Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Hit the Road Again (and Again)
October 14, 2008 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 14, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, having played eight of the season's first 11 games away from home, heads back out on the road for two more games this week ... the Falcons of head coach Fred Thompson face a pair of Mid-American Conference opponents, beginning with Wednesday's (Oct. 15) match at Western Michigan University ... kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the WMU Soccer Complex ... please note that the 2:00 p.m. start time is different than what is listed on BGSU's preseason materials ... then, the Brown and Orange will head south to face Florida Atlantic University on Sunday (Oct. 19) ... that match is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. at FAU Field ... following the FAU game, the Falcons will finish the regular season with three of the last five games at home.
BGSU Men's Soccer Release & Statistics in PDF Format
LIVE STATS ON THE WEB
Both of this week's matches are scheduled to have live stats on the web ... the link for Wednesday's Western Michigan will be available on the school's athletics web site, wmubroncos.com, after the game has started ... Sunday's FAU game will utilize Gametracker, and will be available on BGSUFalcons.com as well as on fausports.com ... again in 2008, all home games will be available via Gametracker as well ... simply access the men's soccer schedule, and click on that day's game.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Falcons started the 2008 season with five consecutive games away from BG ... after opening the home schedule with a pair of games, BGSU then hit the road for three more games, before returning to Cochrane Field for Saturday's (Oct. 11) game vs. Akron ... now, BG heads to hostile venues for the next two games, and three of the next four contests ... following Sunday's FAU game, BGSU will have played 10 of 13 contests away from home ... the Brown and Orange then will close the regular season with three of the final five games in Northwest Ohio.
LAST WEEK
Nationally-ranked Akron got an early goal and a late insurance marker to down the Falcons, 2-0, Saturday (Oct. 11) at Cochrane Field ... UA, ranked third in the nation in the Soccer America poll and fourth in the NSCAA/adidas poll at the time of the game, got a goal from Anthony Ampaipitakwong at the 17:55 mark ... the margin remained a single goal until the final few minutes of play ... Matt Tutich doubled the visitors' lead with just over four minutes remaining ... the Zips had a 10-7 advantage in shot attempts and a 4-2 margin in shots on goal ... both 'keepers, Akron's Evan Bush and BGSU senior Paul Shoemaker, had two saves.
STREAKY
The Falcons' 2008 season has been one of streaks ... BGSU dropped the first three games of the year ... then, the Brown and Orange put together a three-game winning streak, with two come-from-behind wins during that stretch ... now, BG is looking to snap a five-match winless streak (0-4-1).
SHOEMAKER STOPS SHOTS ...
With two saves in the Akron game, senior goalkeeper Paul Shoemaker now has 52 saves this season to date ... the Commerce, Mich., native is only the fifth 'keeper in school history to have 50 or more saves in four seasons ... Shoemaker now has a total of 245 career saves at BGSU, ranking sixth in school history.
... AND TAKES SHOTS, TOO
Senior Paul Shoemaker, as mentioned above, is ranked on several BGSU goalkeeping lists ... Shoemaker has several additional statistical feats that one might not expect by a goalkeeper ... for example, he has been credited with a shot on goal in each of the last five games ... those are the first five shots of his career ... he is believed to hold the school record for SOG by a goalkeeper, as well as the GK record for most consecutive games with a shot.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons enter the Western Michigan game with a record of 3-7-1 on the season, and BGSU is 0-2-0 in MAC play ... BG started the year with three shutout losses, then won the next three matches ... that win streak included a pair of come-from-behind victories at the Central Arkansas Tournament (over Centenary and the host school) and a home win over IPFW ... after a loss to Saint Francis (Pa.), BGSU battled Marshall to a 3-3 tie, before dropping the next three games, to Ohio State, Hartwick and Akron ... three of the Falcons' losses, including the OSU and UA contests, have come to nationally-ranked teams ... individually, junior Jacob Lawrence leads the team in scoring, with eight points on four goals, while classmate Cameron Hepple is second with five points ... Hepple has a goal and a team-leading three assists in eight games this fall ... another junior, Chuko Evwaraye, and senior Paul Shoemaker each have four points this year ... Evwaraye has a pair of goals, while Shoemaker - a goalkeeper - has a goal and two assists ... at the defensive end, Shoemaker has started all 11 matches ... he has 52 saves and a goals-against average of 1.76 ... head coach Fred Thompson and assistant Ken White returned 15 letterwinners, including eight starters, from 2007 ... last fall, the Falcons posted an overall mark of 6-10-3, and BG finished fourth of six MAC teams with a 2-2-1 conference record.
THE OPPONENT / THE SERIES
Western Michigan enters Wednesday's match with an overall record of 2-10-1, and the Broncos are 1-1-0 in the MAC ... WMU started the year with a 1-0-0 record, then dropped seven-straight games before a 2-0 home win over Florida Atlantic on Sept. 28 ... since that time, Western has lost three more games, including a 5-1 setback at Michigan in last week's only game ... the Broncos have been outscored, 35-9, this year to date ... individually, Jordan Fylonenko and Saeed Sulemana Baba each have two goals to tie for the team lead ... Tyler Rosenhagen joins that duo with four points, on a goal and two assists ... three different players have seen time in goal ... A.J. Reed has gotten the most work, starting nine of the team's 13 games ... he has 39 saves and a goals-against average of 2.78 ... last year, coach Steve Karwoski's club posted an overall record of 7-10-2 and a MAC mark of 0-4-1 ... Karwoski welcomed back 13 letterwinners, including six starters, from that team ... the school's athletics web site is www.wmubroncos.com.
The Falcons lead Western Michigan, 26-9-3, in the all-time series between the teams ... the Falcons are 11-7-1 in road games vs. the Broncos ... BG posted a 4-1 win over Western last season (Oct. 27) at Cochrane Field, with Chuko Evwaraye, Cameron Hepple and Hunter Van Houten among the goalscorers ... in the Falcons' last trip to Kalamazoo, the Brown and Orange picked up a 2-1 win in the quarterfinal round of the 2006 MAC Tournament ... that win snapped a five-game losing streak and a seven-match winless streak (0-6-1) ... BG has won the last two overall series meetings.
Florida Atlantic has an overall record of 2-9-1, and the Owls are 0-4-1 in MAC play ... FAU, an affiliate member of the MAC for men's soccer, plays at Duke on Wednesday before hosting the Falcosn on Sunday morning ... the Owls battled Hartwick to a scoreless draw on Saturday (Oct. 11), snapping a seven-game losing streak ... the team's wins came in back-to-back games at Jacksonville (5-1; Sept. 7) and Stetson (1-0; Sept. 12) ... Shire Standnes leads the team in scoring, with eight points on four goals ... Phillip Lamarre has played all but 113 minutes in goal this year, and has 47 saves and a 2.16 GAA ... coach Kos Donev and the Owls had an overall record of 11-7-2 last year, and won the Atlantic Soccer Conference with a 4-0-1 record ... Donev returned 15 letterwinners, including nine starters, from that team ... the school's athletics web site is www.fausports.com.
BGSU leads Florida Atlantic, 1-0-0, in that series ... the only prior meeting came last year in Boca Raton, and resulted in a 2-1 Falcon win (Sept. 2, 2007) ... Thomas McLean and Chuko Evwaraye scored BG's goals in that win, with Jacob Lawrence assisting on both.
OFFENSIVE-MINDED DEFENDER
In hockey, many college conferences give out an award called 'Best Offensive Defenseman,' or something similar ... if the MAC bestowed such an award for men's soccer, Falcon senior goalkeeper Paul Shoemaker would have to be the top midseason candidate ... Shoemaker is currently tied for third on the Falcons in scoring - again, he's a goalkeeper - with four points on the season ... Shoemaker had three points on a goal and an assist in the Sept. 27 game at Marshall.
THAT'S A FIRST
Senior Paul Shoemaker converted a penalty kick midway through the second half at Marshall, in the process scoring the first goal by a goalkeeper in BGSU men's soccer history ... the Falcon program is in its 44th season.
SLOW STARTERS
The Falcons and both of this week's opponents have had difficulty getting off to quick starts this season ... BGSU has been outscored, 9-1, in the first half of 2008 games ... meanwhile, both WMU (18-3) and FAU (16-4) have been outscored by lopsided margins in the opening 45 minutes ... the Falcons have played the opponents relatively even in the second half, having been outscored, 11-9 ... Western has been outscored by a 15-6 count in the second half, with FAU outscored, 12-9, in the second 45.
LEADERS OF THE MAC
Several Falcons are listed among the Mid-American Conference's statistical leaders ... senior Paul Shoemaker leads the MAC in both saves (52) and saves per game (4.73) ... junior Jacob Lawrence is tied for third in goals (4) and goals per game (0.40), deadlocked for sixth in points (8) and ranks sixth in points per game (0.80) ... classmate Cameron Hepple is 10th (0.62) in the latter category ... Hepple is fourth in the MAC in assists per game (0.38), and is deadlocked for sixth in total assists (3) ... Shoemaker, a goalkeeper, is also listed on the assists charts ... he is tied for ninth in assists (2) and is tied for 10th in apg (0.18).
UP NEXT
Following this week's two matches, the Falcons will return home for a game vs. Wright State on Wednesday, Oct. 22 ... BG then heads to Northern Illinois (Oct. 25) before playing back-to-back home games vs. Michigan State (Oct. 29) and Buffalo (Nov. 1) ... a trip to Detroit (Nov. 4) ends the regular season.
