Falcons Face 'Dons Under the Friday Night Lights

The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, coming off of a loss for the first time this season, looks to bounce back with a home match this weekend. The Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols face IPFW on Friday evening (Sept. 18), with first touch scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium. Admission is free to all BGSU home soccer regular-season matches.

The IPFW match is BGSU's fifth home contest of the season. Following Friday's match vs. the 'Dons, only three of the Falcons' final 12 matches will be held inside the friendly confines of Cochrane.

U P N E X T I N F A L C O N M E N ' S S O C C E R
BGSU vs. IPFW Cochrane Stadium \| Bowling Green, Ohio	Fri., Sept. 18 7:00 p.m.	Live Stats \| Twitter
BGSU at Dayton Baujan Field \| Dayton, Ohio	Wed., Sept. 23 7:00 p.m.

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FREE FALCON FUTBOL / FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Admission for all Falcon men's and women's soccer home regular-season matches again this season is free. For those who can't make it to Cochrane Stadium, live stats are scheduled to be available for each home game via BGSUFalcons.com. Additionally, Twitter updates for all men's soccer matches, home and away, will be available via @BGSUmenssoccer. All information regarding live stats, audio/video and twitter updates can be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com on the day of the match.

FIVE-AND-OH FALCONS FINALLY FALL
After winning five consecutive matches to begin the season, the Falcons suffered a 1-0 loss to Robert Morris on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 13). BGSU outshot the Colonials, 27-8, including 19-3 in the second half, but the Falcons saw their five-match winning streak come to an end.

BGSU's 5-0-0 start was the team's first in over two decades, since the 1993 season. The school record for consecutive wins at the start of a season remains six, by the 1978 team. Three previous BGSU teams began the year with double-digit unbeaten streaks, including the 1983 (10-0-1), 1991 (10-0-1) and 1992 (13-0-1) clubs.

CO-CHAMPIONS
The Falcons were declared co-champions of last weekend's Veterans Memorial Cup in Huntington, W.Va. All four teams in the tournament went 1-1-0, but BGSU and host Marshall were named co-champs due to goal differential. Additionally, four Falcons – senior Ryan James, redshirt juniors Max Auden and Ryan Heuton and true junior Pat Flynn – were named to the all-tournament team.

VETERANS MEMORIAL CUP
Friday-Sunday, Sept. 11-13 – Huntington, W.Va.
Friday, Sept. 11
Bowling Green 3, Evansville 1
at Marshall 3, Robert Morris 1

Sunday, Sept. 13
Robert Morris 1, Bowling Green 0
Evansville 1, at Marshall 0

FAST FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons are 5-1-0 on the season. BGSU won the first five matches of the year before suffering a 1-0 loss to Robert Morris on Sunday (Sept. 13). BG has defeated SIUE, Western Illinois, Drexel, Cleveland State and Evansville, with multiple-goal wins against four of those five opponents.

• BGSU is 4-0-0 at home and 1-1-0 in neutral-site matches this year to date. The Falcons have outscored the opponents by a 14-4 count this season, including 11-2 at Cochrane Stadium.

• The Falcons broke into the national rankings last week (Sept. 8), as BG was listed 24th in the nation in the NSCAA poll. That marked BG's first time in the top 25 since Sept. 6, 1999. Following the loss to RMU, BGSU is receiving votes in this week's NSCAA poll as well as the College Soccer News poll.

• BGSU is ranked fifth in the Great Lakes Region this week. BG was fourth in the region in the first poll of the year, and the Falcons moved up to second last week. This week, BG trails Creighton (the number-one team in the nation), Akron, Western Michigan and Marquette.

• A pair of juniors from Naperville, Ill., lead the team in scoring. Pat Flynn has 19 points, including eight goals, on the young season. He leads the entire nation in both goals and points. Joe Sullivan has nine points on three goals and three assists. Both Flynn and Sullivan have scored two game-winning goals this year.

• Flynn already has three multiple-goal games this year to date, with a hat trick vs. Western Illinois (Aug. 30) and two-goal, five-point nights in back-to-back matches vs. Cleveland State (Sept. 6) and Evansville (Sept. 11).

• Flynn has scored at least one goal in four of BGSU's six games so far.

• Senior Ryan James has eight points, while junior Jacob Roth and redshirt freshman Bismark Agyeman each have four points on the year. James has scored two goals and is tied with Agyeman for the team assists lead, with four apiece. They are deadlocked for fourth in the nation in that category.

• In goal, redshirt junior Ryan Heuton has played all 540 minutes this season. He has a pair of shutouts, 13 saves and a goals-against average of just 0.67. Heuton has allowed only eight goals in his BGSU career, spanning nearly 1295 minutes, for an overall GAA of just 0.56.

• Senior center back Jake Genrich, a team tri-captain and four-year starter, did not make the trip to Huntington due to injury. Genrich had played in each of the Falcons' first first 64 matches of his career, starting 63.

#FALCONFAST
While the term #FalconFast is most commonly associated with coach Dino Babers and the BGSU football team, it could also be used to describe another group of futbol Falcons. Twice in the season's first four games, the men's soccer team has taken the lead with under four minutes gone. Junior Pat Flynn scored just 2:36 into the win over Western Illinois (Aug. 30). Junior Joe Sullivan, who assisted on that goal, scored off of a Flynn feed with only 3:56 gone against Cleveland State on Sunday night (Sept. 6). On both occasions, the goal came on the first shot attempt of the match.

SO YOU'RE SAYING IT HELPS TO SCORE GOALS
• The Falcons have scored three or more goals in four of the first six games this season. Last year, BGSU scored three or more goals a total of four times during the entire season.

• In fact, no BG team has scored three or more goals four times in a season since the 1999 team did so six times.

• The Falcons were 9-1-0 when scoring two or more goals last season, with the only loss coming in overtime (3-2 at Duquesne). BGSU is now 34-4-4 in the Eric Nichols Era (including a perfect 4-0-0 this season) when scoring at least two goals in a game.

11 FACTS ABOUT NUMBER 11 (A FEW NOTES ABOUT PAT FLYNN)
• Junior Pat Flynn scored 14 goals and 32 points last season, and tied for second nationally among 2015 returnees in total goals, goals per game (0.67) and total points. And, it appears Flynn has picked up right where he left off.

• Flynn has scored 19 points, including eight goals, as BGSU has gotten off to a 5-1 start to the season. He has scored twice as many goals as any other player in the Mid-American Conference.

• Heading into the IPFW match, Flynn has totals of 22 goals and 51 points in just 27 games at BGSU, for averages of 0.81 goals and 1.89 points per match as a Falcon.

• Early in his second season at BGSU, Flynn is already threatening to break into the top 10 on several school career lists. He is just two goals and eight points away from tying for 10th in BGSU history on those respective charts.

• Flynn had three multiple-goal games in the Falcons' first five contests of the season, with a hat trick against Western Illinois (Aug. 30) and two-goal, five-point outings in back-to-back contests, against Cleveland State (Sept. 6) and Evansville (Sept. 11).

• For Flynn, the hat trick vs. WIU was the second of his collegiate career. He now has six multi-goal games, with three last year and three more this fall.

• Although he did not have a multiple-goal game vs. SIUE in the season opener, he did contribute to a pair of goals just 17 seconds apart – believed to be the fastest two goals in school history. Flynn scored a goal, then almost immediately stole an SIUE pass and picked up an assist on classmate Joe Sullivan's goal.

• Flynn, as mentioned, is in his second season at BGSU. He has scored a goal in the season opener in each of those two years, with a goal vs. IUPUI last year and a three-point game against SIUE this fall.

• In the second game of the season, Flynn is AVERAGING four goals and 8.50 points per game as a Falcon. He had five goals and 11 points vs. Findlay last year, tying the school single-match records for goals and points, and he had a hat trick this fall vs. Western Illinois.

• With eight goals and 19 points through six games this season, Flynn is actually slightly behind last year's pace. In his first six games at BGSU, the Naperville, Ill., native had 10 goals and 22 points.

• As of Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 15), Flynn led the nation in total goals and total points. He also ranked among the national leaders in shots on goal (second), goals per game (third), points per game (third) and game-winning goals (T-seventh).

OK, YOU TALKED US INTO IT: HERE ARE FOUR MORE FACTS ABOUT FLYNN
• Junior Pat Flynn earned a veritable plethora of honors after the season's opening weekend. He was named the MAC Player of the Week on Aug. 31, earning that honor for the third time in his career. He also was named to the College Soccer News and TopDrawerSoccer National Teams of the Week, and he was one of 10 players named a HERO Sports Stud of the Week (BREAKING: Flynn was again named a Stud of the Week on Wednesday morning).

• In early August, Flynn was marked as a potential candidate for college soccer's most prestigious award, the Hermann Trophy. He was one of just 30 players named to the award's Watch List.

• Flynn's 2014 goal and point totals were the highest by a Falcon since the 1996 season.

• He led the MAC in total goals and game-winning goals (six) a year ago, and ranked second in the league in total points, goals per game (0.67) and points per game (1.52). Flynn finished the season ranked among the national leaders in all five of those categories, as he was eighth or better on each list.

SCOUTING IPFW
IPFW will come to Cochrane Stadium with a record of 3-3-0 on the season. The Mastodons saw a three-match winning streak snapped on Sunday, with a 2-0 loss to visiting Northern Kentucky. IPFW had defeated Houston Baptist, UT-Rio Grande Valley and Asbury prior to Sunday's setback, and the 'Dons have also played Saint Joseph's (Ind.) and Western Michigan this year to date. IPFW is 1-3 at home, 1-0 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site matches. Austin West leads a balanced scoring attack with three goals this fall, and Zach Tom is tied with West for the team lead with six points apiece. IPFW has scored 13 goals in six games, with no fewer than nine different players finding the back of the net. In goal, Raphael Kotzock has played all but 26 minutes, and has 18 saves and a goals-against average of 1.55. Last season, the 'Dons finished with an overall record of 6-9-1 and a Summit League mark of 3-3-0. Head coach Mike Harper welcomed back 18 letterwinners, including eight starters, from that team. IPFW has been predicted to finish fifth in the Summit League in 2015, according to the league's preseason poll.

THE SERIES
The Falcons lead IPFW, 8-4-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons have won the last two meetings. Last season, Danny Baraldi's late goal gave BG a 1-0 win in Fort Wayne (Oct. 1, 2014). Two years ago, in the teams' last meeting in Bowling Green, the Brown and Orange exploded for an 8-0 win at Cochrane Stadium (Nov. 5, 2013). IPFW's last series win came on Oct. 16, 2012, snapping a five-match series unbeaten streak for the Falcons. BGSU is 4-1-1 vs. the 'Dons in the Eric Nichols Era, and the Falcons are 4-2-2 in home matches and 4-2-0 in away games in the IPFW series.

CLIMBING CAREER CHARTS
A few of the 2015 Falcons are adding to their career point totals in rapid fashion. Junior Pat Flynn, in just his second year at BG, now has totals of 22 goals and 51 points in just 27 career matches. He is only two goals and eight points from moving into the top 10 on those respective BGSU career charts.

Junior Joe Sullivan is the lone active Falcon with double-digit totals in both goals and assists. Sullivan now has 31 career points on 10 goals and 11 assists.

Senior Ryan James had four points against Evansville, and now has 28 career points on seven goals and 14 assists. His assist total leads all current BG players. Juniors Jacob Roth and Max Auden have 22 and 17 career points, respectively.

THE 89TH MINUTE (A FEW FINAL NOTES)
• The Falcons outshot Robert Morris by a 27-8 count in Sunday's loss, and BG had a 19-3 advantage in that category in the second half. The Falcons also had large advantages in shots on goal (10-1) and corner kicks (9-3).

• BG's total of 27 shot attempts was a season high, and represented the Falcons' highest total since late in the 2013 season (38 shots vs. IPFW on Nov. 5, 2013).

• In that Robert Morris match, the Falcons were shut out for the first time since last Oct. 22 at Ohio State. BGSU had scored in 12 consecutive matches, with two or more goals in eight of those 12 contests.

• Several players made their respective BGSU debuts in Friday's win over Evansville. Freshman Peter Pugliese, who missed the Falcons' first four matches of the year due to injury, played in both matches in Huntington. Fellow freshman Vincent Giannini also came off the bench to see time against the Purple Aces.

UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following the IPFW match, the Falcons will hit the road for a difficult intra-state test, taking on Dayton on Wednesday, Sept. 23. Then, BGSU will return home to face nationally-ranked Michigan State on Tuesday, Sept. 29.

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