Swiger's Second-Half Strike Lifts Falcons Past Titans

Tuesday, October 1

Detroit, MI

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

6-3-1

Detroit Mercy

2-6-1

Bowling Green

Detroit Mercy

October 01, 2019 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Final Stats Ike Swiger Post-Match Interview Eric Nichols Post-Match Interview

Sophomore's goal is the game-winner Tuesday night in the Motor City

By: DETROIT, Mich. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Sophomore Ike Swiger scored midway through the second half to lift the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team to a 1-0 win over the University of Detroit Mercy Tuesday night (Oct. 1). The non-conference match was held at Titan Field.

With the victory, the Falcons have matched the win total for all of last season. BGSU is now 6-3-1 in 2019, after going 6-7-4 a year ago. BG has picked up four of those six victories away from home, again equaling the total for all of last year.

Senior Charlie Maciejewski and junior Chris Sullivan had assists on the play, and senior Anthony Mwembia and the BG defense kept a clean sheet. Mwembia made two saves en route to his fifth shutout of the season.

NOTE OF THE NIGHT
• Sophomore Ike Swiger's goal on Tuesday night was his second of the season and the second of his BGSU career. He has found the back of the net in two consecutive contests after scoring his first collegiate goal in Saturday evening's (Sept. 28) 4-1 win over Canisius at Cochrane Stadium.
• Swiger's goal at UDM was the first game-winning goal of his Falcon career.
• Swiger made his first collegiate start on Tuesday night.

BONUS NOTE OF THE NIGHT
• The Falcons have won four-straight road matches against Detroit Mercy, and BGSU is unbeaten (5-0-1) in the last six visits to Titan Field. BG is now 10-4-1 in road matches vs. the Titans.
• Believe it or not, the home team has not won any of the last eight meetings in the BGSU-UDM series. The last time the host school won a matchup between the Falcons and Titans was in 2007, when BG picked up a 2-1 win at Cochrane Stadium.

📹HIGHLIGHT📹

IKE SWIGER's second-half goal was the GWG as we picked up a 1-0 win at Detroit Mercy Tuesday night! pic.twitter.com/t8CbFUo5bx
— BGSU Men's Soccer (@BGSUmenssoccer) October 2, 2019

A FEW MORE FALCON NOTES
• As mentioned earlier, the Falcons have matched the team's win total for all of last season. BGSU is 6-3-1 in 2019, after going 6-7-4 last fall.
• BGSU has also equaled the 2018 team's total of wins away from home. Last year, the Falcons went 4-5-1 (4-4-1 away, 0-1-0 neutral-site matches) in all games played away from Cochrane Stadium. This season to date, BG is 4-1-1 in such matches, having gone 3-1-1 in true road matches and 1-0-0 at a neutral site.
• Senior Charlie Maciejewski had the primary assist on sophomore Ike Swiger's goal. Maciejewski now has three points this season and 11 in his BGSU career.
• Junior Chris Sullivan also assisted on Swiger's goal. Sullivan now has four assists and 12 points this season.
• Sullivan is now tied with senior Chris Brennan for the BG lead in goals (four), assists and points this season. Swiger is tied with junior Achille Robin for third on the Falcons in goals, with two.
• Sullivan now has 24 career points on eight goals and eight assists. Through 10 matches this season, he has matched his goal, assist and point totals for his first two years combined.
• Senior Anthony Mwembia recorded his fifth shutout of the season and the 24th of his BGSU career.
• Of BGSU's 17 goals this season, two have been scored by freshmen, four by sophomores, six by juniors and five by seniors.
• Sophomores have scored four of BGSU's last six goals, with Swiger scoring twice and Kale Nichols and Matt Walters once each during that stretch.

FIRST-HALF HIGHLIGHTS
• 2' | The hosts had the first shot of the match, as Justin Murray had a chance off of a left-side cross. But, in a harbinger of things to come at both ends of the pitch, Murray's hard shot was off the mark.
• 5' | Sophomore Ike Swiger played a ball to senior Charlie Maciejewski on the right side, who in turn found junior Chris Sulivan. Swiger received a Sullivan pass and blasted a shot from distance, but the shot went wide.
• 6' | A UDM free kick was blocked by senior Tom Wrobel, but the ball bounced directly to Justin Schueneman, who hit a volley that sailed wide left.
• 10' | Maciejewski made an impressive run into the Detroit end of the field, winning several challenges along the way, but his diagonal ball was grabbed by UDM goalkeeper Devin Mendez.
• 11' | Swiger won a corner after taking a pass from sophomore Jensen Lukacsko. That corner resulted in a shot by Maciejewski that went wide of the far post.
• 17' | Maciejewski again headed toward the UDM penalty area, and nutmegged a would-be defender along the way. But, on the Titan Field turf, the ball rolled to Mendez before Maciejewski could get there.
• 19' | Sullivan and Maciejewski worked a combination play, and Maciejewski centered the ball to Swiger, but the sophomore's low, hard shot went just wide of the right post as Mendez grabbed it with a diving effort.
• 21' | Maciejewski took a pass from senior Chris Brennan and was fouled just outside the 18-yard box. Brennan took the ensuing free kick, and his blast whizzed just over the crossbar.
• 26' | On a UDM counter, Kyle Bandyk passed the ball ahead to Aleks Vushaj, and Vushaj shot just wide of the near post.
• 30' | Junior Zach Buescher slid a pass to Brennan, who completed a give-and-go sequence with Sullivan before firing a shot. But, Brennan's effort curved around the upper left corner of the goal.
• 32' | Junior Achille Robin made a long run down the center of the field, and hit a shot from distance that went over the bar.
• 35' | The first shot on goal of the match came off of the foot of Matthew Andres, but it was a relatively easy save for senior Anthony Mwembia.
• 44' | CROSSBAR | Sophomore Kale Nichols was fouled approximately 22 yards from goal. Sullivan took the ensuing free kick, a kick that Mendez was powerless to stop. But, the junior's blast rang off the crossbar.

SECOND-HALF HIGHLIGHTS
• 47' | The Titans played a long ball ahead for Bandyk, who hit a hard one-timer from the right side that went high.
• 51' | A long throw-in by Ryan Halloran went all the way into the goalmouth on the fly. Mwembia briefly pinned it to the crossbar with a lunging effort, but wsa unable to corral it. The ball caromed to Bandyk, but his shot was blocked by a BG defender.
• 55' | Sophomore Matt Walters made a run on the right side, and hit a shot from distance that was blocked out for a BG corner kick.
• 61' | A shot from distance by Demetri Pliakos took a dangerous deflectio, but went wide of the left post.
• 65' | Off of a right-side serve by Lukacsko, Robin headed the ball from near the top of the penalty area. The ball went to Sullivan on the right side of the six-yard box, but his shot was saved by Mendez at point-blank range at the near post.
• 66' | GOAL | After the ensuing corner kick, Sullivan's right-side pass found Maciejewski near the end line. Maciejewski, on the right side of the goal, made a nifty sliding effort to play a short pass to Swiger, and Swiger quickly hit a one-timer from the right side of the six-yard box. The shot eluded Mendez for what would prove to be the game-winning goal.
• 77' | A Sullivan corner found Nichols in the box, who redirected the ball on frame, but Mendez was somehow in position to block the shot.
• 83' | The Titans searched for the equalizer, playing the ball into the box. It was deflected out to Schueneman, who drilled a shot toward the right side of the net. Mwembia, however, made a diving save to push the ball wide for a corner kick, and after that corner, a header by Bandyk was well wide.
• 90' | The Falcons did a masterful job of closing out the bulk of the next six-plus minutes, but the Titans had one last surge left in them. As the hosts hurried ownfield, however, a shot by Halloran was blocked by a diving Nichols, with the ball going out of bounds for a throw-in as the clock wound down.
• 90' | Off of that throw-in, the hosts actually did get a shot off, but Bandyk's header was off the mark and the Falcons had the victory.

STATISTICS
• Detroit Mercy had a 15-13 advantage in total shot attempts, but the teams combined to put just five of those 28 shots on goal.
• BGSU had three shots on goal to the Titans' two, and junior Chris Sullivan hit the crossbar with an additional shot.
• Sullivan and sophomore Ike Swiger each had three shots on the night, while Ryan Halloran and Kyle Bandyk had three attempts apiece for the hosts.
• Both goalkeepers, senior Anthony Mwembia and UDM's Devin Mendez, had two saves in the match.
• UDM had a 5-4 advantage in corner kicks, and the Titans were whistled for 18 fouls to the Falcons' 14.

WHAT'S NEXT?
• Tuesday's Detroit match began a four-game road swing for the Falcons. BGSU is now off until next Tuesday's (Oct. 8) contest at IUPUI. Then, the Orange and Brown will begin Mid-American Conference play with road matches on back-to-back Saturdays, facing Akron (Oct. 12) and SIUE (Oct. 19).
• BG's next home game is on Tuesday, Oct. 22, when Purdue Fort Wayne comes to Cochrane Stadium.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• For more information on the men's soccer program, follow the Falcons on twitter (BGSUmenssoccer), Instagram, (bgsumenssoccer), and Facebook (BGMensSoccer) as well as right here on the web at BGSUFalcons.com.