Second-Half Uprising Lifts Falcons Past Canisius, 4-1

Saturday, September 28

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

5-3-1, 0-0-0

Canisius

1-6-0, 0-0-0

Canisius

Bowling Green

The Falcons celebrate Ike Swiger's (15) second-half goal

Photo by: Isaiah Vazquez/BGSU Athletics

September 28, 2019 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Final Stats Chris Sullivan Post-Match Interivew Eric Nichols Post-Match Interview BGSU-Canisius Photo Gallery (Isaiah Vazquez)Photo Gallery

Four different players find the net as BG rallies for home win

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Trailing at the half, the Bowling Green State University offense exploded for four second-half goals en route to a 4-1 win over Canisius College Saturday night (Sept. 28). The non-conference match was held at Cochrane Stadium.

Four different Falcons found the back of the net, and a total of eight different players had at least one point on the night. Junior Chris Sullivan led the way with a goal and an assist, while senior Chris Brennan and sophomores Ike Swiger and Matt Walters each scored as well.

The Falcons (5-3-1) fell behind just over 15 minutes into the match on a goal by Alessandro Fabiano. The Golden Griffins kept that 1-0 lead until the break.

But, Sullivan scored just over three minutes into the second half, and Brennan's goal with just under an hour gone gave BGSU the lead for good.

Freshman Logan Kowalczyk, making his Falcon debut, picked up the win with 70-plus minutes of shutout work in goal. Kowalczyk made three saves in the victory.

The Falcons are now 2-2-0 at home this season, and BGSU has scored a total of seven goals in the last two matches at Cochrane Stadium.

BGSU had 20 shot attempts on the night – 10 in each half – and put 10 of those 20 shots on goal. The Falcons had advantages in shots (20-7), shots on goal (10-5) and corner kicks (9-2) in Saturday's win.

THE GOALS
• CANISIUS – 15:01 – The Griffs won the ball at midfield, and displayed some nifty one-touch passing to work the ball downfield. The last of the tic-tac-toe passes saw Alessandro Fabiano play Jonny Tekie in on the left side of the box. Tekie hit a shot from approximately 10 yards out, and BGSU senior Anthony Mwembia made a nice stop on the point-blank shot. The rebound, however, went directly to Fabiano, who fired the ball into the vacated net.
• BGSU – 48:04 – Senior Chris Brennan brought the ball down the right side of the field, and centered it to sophomore Jensen Lukacsko, who was stationed about 30 yards away from the goal line. Lukacsko slid a pass to fellow soph Kale Nichols on his left, and Nichols quickly swept the ball forward to junior Chris Sullivan, who was heading into the penalty area. Sullivan took one touch to cut the ball back to his right, and fired a low shot into the far side of the goal.
• BGSU – 59:21 – A BG pass was deflected by a Canisius defender, but the ball went directly to freshman Abdi Faqi on the 18-yard line. Faqi, with several CC players already around him, drew a third player toward him before playing a pass to Brennan on the right side of the area. Brennan took a touch to bring the ball back to his left, then hit a curving shot that went around goalkeeper Fabio D'Errico and into the far side of the net.
• BGSU – 71:55 – A Lukacsko diagonal ball into the box was controlled by a Canisius player, who attempted to dribble out of the box. With Sullivan and Swiger pressuring, Swiger stole the ball near the 18, then took the ball from left to right across the top of the area. He played a quick give-and-go with junior Achille Robin, and Swiger than hit a shot across his body, through several defenders and into the lower-left-hand corner of the goal.
• BGSU – 76:18 – Sophomore Matt Walters received the ball on the right side of the field, and slid a pass to Sullivan in the center. Walters made a long diagonal run toward the box, and Sullivan's nifty through ball split the Canisius defenders and found Walters behind everyone except D'Errico. The 'keeper was forced to come off of his line, but Walters simply poked the ball past him and knocked it into the empty net.

FALCON NOTES
• BGSU's total of four goals is the team's highest in over three years, since a 4-0 victory over IUPUI in the 2016 season opener (Aug. 26, 2016). The Falcons have not scored more than four times in a match since an 8-0 win over Findlay on Sept. 2, 2014.
• Senior Chris Brennan scored his fourth goal of the season for the Orange and Brown, increasing his season total to a team-leading 12 points. Brennan has scored a point in all but two of BG's matches this season, including in seven of the last eight matches.
• Junior Chris Sullivan also scored his fourth goal of the season on Saturday, and added an assist on the goal by sophomore Matt Walters. It marked Sullivan's second three-point game this season.
• Brennan and Sullivan are tied for the team lead in goals, with four apiece. Brennan has a BG-best four assists for 12 points, while Sullivan has three helpers and 11 total points.
• Sophomore Ike Swiger scored his first collegiate goal in the win over Canisius, while classmate Matt Walters recorded his first goal as a Falcon just over four minutes later. Swiger's goal marked his first points at BG, while Walters now has five career points.
• Walters had one assist as a freshman, but has now picked up at least one point in each of BG's last three home matches. He had assists against both Cleveland State and Cincinnati.
• Junior Achille Robin assisted on Swiger's goal, giving him three assists and nine points in a BGSU uniform.
• Freshman Abdi Faqi played a career-high 67 minutes off the bench on Saturday, and recorded his first career point with the primary assist on Brennan's goal.
• Sophomore Kale Nichols had the primary assist on Sullivan's goal. Nichols now has four career points, all coming in the last few weeks. He had an assist vs. Ohio State and a goal against Cincinnati as well.
• Brennan has scored a goal in three of BG's four home games this season, and had two assists in the other match at Cochrane Stadium.
• Sophomore Jensen Lukacsko's assist on Saturday was his second of the season and the third of his career. Lukascko has five career points.
• Freshman Logan Kowalczyk picked up the win in goal in his collegiate debut. He entered the match in the 20th minute, making three saves without allowing a goal. Senior Anthony Mwembia had one stop in 19-plus minutes of action.
• Prior to Saturday, Mwembia had played every second of the last 50 BGSU matches in goal. The last time a goalkeeper other than Mwembia saw action was Oct. 4, 2016, when Noah Kummer played the entire 90 minutes in a 2-1 win at Northern Kentucky.
• Lukacsko and Robin are the only Falcons who have played every minute of every match this season. In addition to that duo, senior Tom Wrobel and freshman Michael Montemurri each played all 90 minutes vs. Canisius.

It's that time -- let's go to the videotape...

CHRIS SULLIVAN got us on the board early in the second half of Saturday night's Canisius match. pic.twitter.com/YXdu73nJZy
— BGSU Men's Soccer (@BGSUmenssoccer) September 29, 2019

CHRIS BRENNAN scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 60th minute, giving us a 2-1 lead. pic.twitter.com/hWBpuGbyRg
— BGSU Men's Soccer (@BGSUmenssoccer) September 29, 2019

Goal number three came from IKE SWIGER, who stole the ball from a Canisius player & finished the play by scoring his first goal as a Falcon. pic.twitter.com/EDFhOkJYM3
— BGSU Men's Soccer (@BGSUmenssoccer) September 29, 2019

MATT WALTERS made a great run to take a return pass from Sullivan & score HIS first BGSU goal to give us a three-goal lead! pic.twitter.com/qHmzA6WO9c
— BGSU Men's Soccer (@BGSUmenssoccer) September 29, 2019

UP NEXT
• BGSU heads to the Motor City on Tuesday (Oct. 1), facing Detroit Mercy in a 7:00 p.m. start at Titan Field. That begins a four-match road swing which also sees the Falcons meet IUPUI (Oct. 8), Akron (Oct. 12) and SIUE (Oct. 19). BG's next home game is on Tuesday, Oct. 22, when Purdue Fort Wayne comes to town.

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.