Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Wright State Wednesday
October 21, 2008 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 21, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, having played 10 of the season's first 13 games away from home, returns home for a midweek game ... the Falcons of head coach Fred Thompson step outside of Mid-American Conference play for a Wednesday (Oct. 22) match vs. Wright State University ... kickoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field ... then, the Brown and Orange will return to league action, heading to the MAC's "West Coast" for a Saturday (Oct. 25) game vs. Northern Illinois University ... kickoff for Saturday's game is noon Central Time (1:00 p.m. Eastern) at the NIU Soccer/Track Complex.
Complete Release & Stats in PDF Format
LIVE STATS ON THE WEB
Both of this week's matches are scheduled to have live stats on the web, through the magic of Gametracker ... again in 2008, all home games will be available via Gametracker, and the good folks at NIU also utilize Gametracker for their live stats ... for both of this week's games, log on to BGSUFalcons.com, simply access the men's soccer schedule, and click on that day's game.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons enter the Wright State game with a record of 3-9-1 on the season, and BGSU is 0-4-0 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 ... the Falcons are looking to snap a five-game losing streak ... individually, junior Jacob Lawrence leads the team in scoring, with eight points on four goals, while classmate Cameron Hepple is second with seven points ... Hepple has a pair of goals and a team-leading three assists 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 12 of the 13 matches ... he has 54 saves and a goals-against average of 1.86 ... senior Brent Petkus made his season debut on Sunday (Oct. 19) ... Petkus has eight saves and a 1.95 GAA ... 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.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons dropped a pair of MAC road matches, to Western Michigan and Florida Atlantic ... on Wednesday (Oct. 15), the Broncos downed the Brown and Orange by a 3-0 count in Kalamazoo ... WMU got a goal midway through the first half, then got some insurance with a pair of markers in the final 18 minutes of the game ... on Sunday morning (Oct. 19), host FAU got a goal from Shire Standnes with 2:07 gone in overtime for a 2-1 win over the Falcons ... junior Cameron Hepple scored the Falcons' goal, an unassisted marker that tied the score with just over 12 minutes left in regulation ... senior Brent Petkus, making his season debut, had eight saves in goal for the Brown and Orange.
THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Wright State enters Wednesday's match with an overall record of 3-10-1, and the Raiders are 2-2-1 in Horizon League play ... WSU is 1-3-0 on the road this year to date ... last week, the Raiders dropped a pair of games, losing at Akron, 8-0, on Wednesday (Oct. 15) before falling to visiting Butler by a 3-1 final on Saturday (Oct. 18) ... the UA loss snapped a two-game unbeaten streak, which had included a 1-1 tie with nationally-ranked UIC ... individually, Braden Fleak leads the team in scoring ... Fleak has seven of WSU's 13 goals this season to date ... Adam Harp has two goals, while Josh Grossman has a team-leading three assists ... in goal, Matt Koewler has played in 12 of the team's 14 games ... Knowler has 30 saves and a goals-against average of 2.20 ... Aaron Ritter has played in four games, and has 11 stops and a 2.87 GAA ... last year, coach Mike Tracy's club posted an overall record of 8-13-0 and a record of 3-5-0 in the HL ... Tracy welcomed back 15 letterwinners, including nine starters, from that team ... the school's athletics web site is www.wsuraiders.com.
The Falcons trail Wright State, 4-3-2, in the all-time series between the teams ... BGSU is 1-2-2 in home games vs. the Raiders, but WSU has won the last two meetings at Cochrane Field ... the Falcons captured a 2-0 road win over Wright State last year (Sept. 23, 2007), snapping the Raiders' three-game series win streak ... Cameron Hepple and Abiola Sandy (now a BGSU student assistant coach) scored first-half goals, while Paul Shoemaker made two saves to earn the shutout in last year's game ... all three of BG's series wins have come by shutout.
Northern Illinois has an overall record of 7-2-4, and the Huskies are 2-1-1 in MAC play ... NIU, like BGSU, steps outside of conference play for a midweek game ... the Huskies will play at Northwestern on Wednesday before hosting the Falcons three days later ... last week, Northern battled to a 2-2 tie at Milwaukee on Tuesday (Oct. 14), before defeating Hartwick, 2-1 in overtime, Saturday (Oct. 18) in DeKalb ... Brad Horton leads the Huskies in scoring, with five goals and 11 points ... both Drew Jeskey and Ben Thomas have seven points, including three goals, on the season ... Engebreth Faerden has a team-leading four assists ... Joe Zimka has played all 13 games in goal, and has 40 saves and a GAA of just 1.04 ... coach Steve Simmons and the Huskies had an overall record of 7-9-4 last year, and NIU was 1-3-1 in MAC action ... Simmons returned 17 letterwinners, including six starters, from that team ... the school's athletics web site is www.niuhuskies.com.
BGSU trails Northern Illinois, 11-8-0, in that series ... the Falcons are 1-7-0 in road games against the Huskies ... the teams are 4-4-0 against one another since 2002, having met twice in the MAC Tournament during that time ... last season, the teams met twice at Cochrane Field in a span of 11 days ... in the regular-season finale, Thomas McLean and Chuko Evwaraye each scored within the game's first 5:11 as the Falcons posted a 3-1 win (Nov. 2, 2007) ... Hunter Van Houten also scored, while Brent Petkus made seven saves in the victory ... the Huskies, however, got revenge with a 3-0 win at Cochrane in the first round of last year's conference tourney (Nov. 13, 2007) ... NIU won the last meeting in DeKalb, 2-0, two years ago (Sept. 29, 2006) ... the Falcons' lone series road win came in 2002, by a 2-1 score.
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 seven-match winless streak.
SLOW STARTERS
The Falcons have scored their share of goals in the second half of games this season ... the first half, however, has been another story ... BGSU has been outscored, 10-1, in the first half of 2008 games ... the Falcons have had 10 goals in the second half to the opponents' 14 this season to date, and BG has both scored and allowed one overtime goal.
SHOEMAKER SIXTH IN SAVES
With two saves in the Western Michigan game, senior goalkeeper Paul Shoemaker now has 54 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 247 career saves at BGSU, ranking sixth in school history.
FALCON NOTES
• Junior Cameron Hepple's goal vs. Florida Atlantic was his second of the season and the seventh of his career ... Hepple leads active Falcons in career goals, assists (seven) and points (21).
• Hepple now has seven points this season, ranking second on the team behind fellow junior Jacob Lawrence.
• Senior Brent Petkus saw his first game action of the regular season in the FAU game, and had eight saves to tie his career high ... Petkus had made eight saves in another overtime game on the road, a 1-1 tie vs. Saint Mary's (Calif.) on Sept. 8, 2006.
• Hepple's goal broke a scoreless drought of 476:45 for the Brown and Orange ... BGSU's last goal had come off the boot of goalkeeper Paul Shoemaker late in the second half of the game at Marshall on Sept. 27.
UP NEXT
Following this week's two matches, the Falcons will return home for a pair of games next week ... BGSU will host Michigan State in Wednesday action (Oct. 29), beginning at 3:00 p.m. ... then, the Falcons will close the home and MAC portions of the schedule on Saturday, Nov. 1, with an 11:00 a.m. game vs. Buffalo ... then, a trip to Detroit (Nov. 4) ends the regular season.
