Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Furman, College of Charleston this Weekend
September 03, 2008 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 3, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team travels south for the second-straight weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Fred Thompson head to Greenville, S.C., to take on a pair of Southern Conference foes in the Diadora/Spinx Furman Invitational ... BGSU will face the host school, Furman University, in a Friday (Sept. 5) match, with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ... then, the Brown and Orange will meet the College of Charleston Sunday morning (Sept. 7), in an 11:00 a.m. start ... the University of Washington is the fourth team in the tournament, and will face Charleston Friday and Furman Sunday ... all four matches will be held at Stone Stadium.
BGSU Notes & Stats in PDF Format
all matches at Stone Stadium; Greenville, S.C.
Friday, Sept. 5
Coll. of Charleston vs. Washington, 4:30 p.m.
Bowling Green at Furman, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 7
Bowling Green vs. Coll. of Charleston, 11:00 a.m.
Washington at Furman, 1:30 p.m.
ROAD WARRIORS
For the Falcons, this weekend's matches continue a season-opening stretch of five consecutive contests away from home ... BGSU's first regular-season appearance at Cochrane Field will be Friday, Sept. 19, vs. IPFW.
LIVE STATS
Both of BGSU's matches at Furman are scheduled to have live statistics available on the web, through the magic of Gametracker ... for up-to-the-minute statistical information via GT this weekend, as well as for all Falcon home matches again in 2008, log on to BGSUFalcons.com as kickoff time approaches.
TOUGH CROWD
The Falcons' 2008 schedule is a challenging one, to say the least ... BGSU's season-opening opponent, USF, is currently listed among the national rankings ... the Bulls are now 11th in the College Soccer News poll, 14th in the NSCAA/adidas rankings and are ranked 16th by TopDrawerSoccer.com ... BG's second opponent of the year, Furman, was listed in each preseason poll, and the Paladins are currently ranked 27th by TopDrawerSoccer.com ... Furman is receiving votes in the CSN poll ... two other future BGSU opponents, Akron and Ohio State, are currently ranked in one or more polls.
TOUGH CROWD II
Each of BGSU's first three opponents of the season features a Hermann Trophy Watch List member ... the Hermann Trophy is given annually to the top collegiate men's soccer player in the country ... Furman's Patrick Murray and the College of Charleston's Kareem Yearwood both are on the 48-man watch list ... USF's Kevon Neaves also made the list.
LAST TIME OUT
Nationally-ranked South Florida picked up a 3-0 win over the Falcons Saturday night (Aug. 30) in Tampa ... the Bulls, who advanced to the Round of 16 of last year's NCAA Championships, got a goal midway through the first half, and picked up a second goal in the 66th minute ... USF completed the scoring with just over six minutes left ... senior Paul Shoemaker played all 90 minutes in the Falcon net, making seven saves ... entering the match, USF was ranked 11th in the nation by College Soccer News and 18th in the NSCAA/adidas rankings.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons, as mentioned, suffered a 3-0 loss at USF to open the 2008 season ... BGSU returns 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 mark ... goalkeepers Brent Petkus and Paul Shoemaker return after combining to play every second of every match last fall ... Petkus had a record of 3-2-1 and a goals-against average of 1.45 ... Shoemaker was 3-8-2 with a team-high 54 saves and a GAA of 1.75 ... at the other end of the field, the Falcons had three players amass double-digit point totals for the first time since the 1997 season ... Cameron Hepple had 11 points, while Hunter Van Houten and Abiola Sandy had 10 apiece ... Sandy, a senior in 2007, is a student assistant coach on the '08 team ... Chuko Evwaraye had six points on three goals last season, as did Thomas McLean ... all three of Evwaraye's goals proved to be game winners ... the Falcons had a 4-3-2 home record in 2007, and BGSU was 2-7-1 on the road ... Sandy, Hepple and McLean all were named to the All-MAC Second Team a year ago.
FALCONS TABBED FOR FIFTH
The MAC office released the preseason poll on Aug. 26, and the Falcons have been predicted to finish fifth ... the poll is the result of voting by the league's seven head coaches ... nationally-ranked Akron was predicted to win the regular-season and tournament crowns in 2008 ... last year, the Zips captured both the regular-season and tourney titles ... the Falcons finished fourth in the regular-season standings a year ago ... Florida Atlantic joins the MAC as an affiliate member in men's soccer for the 2008 season.
THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Furman began the season listed in the national rankings ... the Paladins opened the campaign with a 3-2 overtime loss at UNC Wilmington Sunday (Aug. 31) ... freshman Fabian Vorbe scored both Furman goals, including one in the game's 89th minute ... but, UNCW scored with seven seconds left in regulation, then notched the winner in the 104th minute ... Furman, the 2007 Southern Conference regular-season and tournament champion, was tabbed as the 2008 favorite in the preseason coaches poll ... coach Doug Allison welcomes back six starters from the '07 squad that posted a 19-4-0 overall record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championships, losing to eventual national champion Wake Forest ... senior Patrick Murray has been named to the Missouri Athletic Club's 2008 Hermann Trophy Watch List ... the school's athletics web site is furmanpaladins.com.
The Falcons trail Furman, 2-0-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... each of the previous two meetings have come at neutral sites ... the Paladins picked up a 1-0 win almost 10 years to the day prior to Friday's meeting (Sept. 4, 1998) ... that match was held at Ohio State's Nike Classic ... then, two years ago (Sept. 3, 2006), Furman recorded a 2-1 win at the Coastal Carolina Invitational.
The College of Charleston brings a 1-1-0 record into the weekend ... the Cougars will face Washington in Friday action at Furman, before meeting BGSU two days later ... Charleston downed Marshall, 2-0, to open the season, before losing to Charlotte by a 5-3 count ... five different players have scored a goal apiece for the Cougars to date, including junior Kareem Yearwood ... Yearwood, named to the Hermann Trophy Watch List for 2008, tied for the Southern Conference lead in goals (13) and points (29) a year ago ... the Cougars were chosen to finish third in the SoCon in the preseason coaches poll ... Charleston returns 19 players from last year's 13-5-1 team ... coach Ralph Lundy in his 22nd year with the Cougars ... the school's athletics web site is CofCSports.com.
The Falcons and Charleston have never met in men's soccer.
A BLEND OF NEW ...
Three freshmen were among the starting lineup in Saturday's match at USF ... true frosh Tanner Fink and Vuk Krkeljic and redshirt freshman Chris Jurtovski all saw their first collegiate action when the opening whistle blew ... additionally, freshmen Colin Armstrong and John Barr also saw action off the bench in the match.
... AND OLD
BGSU's starting lineup at USF featured two seniors (Paul Shoemaker and Ryan Davis), a redshirt junior (Chuko Evwaraye), two true juniors (Tyler Deal and Hunter Van Houten), a redshirt sophomore (Ahmad Smith), two sophs (Thomas McLean and Dusko Topolic), a redshirt freshman (Chris Jurtovski) and two true freshmen (Tanner Fink and Vuk Krkeljic).
UP NEXT
The Falcons will head to the Central Arkansas Tournament next weekend (Sept. 12-13), facing Centenary as well as the host school ... the home opener is set for Friday, Sept. 19, vs. IPFW.
