Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green To Open 2007 on Florida Coast
August 28, 2007 | Men's Soccer
Aug. 28, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - - The Bowling Green State University Falcons men's soccer team will travel to southern Florida to match-up in the Miami-area with the Florida International Panthers and the Owls of Florida Atlantic University on August 31 and September 2, respectively ... both the Golden Panthers and the Falcons will open their season at 7:00 p.m. on Friday ... live stats will be available for Sunday's match courtesy of fausports.com.
About the 2007 Falcons
Bowling Green will field its 43rd squad when the Falcons take the field on Friday afternoon ... head coach Fred Thompson will begin his fourth year as the leader of the Falcons ... since taking over the helm, Thompson is 8-46-3 ... the Falcons return 13 letterwinners from last year's squad that posted a 4-14-1 overall record ... of the 13 returnee's, seven earned starting positions on a squad that lacked any seniors and saw only five juniors on the roster ... six countries are represented on the current roster - Bahamas, Canada, England, Serbia, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States ... of those native to the USA, eight states are represented - Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.
Quoting Head Coach Fred Thompson
"I know that the players are ready to get the season started and they'll be ready to go on Friday.
"We have not played Florida International in more than two decades and we have never had the privilege of playing Florida Atlantic so these will be two very challenging games. two very athletic teams with loads of talent. I'm not sure you can go anywhere in the country and not have at least one of your players have a connection with someone on the opposing team. That's the case this weekend.
"On top of it being the first game of the season and the first game for FIU's new head coach,players will be looking to make sure their team comes out on top - you know, bragging rights for at least a year.
"Friday night under the lights in Miami - I can't think of a better way to get things started."
The Newest Addition to the Falcons' Sideline
In May, Ken White was named assistant men's soccer coach and is now responsible for the Falcons' goalkeepers... he was most recently the senior assistant coach at the University of Louisville ... White, the recipient of the Goalkeeper Award from the Irish Football Association (Northern Ireland), holds `A' licenses from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) as well as a `Full' coaching badge from the Football Association of Ireland and
a `National Youth License' from the USSF ... he also has ties to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) as a staff and goalkeeper coach and has earned a `premier' and `national' goalkeeping diploma from the same organization ... since beginning his career in 1978 at the University of Tampa as the assistant/goalkeeper coach, White has been associated with five collegiate programs and has made the trip to the NCAA Tournament twice ... additionally, he has experience at the professional level serving as the head coach and general manager of the USL's New Orleans Gamblers (1991-1994) and the Colorado Springs Stampede (1995-2000).
The Mid-American Conference
Bowling Green will mark its 15th season with the Mid-American Conference since joining in 1993 ... the Falcons have played in eight tournament championship matches winning three tournament titles (1995-96-97) and an addition trio of regular season titles (1996-T00-T02) ... Bowling Green will begin MAC play on September 28 at the University at Buffalo.
MAC Pre-Season Poll
The Mid-American Conference men's soccer coaches made their predictions for the 2007 season, and the Falcons were chosen to finish sixth ... the poll, released Tues., Aug. 14, is a result of voting by the league's head coaches ... Akron was the choice of the league's head coaches to win both the regular season and tournament titles ... the Zips claimed five out of six first place votes and received three votes to win the MAC Tournament.
2007 MAC Pre-season Coaches Poll
1. Akron
2. Northern Illinois
3. Hartwick
4. Buffalo
5. Western Michigan
6. Bowling Green
Predicted Tournament Champion: Akron
Hartwick Joins the MAC in 2007
Hartwick College will begin its inaugural season as an affiliate member of the MAC after posting an overall record of 8-10-2 in the Atlantic Soccer Conference in 2006 ... the Hawks call Oneonta, N.Y. home and have fielded a men's soccer team since 1956 ... the squads will have met just once prior to this season's first MAC meeting in a 1984 match where the Falcons shutout the Hawks, 1-0, at the Mayor's Cup IX tournament.
About the Golden Panthers (August 31 - at University Park Stadium)
Florida International will open the season under first year head coach Munga Eketbi who inherits an FIU team that finished 2006 at 6-10-2 ... Eketbi assumes the position after spending time with the Golden Panthers in a coaching or playing capacity since the 1983 season ... he replaces Karl Kremser who retired from the University after 27 seasons ... FIU also will start the season without the scoring power of David Hope ... Hope led the team in points (16) and goals (7) in 2006 ... he also tied returnee Richard Martinez's two assists in 2006 ... nine freshman join the FIU roster ... last season, the eighth-seeded Golden Panthers reached the quarterfinal match of the C-USA post-season tournament but were eliminated by second-seeded SMU ... the programs will have met just once prior to Friday's outing ... FIU beat BGSU 2-1 in game one of the Southern Bell/FIU Soccer Classic.
About the Owls (September 2 - at FAU Soccer Field)
Florida Atlantic will begin its 21st consecutive season under veteran head coach Kos Donev ... last season the Owls reached the Atlantic Soccer Conference before falling 3-2 to Adelphi in the final match ... FAU ended 2006 at 7-9-1 overall ... the squad will play its first season without the aid of 2006 team MVP, defender Ryan Kinsley who anchored the Owl backfield to as FAU tied the school record of six shutouts last season ... Rookie of the Year Trey McEntee will return on the defense and junior Shire Standnes on the offense ... Standnes led the Owls with six goals, including a pair of game-winners last year... September 2 will be the first meeting between the programs ... FAU is one of three first-time opponents the Falcons will face on the 2007 schedule.
Scoring BiG in the Classroom
In May, the men's soccer Falcons were once again recognized as the Bowling Green "large" team with the most improved GPA by the BGSU Student-Athlete Services Department ... the team increased their overall GPA from 2.70 to 2.79 over the course of one year ... "large" is defined as a team with 20 or more participants ... the team also earned the award in 2005 ... sophomore Jacob Lawrence was also honored for his academic excellence at the team's annual end-of-season banquet with the Dr. Lee and Marge Meserve Academic Award as the Falcon with the highest GPA ... after one full semester, Lawrence maintained a perfect 4.00 GPA as a Film and Production major ... at the conclusion of the 2007 season, both junior Kyle McNayr and senior Ryan Perea earned Academic All-MAC mentions ... McNayr is a computer science major while Perea studies Sport Management.
Points of Interest From 2006
The Falcons conference tournament quarterfinal win over Western Michigan was the first MAC tournament win since the 2003 season ... BGSU's four goals were the most scored by the program since their second pace finish in 1998 ... keeper Paul Shoemaker's recorded his first shutout victory as a Falcon on October 2, 2006 at Detroit ... the win ended a winless road streak dating back 29 matches to October 16 and a 2-2 double-overtime stalemate at Cleveland State ... the shutout was the first under Thompson ... the Orange and Brown's 2-1 win over Western Illinois (Aug. 25) was the first opening day win for the Falcons since pummeling Dayton 3-1 on September 1, 1999.
