Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, August 30
Bowling Green, OH
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Malone
BG Meets Malone, Michigan at Cochrane over Labor Day Weekend
August 28, 2013 | Men's Soccer
Falcons face Pioneers, Wolverines in season-opening homestand
BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF
MALONE MEN'S SOCCER | MICHIGAN MEN'S SOCCER
FREE ADMISSION TO HOME FALCON FUTBOL
Admission for all Falcon men's and women's soccer home matches again this season is free. For those who can't make it to Cochrane Field, live stats are scheduled to be available for each home game via BGSUFalcons.com.
BG BESTS BEARCATS IN SATURDAY SCRIMMAGE
The Falcons defeated Cincinnati, 4-2, in a scrimmage at Cochrane Field on Saturday night (Aug. 24). BGSU got goals from four different players, including a pair of freshman, in the win before a large, festive crowd. BGSU's top-two scorers from a year ago found the back of the net, as senior Anthony Grant and junior Danny Baraldi each had a goal. And, the Falcons' final two tallies came from freshmen Dan Looker and Joe Sullivan, respectively.
Baraldi scored late in the first half to give BG the lead at the intermission. But, the visitors seized control, scoring two goals just 94 seconds apart early in the second period. Grant's goal in the 58th minute, just four minutes after UC's second goal, would tie the score. Then, Looker headed home a Baraldi corner kick for what proved to be the winner with 73 minutes gone, and Sullivan closed the scoring on a nifty individual effort with just under five minutes left in the match.
FALCONS TABBED FOR FOURTH
The Falcons have been picked to finish fourth in the Mid-American Conference race in 2013. The preseason coaches poll, the result of voting by the conference's seven head coaches, was released by the conference office on Tuesday morning (Aug. 27). Akron, the defending regular-season and tournament champion, was picked to capture both titles again this fall. Last season, the Falcons were picked to finish sixth, but wound up in a tie for fourth.
2013 MAC MEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON COACHES POLL
1. Akron (6 first-place votes)
2. West Virginia (1)
3. Northern Illinois
4. Bowling Green
5. Buffalo
6. Western Michigan
7. Hartwick
Votes to win 2013 MAC Tournament: Akron 5; West Virginia 2
PRESEASON ALL-MAC MADNESS
No fewer than eight Falcons were named to the College Sports Madness Preseason All-MAC Team, announced by the web site last week (Aug. 19). Seniors Anthony Grant, Sean Sikich and Michael Wiest, junior Danny Baraldi and sophomore Ryan James all were named to the Preseason All-MAC First Team by College Sports Madness, while seniors Zach Schewee and Brandon Silva and sophomore Jake Genrich each earned second-team honors. BG's five first-team selections tied for the most among MAC schools, while the Falcons' total of eight overall players honored was the highest of any school.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
Head coach Eric Nichols and his staff return a total of 13 letterwinners, including nine starters, from last year's club. The 2012 Falcons finished with an overall record of 8-9-3 and a MAC mark of 3-3-1. BGSU tied for fourth in the league regular-season standings last fall, and qualified for the MAC Tournament.
The 2012 club posted the program's highest win total in nearly a decade, since the 2003 season. BGSU went 5-4-1 at home, 3-4-2 on the road and 0-1-0 in neutral-site matches last fall.
The list of returning letterwinners includes nine starters. Two of those starters, senior Anthony Grant and junior Danny Baraldi, earned All-MAC First-Team honors last year, giving BG a pair of all-league first-team honorees for the first time since 2005. Additionally, Grant shared the league's Newcomer of the Year Award.
Grant and Baraldi ranked 1-2 on the team in scoring. Grant had 20 points in his first year with the Brown and Orange, including a BG-high eight goals along with four assists. Baraldi scored 19 points on six goals and a team-leading seven assists. Grant led the MAC with five game-winning goals, and he scored the winner in all three of the team's conference victories. Baraldi had two GWG last season, and both players have scored at a point-per-match pace in their BG careers to date.
Four of the Falcons' top-five scorers from last season return. In fact, the returning players combined to score 22 of BGSU's 23 goals and register 22 of the team's 27 assists during 2012. Sophomore Ryan James had 10 points last year, good for third on the team, with four goals and two assists. Senior Ryan Comiskey had five points last fall, while classmates Ryan Snashall had four and Zach Schewee and Brandon Silva three apiece.
In goal, senior Michael Wiest played all 1874-plus minutes, and had 100 saves, a goals-against average of 1.10, seven shutouts and a save percentage of .813. Wiest's total of seven shutouts was the highest by a BGSU 'keeper since 2001.
In front of Wiest, senior Sean Sikich played every second of every match at a center-back position last year. Silva played 1866 of the roughly 1874 minutes, with sophomore Jake Genrich on the pitch for 1822 minutes as a frosh. Genrich, Sikich, Silva and Wiest each started all 20 matches for the Falcons last season.
In addition to the aforementioned players, the returning letterwinners include senior Matt Griesinger and juniors Jon Kumher and Vlad Lekarev. And, fifth-year senior Joey D'Agostino returns to the acrive roster in 2013. He started the first two matches last fall before suffering an injury and missing the remainder of the season.
Silva has started 55 matches in his BGSU career to date, while Schewee has made 52 starts. Baraldi (37), Wiest (33) and D'Agostino (31) each have started over 30 matches in their respective careers, while Snashall, Sikich and Griesinger all have made over 20 starts at BG. The returning players have combined to make a total of 362 starts in their BGSU careers to date.
This year's edition of the Falcons played an international friendly against the Dixie Soccer Club of Mississauga, Ontario, on Aug. 17, winning by a 7-0 score at Cochrane Field. And, BG beat Cincinnati, 4-2, in Saturday's (Aug. 24) scrimmage.
A LOOK AT THE PIONEERS
Malone, a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), went 6-9-1 overall and 6-6-1 in league play last season. The Pioneers play a home scrimmage vs. Seton Hill (Pa.) on Wednesday prior to heading to BG. Malone, guided by head coach Brian Stock, enters its first year of full NCAA Division II membership in 2013. Seniors Rubem Miranda and Kelvin Aquino return after tying for the team scoring lead last fall, with 10 points apiece. Miranda had a team-leading four goals, while Aquino paced the Pioneers with four assists. Senior Felipe Monteiro played every minute in goal last year, and had a 1.65 GAA and 113 saves.
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
Michigan head coach Chaka Daley welcomes back several key players from last year's team that finished 11-10-1 overall and 3-2-1 in Big Ten Conference play and won a game in the NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines were picked to finish fourth in the league in 2013 in the preseason coaches poll, while senior Fabio Villas Boas Pereira and juniors Tyler Arnone and Adam Grinwis were named to the preseason Big Ten Players to Watch List. Pereira has led the team in scoring in each of the last two seasons, and had eight goals and 20 points. Arnone was second on the team behind Pereira in scoring, with 16 points. Grinwis had a 1.11 GAA, six shutouts and 92 saves last fall. U-M hosts Loyola (Ill.) on Friday to open the regular season.
THE SERIES
The Falcons and Malone have never met in men's soccer.
BGSU trails Michigan, 6-4-0, in the all-time series, but the Falcons have won the last two meetings by identical 2-0 scores. Last year, Anthony Grant and Ryan James scored just over two minutes apart, and Michael Wiest saved a U-M penalty kick in the last few minutes of play in Ann Arbor (Oct. 23, 2012). Two seasons ago, BG got second-half goals from Danny Baraldi and Ryan Snashall in the teams' last meeting at Cochrane (Aug. 26, 2011). Prior to that game, the Wolverines had won six-straight meetings, scoring at least four goals in the last five. BGSU is 2-1-0 in home games, 2-5-0 in road matches and 2-2-0 against U-M in the Eric Nichols Era.
THE 2013 CAPTAINS
Seniors Joey D'Agostino, Brandon Silva and Michael Wiest are the tri-captains of the 2013 Falcons. Silva, a fifth-year senior, is a team captain for the third consecutive year, while D'Agostino, also in his fifth year, has been named a captain for the second-straight season.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following the Michigan match, the Falcons will head to Wisconsin to face two Milwaukee-based schools in the Panther Invitational. BGSU will face nationally-ranked Marquette on Friday, Sept. 6, before meeting host Milwaukee two days later (Sunday, Sept. 8). The Marquette match begins a month-long stretch in which BG will play away from home seven times in an eight-match span.
Eric Nichols Post-Practice Interview (Sept. 24, 2025)
Wednesday, September 24
Eric Nichols Post-Practice Interview (Sept. 19, 2025)
Friday, September 19
Off The Pitch: Trace Terry (Sept. 18, 2025)
Friday, September 19
BGSU MSOC: USMNT GOAT (Lucas Kleimeyer)
Wednesday, September 17