Malone - Jacob Jake Dorow photo

The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team exploded offensively on Tuesday night (Nov. 5), dismantling visiting IPFW by an 8-0 score at Cochrane Field. The game was both the final home match and the last non-conference contest of 2013 for the Falcons.

With the victory, the Falcons improve to 6-7-5 on the year. The Mastodons drop to 1-14-1.

FINAL STATS: HTML | PDF | PHOTO GALLERY
Scroll down for video of post-match interviews with Danny Baraldi, Ryan Comiskey & Eric Nichols

BGSU's goal output was the program's highest in 17 years. Seven different players scored at least one goal, and a total of nine Falcons had at least one point in the win.

In his final game at Cochrane Field, senior Ryan Comiskey had the first two-goal match of his career. He had nine total shots in the game, nearly doubling his previous career high.

Six of the Falcons' eight goals were scored by seniors. In addition to Comiskey's brace, classmates Zach Schewee, Rodcliff Hall, Brandon Silva and Anthony Grant all found the back of the net.

Juniors Danny Baraldi and Jon Kumher also scored for the Brown and Orange. Kumher's goal was the first of his Falcon career.

At the other end of the pitch, senior Michael Wiest made two saves for his eighth shutout of the season and the 21st of his BG career.

BGSU had season-high totals of 38 shot attempts and 20 shots on goal. In addition to his goal, Baraldi set career bests with three assists and eight shots in the match.

Grant and Schewee each had a four-point game, as both seniors had two assists in addition to scoring a goal.

IPFW goalkeepers Raphael Kotzock and Will Brown each played 45 minutes and each made six saves in the match. Kotzock allowed three goals in the first half, while Brown surrendered the final five Falcon goals.

Schewee got the scoring started at the 4:36 mark. The play began on a throw-in by Baraldi, who assisted on each of BG's three first-half goals. Baraldi's long throw sailed into the box where Grant, facing Baraldi, headed the ball backward to an open Schewee in the center of the box. The senior settled the ball, then drilled it past Kotzock for what proved to be the only goal the Falcons would need.

Comiskey had three shots within the first 18 minutes of the match. His first was blocked out of bounds by Kotzock for a corner kick, and his second, a diving header off of that corner, went just wide. His third, however, found the net.

That scoring play came with 17:50 elapsed. Baraldi played a long ball out of the back. Comiskey raced ahead, caught up to the ball, fought off an IPFW defender and fired a shot just inside the far post.

The 'Dons did not have a shot attempt until midway through the first half, as BG had advantages of 38-6 in shots and 20-2 in shots on goal. IPFW did have an early chance, but as Corey Tom played a cross to Spencer Brown, the assistant referee's flag was raised. Brown headed the ball into the goal, but the play had already been nullified due to offside.

IPFW's first shot that counted came off the boot of Brown. He took a cross from Jacob Murphy and fired, but his curving shot went over the crossbar in the 24th minute.

BG kept threatening, as Schewee hit a shot just wide off of a free kick, junior Vlad Lekarev shot just outside the far post after sophomore Joe Sullivan put him through, and Comiskey's hard shot was parried by Kotzock after a Schewee steal.

Against the run of play, Brown fired a ball into the box from the left side, but Wiest made a nifty diving grab of the shot/cross with under 14 minutes left in the half.

Hall gave the Brown and Orange a three-goal lead with 6:41 to go in the period. Baraldi slid a pass to his left, where Hall was stationed. The senior blasted a shot from roughly 25 yards out, and Kotzock could only watch as it whistled past him and into the net. The Falcons outshot the visitors by a 16-4 count in building that three-goal lead.

In the second half, the shot total was even more lopsided, as BG had a 22-2 advantage in the final 45 minutes. The Falcons' fourth goal of the night came with 12 minutes gone in the period.

That play started with a long run by Schewee. He moved from left to right across the pitch as he worked his way toward the penalty area, then found Comiskey with a pass into the box. Comiskey trapped the ball, and beat Brown for the first two-goal game of his BG career.

The Falcons continued to generate chance after chance. Baraldi stole an errant IPFW pass and quickly hit a shot, but Brown made the save. Moments later, Baraldi got away from two would-be defenders on the sideline near midfield and played a ball ahead to Hall. Hall's shot went just left of the frame.

In the 64th minute, a BG attacker was taken down in the box, and a penalty kick was awarded. Baraldi buried that shot, and the Falcons had a five-goal advantage.

That lead grew to six goals less than 10 minutes later, as Silva found the net. Kumher and Sullivan teamed up to work the ball toward goal from the right side of the field. Kumher's pass found Schewee in the box, and the senior laid it off for Silva near the 18-yard line. The tri-captain's shot was hard, low and in the corner.

Kumher found the scoresheet with just under four minutes to go. Grant's pass was deflected by an IPFW defender, but it went directly to Kumher near the top of the penalty area. Kumher volleyed a shot past Brown for BG's seventh goal of the night.

Grant closed the scoring with 70 seconds remaining. Senior Joey D'Agostino played a ball over the defense to sophomore Ryan James on the left side of the field. James' cross found Grant, who took several dribbled to his right and put the ball just inside the far post. The goal was Grant's fourth of the year, tying him for the team lead with Comiskey.

Wiest was not called upon to make a save in the second half. He and the Falcons' center backs, senior Sean Sikich and sophomore Jake Genrich, each played all 90 minutes on Tuesday night en route to the shutout.

The Falcons now head to Morgantown, W.Va., to close the regular season with a key Mid-American Conference match on Friday night (Nov. 8). BGSU will face West Virginia University in a de facto MAC Tournament match. The Falcons and Mountaineers are currently tied for fourth place in the league standings. A BG win on Friday would give the Falcons the fourth and final berth in the MAC Tournament, while a WVU win or tie would put the Mountaineers into the conference tourney. Kickoff for that match is 7:00 p.m., and links to live stats and video will be available right here at BGSUFalcons.com.

FALCON NOTES
* BGSU's eight-goal output was the team's highest since another 8-0 win nearly two decades ago. The Falcons downed Western Michigan by that score on Nov. 3, 1996. In fact, the '96 team scored eight goals two times in a three-day span, beating Dayton, 8-1, on Nov. 1 before drubbing WMU two days later.

* Tuesday night was the first time the Falcons had scored more than two goals in a game since the season opener, a 5-0 win over Malone at Cochrane Field on Aug. 30, 2013. It was the first time BGSU had scored as many as three goals against an NCAA Division-I opponent sicne late last season, a 3-2 win over Wright State in overtime on Oct. 30, 2012.

* Senior Ryan Comiskey's two-goal game was the first of his Falcon career, and the first by a BG player this season. The last two-goal game by a Falcon came just over a year ago, when Ryan James scored twice in that 2012 Wright State match.

* Comiskey now has four goals this season, tying him with classmate Anthony Grant for the team lead. The Grantville, Pa., native has career totals of 10 goals and 24 points.

* Comiskey scored three goals over the final two home games of his career, having found the net in the Falcons' 1-1 tie vs. Hartwick on Oct. 26.

* Comiskey's total of nine shots in his final home game shattered his previous career high of five. That five-shot output came in his first-ever home game, against Akron on Sept. 11, 2010.

* Junior Danny Baraldi set career single-game standards with three assists and five points. He has had four two-assist matches in his career, and his previous career-best point total was four, in last year's match against Coastal Carolina (Sept. 9, 2012).

* Baraldi's assist total was the highest by a Falcon since at least the 2000 season, and was just one off the school record. Brian Ferguson had four assists in a win over Eastern Michigan on Sept. 20, 1989.

* Baraldi now has 10 points this season, and has reached double digits in each of his first three years at BG. He has 47 career points in 53 games as a Falcon.

* Baraldi has 19 assists at BG, and is just three away from moving into the top 10 on that school list.

* Grant's four-point night gives him a team-leading 11 points this year to date. He has 31 career points in 38 games as a Falcon.

* The four points tied Grant's BGSU single-game high. He also had four points on a pair of goals in last year's win over Buffalo (Oct. 13, 2012).

* Senior Rodcliff Hall's goal on Tuesday was his first since the 2011 season. He scored four goals that year, his first at BG, before sitting out the 2012 campaign. Hall now has five goals and 12 points as a Falcon.

* Junior Jon Kumher had the first three points of his career, with an assist on senior Brandon Silva's goal in the 74th minute and a goal of his own in the 87th minute.

* Senior Zach Schewee's four-point game set a career standard, as did his total of two assists. He scored his first four points of the season in the victory, and now has 10 career points on three goals and four assists.

* Schewee had the first game-winning goal of his BG career on Tuesday evening.

* Silva now has five points this season and 16 in his career.

* Michael Wiest's shutout was his eighth of the season, the highest total by a Falcon since BGSU Hall of Famer Scott Vallow kept 10 clean sheets in 1998. Wiest now has 21 total shutouts in his career.

* Wiest also has career numbers of 212 saves and a goals-against average of 0.95. This season, he has a GAA of just 0.72 and a saves percentage of .831.

* The Falcons completed the home schedule with a record of 3-2-3. BGSU had advantages of 192-83 in shots and 47-19 in corner kicks at Cochrane Field this fall, and the Brown and Orange outscored opponents by a 17-5 count in the eight home matches.