Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Open MAC Play at Mickey Cochrane Field
October 04, 2005 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 4, 2005
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Bowling Green State University will open the MAC season when the Huskies of Northern Illinois and the Broncos of Western Michigan visit Mickey Cochrane Field...each of the two matches will be a part of double header action with the women's soccer team...Friday's match against the Huskies will begin at 1:00...women's action against the Ohio Bobcats will being at 4:00...game one on Sunday will feature the visiting Akron Zips to take on the women's soccer program at high noon...the Orange and Brown will kick-off game two against the Broncos at 3:00.
Birds of a Feather Play Together
Senior Omari Aldridge continues to lead the Falcons scoring attack...Aldridge has scored at least one goal in each of the last five matches...Justin Kim scored his first collegiate goal against Loyola University Chicago...keeper Paul Shoemaker has recorded 14 saves in the last two games...Shoemaker is ranked 9th in the NCAA Top 10 with 5.89 saver per game.
In the past week:
BGSU: Lost in OT on the road to Loyola University Chicago, 3-2, on Sunday...dropped a 3-1 decision against the Michigan State Spartans while visiting East Lansing.
NIU: Sunday's win over Eastern Illinois was the fourth consecutive 1-0 shutout for the Huskies on the road...beat Wisconsin on the road, 1-0.
WMU: Fell to Bradley in OT, 2-1, after a half-hour weather delay on Sunday...WMU overcame Loyola in a 3-2 OT win on Friday.
BGSU in the MAC
To date the Orange and Brown are 84-30-13 in the Mid-American Conference...BGSU, along with Akron and former MAC foe Kentucky, lead the conference in overall tournament titles won (3)...the 2002 season was the last season in which BGSU held the title of MAC regular season champions...BGSU has made eight appearances in MAC Championship game...has a 16-7-1 MAC Tournament record.
Around the MAC
The University of Akron has been nationally ranked for the entire 2005 season...currently the Zips are ranked as high as No. 2 in the latest NSCAA/adidas poll and lead the nation in goals per game...Akron is also ranked No. 1 in the Great Lakes Region...UB is ranked No. 20 in the NSCAA/adidas poll... Buffalo is ranked No. 2 in the New York Region...NIU has earned a No. 4 ranking in the Midwest Region but has yet to break the Top 25...Akron and IPFW are the only conference programs to have a conference game under their belts.
BGSU at Mickey Cochrane Field
The Orange and Brown are 193-97-18 at Mickey Cochrane Stadium...BGSU has won six of their MAC home openers since joining in 1993...the Falcons have seen just three home losing seasons...BGSU has been undefeated at home five times with the last unblemished record in 1994 (9-0-0).
Scouting NIU
The Northern Illinois Huskies bring a 7-2-1 record to Mickey Cochrane Field...Head coach Steve Simmons is in his third season with the Huskies...Simmons was named the 2004 MAC Coach of the Year...Ian Clerihew is Simmons' assistant...NIU returns 16 letterwinners from the 2004 season including Curt Zastrow, the 2004 Newcomer of the Year and a First Team All-MAC selection...also returning Jose Alvarado, a first team All-MAC selection...Keeper Steve Goletz was a Second Team All-MAC selection along with three other Husky teammates....Chris Vanduerm leads the Huskies' attack with 4/12 goals scored...currently riding a five game winning streak...NIU is most likely to strike in the first half...the Huskies are outscoring their opponents 7-2 in the first 45 minutes...Friday's match will open the MAC season for the Huskies.
The Series
Northern Illinois leads the series 8-6 dating back to 1974...in the first meeting between the two the Huskies beat the Falcons in DeKalb, 4-2...in the last meeting, NIU beat the Falcons 6-3 at Mickey Cochrane Field...the two programs have never tied...only one match was pushed to OT, the 1998 3-2 loss at Northern...nine of the matches have been decided by one goal...the 2004 meeting saw the most points scored in a match between the two programs with nine.
Scouting Western
The Broncos have amassed a 3-5-1 record...WMU is led by head coach Chris Karowski...Karowski is in this eight season with the Broncos...Chad Wiseman is the Bronco's assistant...WMU lost eight starters and five letterwinners from the 2004 season ...key returnees include 2004 First Team All-MAC selection Dustin Snyder...Snyder has seven points this season (3g, 2a)...sophomore Tom Oatley leads the Broncos' with five goals...veteran keeper, Brent Miller, has faced 137 shots this season and has recorded 44 saves in 838:24...three of the Bronco's last five games have ended in OT (1-1-1)...the Broncos will open Mac play when IPFW travels to Kalamazoo, MI.
The Series
BGSU has a commanding 24-6-3 all-time lead over the Broncos...BGSU took the first meeting between the programs in 1971 with a 3-1 overtime victory...Western took the last meeting in a 5-2 victory...BGSU has not lost to WMU at home since 1985...the Orange and Brown have shutout the Broncos 16 times...BGSU has outscored WMU 79-9.
Leading the Flock
Fred Thompson is in his second year as BGSU head coach after serving two seasons as assistant at the University of Evansville and two years at Bellevue Community College...named 2001 NWAACC Coach of the Year...became only the fourth head coach in the 40-year history of the BGSU program after accepting the job in April, 2004...played professionally for eight years...assistant coach Tony Economopoulos is in his third season with the Falcons...served two seasons as assistant coach at Western Illinois University...2002 AFLAC Insurance National Assistant Coach of the Year nominee...the coaching duo got their first win over then No.11 Ohio State University in a 3-2 double overtime victory.
