Falcons Remain Undefeated with 3-0 Win at Michigan State

Monday, September 6

East Lansing, MI

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

3-0-1, 0-0-0

Michigan State

2-2-0, 0-0-0

Bowling Green

Michigan St.

Kyle Cusimano (15) was involved in the scoring of all 3 BGSU goals on Monday afternoon

Photo by: Brendan Ross, XU Athletics

September 06, 2021 | Men's Soccer

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BGSU welcomes defending national champion Marshall to town on Saturday night

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

EAST LANSING, Mich. – For the second time in under 72 hours, the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team picked up a three-goal win on the road. On Monday afternoon (Sept. 6), the opponent was Michigan State University, and the Falcons downed the Spartans by a 3-0 count at DeMartin Stadium.

Sophomore Kyle Cusimano was involved in the scoring of all three goals for the Falcons (3-0-1), who were coming off of a 3-0 victory at Cleveland State on Friday night. On Labor Day, Cusimano scored the Falcons' second goal of the afternoon while assisting on the other two.

Jacob Erlandson and Roberto Fernandez Garrido scored those goals, with Erlandson scoring what proved to be the winner with just under 10 minutes left in the opening half. Cusimano doubled the lead with just over an hour gone, before finding Fernandez Garrido for the final goal in the 75th minute.

The Spartans (2-2-0) outshot the Falcons, 10-8, but BG had a 5-3 lead in shots on goal. Logan Kowalczyk made three saves to earn his second-straight shutout and his third in four matches this season to date.

NOTE OF THE DAY
• The Falcons defeated Michigan State for the first time in 20 years. BG had gone 0-16-1 against the Spartans since a 3-1 victory in East Lansing on Sept. 17, 2001.
• Monday's win marked the first time in program history that the Falcons have beaten MSU by three goals on the road. BGSU had posted three-goal wins over the Green and White on four prior occasions (1992, '94, '96 and '98), but all four victories came at Cochrane Stadium.

BONUS NOTE OF THE DAY
• BGSU is now a perfect 3-0-0 on the road this season. The Falcons have topped the road win total for all of last season. BG went 2-4-0 on the road in the 2020(-21) campaign.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• BGSU did not have any shot attempts in the first 20-plus minutes of the match, but the Falcons then came very, very close to scoring (see the highlight below). Jensen Lukacsko's cross from the right side was met by the head of Nathan Masters at the far post. Masters headed the ball back across the goalmouth, but an MSU defender blocked the ball near the goal line, where it dropped to the ground. Sergi Martinez, tangled up with an MSU defender, attempted to head the ball from a seated position on the line, but was unable to do so. The ball came out to Zach Buescher who fired a shot from approximately 12 yards out, but it was blocked by a defender and the Spartans were able to clear.
• In the 28th minute, Masters was fouled as he attempted to get past the last MSU defender on a long ball ahead by a teammate, and a Spartan defender was given a yellow card. Alberto Anaya's free kick was headed across the box by Martinez, but the Falcons were whistled for a foul.
• Off of an MSU corner kick, Luke Morrell headed the ball on target from the far post. But, Logan Kowalczyk made a leaping save, getting a glove on the ball to keep it from going in to the upper half of the net, and the Falcons cleared the ball out of danger.
• Just one minute later, a BG throw-in was knocked out of the box by a Spartan backliner, but Joey Akpunonu ran onto the ball and fired a hard shot from near the 18-yard line. The blast forced Hunter Morse into a leaping save as the MSU 'keeper was just able to tip the ball over the bar.
• Soon after that shot, the Falcons had the ball back, and a long serve was met by a leaping Jacob Erlandson. Erlandson's flick-on went to Masters in the box, and Masters volleyed the ball out of the air, but the shot was just off the mark.
• GOAL | After a MSU foul deep in the Spartans' end of the field, Kyle Cusimano took the ensuing free kick and played the ball into the box. Erlandson rose above a host of players on both teams and headed the ball back across. His shot hit the right post and caromed into the net with 35:01 elapsed.
• Erlandson got his head on a BG throw-in in the 51st minute, flicking it into the center of the box as Morse was unable to get a glove on the ball. Masters hit an acrobatic shot, but his volley was off the mark.
• Erlandson made a perfectly-timed slide to block a shot by MSU's Jack Zugay in the center of the box after a left-side cross in the 55th minute.
• GOAL | Cusimano doubled the BG lead at the 61:04 mark. Akpunonu's long free kick sailed in the direction of Cusimano and Masters, who ran onto the ball in the MSU end. Masters got a touch on the ball, and Cusimano was all alone. He rounded the 'keeper with a move to his left, and hit a shot that eluded a flailing defender and found the right side of the net. Masters picked up the assist on the play.
• Erlandson was called for his second yellow card at the 67:07 mark, and the Falcons were forced to play with 10 men for the final 22-plus minutes. BGSU would outscore MSU, 1-0, while shorthanded.
• GOAL | Cusimano came down the left side with the ball, made a series of nifty moves to free up some space as he worked in the top corner of the 18-yard box, and hit a serve toward the far post. Roberto Fernandez Garrido ran onto the chest-high cross and met it with a side volley, and Morse had no chance as the ball found the left side of the net.
• In the 77th minute, the Spartans looked to cut into the three-goal deficit, but a shot hit the corner of the goal where the post meets the crossbar, and a follow-up try was blocked in the box.
• Kowalczyk did a nice job of breaking up an MSU cross as the clock ticked under two minutes, parrying the hard-hit ball into the air, then tracking it down on the far side of the box.

QUOTING COACH NICHOLS
"I'm really happy for the boys and for anyone who supports our program. Michigan State is a big program and a very good team. Getting any result against them takes a complete performance and that's exactly what the boys delivered. We were locked down in the back, we moved the ball well and we took our chances. And then we did a tremendous job dealing with the challenge of playing down a man."

"How does it stay out of the net?!"

Huge non-goalie save for the @MSUmsoccer keeps Bowling Green off the board. You'll want to stick around for the replay. pic.twitter.com/CFLk9qJ0YI
— Michigan St. on BTN (@MichiganStOnBTN) September 6, 2021

BGSU-MSU SERIES NOTES
• The Falcons, as mentioned, defeated Michigan State for the first time in nearly two decades. BG had gone 0-16-1 against the Spartans since a 3-1 victory in East Lansing on Sept. 17, 2001.
• Monday's win marked the first time in program history that the Falcons have beaten MSU by three goals on the road. BGSU had posted three-goal wins over the Green and White on four prior occasions (1992, '94, '96 and '98), but all four victories came at Cochrane Stadium.
• BGSU's last win over MSU, as mentioned, was a 3-1 road victory in September of 2001. Matt Leardini, Burt Weaver and Tim Butler scored the goals for head coach Mel Mahler's Falcons on that day.
• The Falcons had lost seven-straight matches to the Spartans since a scoreless draw 10 years ago (Oct. 19, 2011). Five of those setbacks came by 1-0 scores.
• Prior to Jacob Erlandson's first-half goal on Monday, BGSU had not scored against the Spartans since Zach Lemke's second-half goal at Cochrane Stadium on Aug. 29, 2012. That goal tied the game at 1-1, before MSU went on to a 2-1 victory.
• BGSU had not led against the Spartans since 2010, when Dusko Topolic opened the scoring at Cochrane Stadium. MSU rallied for a 2-1 win on that day.
• BG's last goal on the road against MSU came off the boot of Ahmad Smith on Oct. 21, 2009. That strike closed the scoring in another 2-1 Spartan victory.

STATS, NOTES & NUMBERS
• MSU had a narrow 10-8 lead in total shot attempts, but BGSU had a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal.
• Logan Kowalczyk had three saves to earn his third clean sheet in four matches this season. MSU's Hunter Morse had one save, and the Spartans also had a 'team save' when a defender blocked a shot off of the goal line.
• All three BGSU scorers – Jacob Erlandson, Kyle Cusimano and Roberto Fernandez Garrido – scored their first goal of the young season on Monday.
• Cusimano's goal was the third of his BGSU career. The sophomore had a career-high four points in Monday's win, assisting on each of the other two goals.
• Cusimano now has nine career points on three goals and three assists in 17 career matches. He scored five points in his first season at BGSU.
• Erlandson, also playing his 17th career game as a Falcon, scored his fourth goal – and his third game-winning goal – since coming to BG. He now has 10 career points as a Falcon.
• Fernandez Garrido scored his first goal as a Falcon on Monday. A transfer from Milligan College in Milligan, Tenn., he scored 38 goals in two years with the Buffs.
• Nathan Masters assisted on Fernandez Garrido's goal. Masters now has 10 career points on three goals and four helpers.
• Kowalczyk now has three shutouts in four starts this season, and eight clean sheets in 16 career starts at BGSU.

A FEW MORE FUN FALCON FACTS
• BGSU only led by two goals on one occasion last season, and the Falcons never led by three (BG took a 2-0 lead against Syracuse [Feb. 23, 2021] before winning by a 2-1 final). But, BG has now led – and won – by three goals in back-to-back matches, at Cleveland State on Friday night and at MSU.
• The CSU win was BGSU's first three-goal victory since a 3-0 win over West Virginia on Oct. 26, 2019. The win at MSU gives the Falcons' back-to-back three-goal wins for the first time since downing Purdue Fort Wayne (4-0) and WVU at Cochrane Stadium in October of '19.
• BGSU is now a perfect 3-0-0 on the road this season. The Falcons have topped the road win total for all of last season. BG went 2-4-0 on the road in the 2020(-21) campaign.
• The Falcons have won three consecutive road matches for the first time in nearly three years, since wins at IUPUI (3-2 in overtime), Northern Illinois (2-1 in OT) and Cincinnati (2-0) in October of 2018.
• The last time BGSU won back-to-back road games by three or more goals each? Late September of 1997. That Falcon club topped Detroit (3-0) and Eastern Illinois (4-0).
• The Falcons have a record of 28-14-5 over the last 47 matches, dating to late in the 2018 season. Ten of the 14 setbacks in that time have come by a single goal.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons return home to face defending national champion Marshall on Saturday night (Sept. 11). That contest will begin at 8:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium, and also begins a four-game homestand for the Orange and Brown, which includes matches vs. Wright State (Tuesday, Sept. 14), FIU (Friday., Sept. 17) and Detroit Mercy (Tuesday, Sept. 21).
• BGSU's next road match will be against Canisius on Friday afternoon, Sept. 24.

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