Second-Half PK Lifts Sixth-Ranked Spartans Past No. 19 BGSU

Wednesday, September 13

East Lansing, MI

7:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

5-1-0

Michigan State

6-0-0

Bowling Green

Michigan State

Photo by: Larry Clapper

September 13, 2017 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Falcons' win & shutout streaks come to an end

By: EAST LANSING, Mich. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Ryan Sierakowski scored on a penalty kick early in the second half, lifting host Michigan State University to a 1-0 victory over the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team in a battle of top-20 programs Wednesday night (Sept. 13) at DeMartin Stadium.

The win kept the Spartans, ranked sixth in the nation in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll, unbeaten. MSU moved to 6-0-0, while dropping BGSU, ranked No. 19 in the poll, to 5-1-0 on the season.

Sierakowski's goal was the first allowed by sophomore goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia and the Falcons in six games this season.

Photo: Chris Brennan (6) beats MSU's Brad Centala to the ball as BGSU's Anthony Mwembia (left) and Peter Pugliese look on (photo by Larry Clapper)

LINKS
FINAL STATS: PDF
PHOTO GALLERY: Photos by Larry Clapper
This Week's BGSU Release/Notes
2017 BGSU Men's Soccer Weekly Releases/Notes
MAC Office Announces Preseason Poll
2017 BGSU Men's Soccer: Schedule | Roster | Record Book
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NOTE OF THE NIGHT

Ryan Sierakowski's goal snapped a shutout streak of over 500 minutes – 502:49, to be exact – for sophomore goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia and the Falcons this season. Through six matches, the BGSU defense still has not allowed a goal in the run of play.

SPECIAL BONUS: SECOND NOTE OF THE NIGHT

According to the Top Drawer Soccer web site, Bowling Green was the final NCAA Division-I team to allow a goal this season.

FIRST-HALF HIGHLIGHTS

7' – Off of an MSU give and go, a shot by Brad Centala was grazed by Tom Wrobel and ultimately punched away by Anthony Mwembia near the upper-right corner of the goal for a corner kick. Off of that corner, a far-post header by Ryan Sierakowski was on frame but Mwembia grabbed the shot.
10' – Mwembia made a third impressive save in a three-minute span, this time diving to deflect a header by Sierakowski off of a short left-side cross.
17' – A foul on the Falcons gave the Spartans a free kick approximately 19 yards out just right of the circle. Giuseppe Barone's free kick curved around the BGSU wall, but hit the outside of the netting.
41' – Alexis Souahy stepped up to steal an MSU pass just outside the BG 18. Souahy played a long pass ahead to Chris Brennan, who got past one MSU defender, but was stood up by another Spartan backliner approximately 35 yards from goal.

SECOND-HALF HIGHLIGHTS

53' – A penalty kick was awarded to the Spartans after a right-side cross went through the box and found Sierakowski. His shot was blocked by a sliding defender, but the ball hit the BGSU player's hand, and Sierakowski converted the ensuing PK for a 1-0 lead. It was the first goal allowed by Mwembia and the Falcons in 2017.
57' – Keaton Reynolds found Tate Robertson with a pass on the left side of the field, and the BG junior played a ball toward Chris Sullivan on the other side of the pitch. Sullivan's right-side entry ball was grabbed by MSU goalkeeper Jimmy Hague before Reynolds can get there.
58' – After a foul was called and a yellow card assessed to the Spartans, Robertson's ensuing free kick sailed over the crossbar from 25 yards out. It was BGSU's first shot attempt of the evening.
60' – Robertson's left-side diagonal ball bounced past the Spartan defense, but Hague got to it just before Charlie Maciejewski could arrive.
62' – Mwembia made a nifty diving stop after a ball by DeJuan Jones was deflected on target. The sophomore 'keeper was forced to make a diving reaction save after the deflection off of a BG defender.
63' – After a series of short passes in the air in the box, Souahy's header was on target, but saved by Hague.
69' – Wrobel's long diagonal ball found the head of Brennan outside the 18, and the ball was on target, but was hit right at Hague, who was able to make the save.
71' – Mwembia made a diving save of Jones' low shot that is headed toward the far post, and Brad Macomber cleared the rebound out of harm's way.
73' – Amandy Ayima fired a shot from distance, but it went wide of the right post.
76' – A counterattack led to what was arguably BG's best chance of the game. Brennan got to Robertson's long ball forward on the left side, and played a low cross into the box. The ball was deflected to Maciejewski outside the box in the center of the field, and he took a few touches to elude a sliding defender, then fired a shot that whizzed wide left.

STATS

MSU outshot BGSU, 8-0, in the first half, putting three of those eight shots on goal. All three of Anthony Mwembia's saves came in the first nine-plus minutes of the half.
The shots were more even in the second period, with the Spartans owning a 5-4 advantage.
Mwembia made a pair of saves in the second half to give him five on the night.
A total of seven Falcons played all 90 minutes. That list included Mwembia, Zach Buescher, Brad Macomber, Tate Robertson, Alexis Souahy, Chris Sullivan and Tom Wrobel, Peter Pugliese and Chris Brennan were on the field for 86 and 84 minutes, respectively, while Dominic Grida played 76 minutes.

FALCON NOTES

As mentioned, both the Falcons and Spartans are ranked in the current United Soccer Coaches (formerly NSCAA poll). BGSU is No. 19 in the nation, while MSU is ranked sixth.
Wednesday's match marked the first BGSU game in which both teams were ranked in nearly two decades. The last such match took place on Nov. 30, 1997, when No. 16 BG traveled to Bloomington, Ind., to face No. 1 Indiana in the second round of the NCAA Championships.
Wednesday's loss snapped the Falcons' consecutive shutout streak at a school record-tying five. BGSU had posted five-straight shutouts on three occasions prior to 2017. This season marked the first time in the 53-year history of the program that the Falcons had five clean sheets to begin the year.
Through six matches, the Falcons still have not allowed a goal from the run of play.
Wednesday night marked the fifth consecutive BGSU-MSU match that was won, 1-0, by the Spartans. The nine matches in the Eric Nichols Era all have been decided by one goal or less.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES AND NUMBERS

Sophomore Anthony Mwembia allowed a goal – albeit on a penalty kick – for the first time this season. Mwembia now has a goals-against average of 0.17 and a saves percentage of 95.8%. For his Falcon career, Mwembia's GAA is 0.59 while his saves pct. is 86.0%. The Toulouse, France, native has 13 shutouts in 24 career matches at BG.
Amandy Ayima made his BGSU debut on Wednesday night, checking into the match with 3:30 remaining in the first half. Ayima returned in the second half, playing a total of 23 minutes and registering one shot attempt.
Sophomore Charlie Maciejewski was BGSU's first substitute in Wednesday night's match. Maciejewski played 40 minutes vs. the Spartans, matching his career total entering Wednesday. He played a total of 27 minutes over two matches in 2016, and saw 13 minutes of time in Saturday's win over Western Illinois. Maciejewski has had a shot attempt in each of his two matches this season and in three of his four career appearances.

UP NEXT

The Falcons return home for a Saturday (Sept. 16) matchup vs. Cincinnati. The Bearcats, 3-2-1 on the season, are coming off a road win over a nationally-ranked Kentucky team. Saturday's match, part of the Falcon men's soccer program's Alumni Weekend, will begin at 7:00 p.m. Admission to all regular-season BGSU soccer matches is free, and there will also be free audio (BGRSO) and video (WBGU-TV) streams of Saturday's UC match.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS

For more information on the men's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Facebook (BGSU Men's Soccer), Twitter (@BGAthletics and @BGSUmenssoccer), Instagram (bgsumenssoccer) and Snapchat (BGSU Men's Soccer) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.

We are underway! Let's go @BGSUmenssoccer! #AyZiggy pic.twitter.com/TyL7y35vds
— Bob Moosbrugger (@bemoose) September 13, 2017

Great effort on the road against a top-10 team tonight. @BGSUmenssoccer has given up 1 goal (on a PK) in 6 matches. pic.twitter.com/uQGwaGMuAr
— Mike Cihon (@MikeCihon) September 14, 2017

Since MLB includes ties in their unbeaten streaks so do we! @BGSUmenssoccer 13 game unbeaten streak at home and looks to add to it Sat @ 7
— BGSU Screech Team (@BGScreechTeam) September 14, 2017