KALAMAZOO --
Saeed Sulemana Baba's four goals helped propel the Western Michigan men's soccer team to a 6-2 win over Centenary on Sunday afternoon at the WMU Soccer Complex.
After a goal by Centenary's Todd Faulkinberry in the eighth minute, the Broncos turned the offense on and never looked back.
Sulemana Baba's first goal came in the 25th minute. Freshman midfielder
Darren Jones made a sliding challenge on a Centenary defender. Jones pushed the ball forward to Sulemana Baba and the junior from Tamale, Ghana beat the Gentelmen goalkeeper on his right side.
The game was only tied 1-1 for nine minutes as Sulemana Baba picked up his second goal in the 34th minute. Jones took a free kick from 25 yards out and placed it near the goal line.
Yllson Asani deflected to ball to Sulemana Baba and he flicked it in a wide-open net to give WMU the lead 2-1.
The Broncos netted another goal in the 42nd minute, this time by
Sam Meyer.
Dan Lewis found Meyer on the left side near midfield and Meyer took the ball and ran up the left side. He was able to beat his marker in to the box and just flicked it softly passed the keeper to give WMU a 3-1 lead.
Western Michigan failed to clear a free kick in to the box in the 45th minute and it resulted in a Centenary goal by Nick Flowers.
The Brown & Gold extended its lead in the 68th minute on a goal by
Tyler Rosenhagen off of a
Kai Mendes corner kick. The ball landed in front of the net and Rosenhagen flicked it in for his second of the season.
Sulemana Baba added goals in the 75th and 83rd minute to seal the 6-2 victory. Coming in to the game he had four goals on the season.
“It is all coming together for us right before the start of conference play,” said head coach
Stu Riddle. “We had individual meetings with each of the players this week and we told Saeed that we felt he should score 10 goals for us this season. I think we're going to have to change it to 15.”
Jones and Mendes each had two assists in the game, with Jones assisting on two of Sulemana Baba's goals.
“They are special players and really made it easy for me,” said Sulemana Baba. “They definitely don't look like freshman anymore.”
Western Michigan opens up Mid-American Conference play when they travel to Bowling Green on Saturday, Oct. 3 for the noon match.
