Bowling Green State University Athletics
Wednesday, September 23
Ann Arbor, Mich.
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Michigan
Falcons Face Two Nationally-Ranked Opponents this Week
September 22, 2009 | Men's Soccer
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, coming off a rare September home game, ends the month with a pair of tough tests, to say the least ... the Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols will hit the road to face two nationally-ranked teams this week, beginning with a Wednesday (Sept. 23) night game against the University of Michigan ... kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at the U-M Soccer Complex ... then, on Saturday (Sept. 26), the Brown and Orange will open Mid-American Conference play against the top-ranked team in the nation ... BGSU will take on #1 Akron in a 7:30 p.m. start at Lee Jackson Field ... BG's brutal September schedule sees the Falcons play only two of nine matches at home.
BGSU NOTES & STATS (PDF) | MAC WEEKLY RELEASE (PDF)
HEPPLE NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Falcon senior Cameron Hepple was named the MAC Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday morning (Sept. 21) ... Hepple earned the honor for the first time in his collegiate career ... the native of Nassau, Bahamas, scored a total of seven points in the Falcons' two games last weekend, with a hat trick at Dayton on Friday (Sept. 18) and an assist in the IPFW match on Sunday (Sept. 20) ... more information on Hepple can be found elsewhere in these notes.
TOUGH CROWD
As mentioned, the Falcons face a pair of strong opponents this week ... Michigan and Akron have combined for a 12-1-0 record this year to date ... in the most recent national rankings (Sept. 15), the Wolverines were receiving votes in the NSCAA/adidas poll, and were ranked 16th by TopDrawerSoccer.com, 24th by Soccer America and 27th in the College Soccer News top 30 ... the Zips were ranked number one in the nation in four polls – NSCAA, Soccer America, TopDrawerSoccer.com and Soccer Times – and were second in the CSN poll.
**UPDATE** -- Here are the latest rankings of BGSU's opponents in this week's national polls:
College Soccer News - Akron 1, Michigan 19
NSCAA - Akron 1, Michigan 22
Soccer America - Akron 1, Michigan 18
Soccer Times - Akron 1, Michigan 16
TopDrawerSoccer.com - Akron 1, Michigan 15
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Falcons played only two games at Cochrane Field during a difficult nine-game stretch that spans the entire month of September ... once September ends, however, the Falcons will play six of the final nine matches of the regular season at home.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons scored four goals last weekend, falling at Dayton by a 4-3 count on Friday night (Sept. 18), before battling IPFW to a 1-1 deadlock at Cochrane Field Sunday afternoon (Sept. 20) ... senior Cameron Hepple figured in the scoring of all four BG goals, with a hat trick at Dayton and an assist vs. IPFW ... senior Chuko Evwaraye scored the Falcons' goal vs. the 'Dons ... redshirt freshman Jeff Smoker had seven saves, the most of his career at the time, in the UD game ... then, Smoker made 10 stops in the IPFW contest.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons will take a 1-4-2 record into Wednesday's match at Michigan ... BGSU is 1-0-1 in home matches, 0-2-1 in road games and 0-2 in neutral-site contests ... head coach Eric Nichols and Company lost a narrow 4-3 decision at Dayton on Friday (Sept. 18) before battling IPFW to a 1-1 tie on Sunday (Sept. 20) ... senior Cameron Hepple leads the Falcons in scoring, with 11 points on the year ... he has a team-high five goals and one assist ... three other Falcons – senior Chuko Evwaraye, redshirt sophomore Chris Jurtovski and true soph Byard Ebling – have scored one goal apiece ... Ebling has three points on the year ... redshirt sophomore Max Weston, a transfer from Indiana, leads BG with two assists ... in goal, redshirt freshman Jeff Smoker has started all seven matches this season ... Smoker has a MAC-leading total of 37 saves and a goals-against average of 1.68 ... true freshman Dylan Schoettley played the second half of each of the first three games this year ... he has five saves and a 3.33 GAA ... last fall, the Falcons finished with an overall mark of 4-13-2, and BGSU was 0-6-0 in MAC action ... Nichols inherited 15 returning letterwinners, including nine starters, from the 2008 club ... the Falcon returnees combined to score 17 of the team's 18 goals and register 11 of the 13 assists a year ago ... the only departed player that scored any points was goalie Paul Shoemaker, who had a goal and two assists last fall ... Chuko Evwaraye, Jacob Lawrence and Hepple – all seniors in '09 – combined for 11 goals a year ago ... Evwaraye led the team in both goals (5) and points (10) ... Lawrence and Hepple had eight points apiece ... Lawrence was second on the club with four goals, while Hepple scored twice and had a team-leading four assists ... both Evwaraye and Lawrence had two game-winning goals ... the Falcons had a 2-4-0 home record a season ago, and BGSU was 1-7-2 on the road and 1-2-0 at neutral sites.
FALCON COACH ERIC NICHOLS
Eric Nichols is in his first season at the BGSU helm ... he was hired on Feb. 17, 2009, becoming just the fifth head coach in the 45-year history of the program ... Nichols came to BGSU after spending the 2008 season as assistant coach at Davidson College ... he had a successful debut to his BGSU head-coaching career, as the Falcons defeated Marshall, 2-0, in the regular-season opener ... Nichols has a 1-4-2 record at the helm of the men's soccer Falcons, and is 60-26-3 in his fifth season as a collegiate head coach ... prior to his stint at Davidson, Nichols was the head men's soccer coach at Ohio Dominican for four seasons (2004-07) ... under his guidance, the Panthers recorded a 59-22-1 (.728) record, including a final ranking of fourth in 2007 ... that team advanced all the way to the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Tournament ... Nichols served as an assistant coach at Ohio Wesleyan for four seasons ... he played collegiately at Ohio State, and also played five years of professional soccer for several teams, including the Columbus Xoggz and Indiana Blast of the USISL ... Nichols is joined on the BGSU staff by assistant coaches Paul Habrecht and Eric Pfeifer.
HAT TRICK FOR HEPPLE
Cameron Hepple, as mentioned, had a hat trick in Friday's Dayton game ... a few more notes regarding the Falcon senior ...
• Hepple's hat trick was the first multiple-goal game of his BGSU career.
• It marked the first hat trick by a BGSU player in nearly five years, since Omari Aldridge scored three goals vs. IPFW on Oct. 28, 2004.
• With an assist on classmate Chuko Evwaraye's goal on Sunday vs. IPFW, Hepple was involved in the scoring of all four of BGSU's goals last weekend, and in six of the Falcons' eight goals this year.
• Hepple has five goals on the year, the highest single-season total of his career ... he had four goals in the 2007 season ... he has matched the highest point total of his career, having had 11 points in that '07 campaign.
• Hepple now has 12 career goals, tops among active Falcons ... he also is BGSU's active career leader in assists (nine) and points (33).
THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Michigan enters Wednesday's match against BGSU with a record of 6-1-0 ... as mentioned, the Wolverines are ranked in several national polls ... U-M has won six consecutive games after a season-opening loss to then-#12 Notre Dame ... last week, the Wolverines capped a three-game homestand with a 3-1 win over Detroit (Sept. 16), then went to Western Michigan and picked up a 5-1 victory Saturday (Sept. 19) ... U-M is 3-0-0 at home this year to date ... Mauro Fuzetti leads the team with six goals and 14 points this season ... Justin Meram has nine points, including a team-leading five assists, while Hamoody Saad has seven points ... Chris Blais has played all seven games in goal, and has 28 saves, two shutouts and a 1.19 GAA ... last year, U-M went 13-6-3 overall and 4-1-1 in Big Ten Conference play, advancing to the round of 16 of the NCAA Championships ... head coach Steve Burns welcomed back 17 letterwinners from that team ... the school's athletics web site is www.mgoblue.com.
The Falcons trail Michigan, 4-2-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... BGSU won the first two meetings in the series, which began in 2000, but the Wolverines have won the last four contests ... U-M holds a 3-1-0 advantage in games played in Ann Arbor, including a 5-2 win in the most recent meeting (Oct. 17, 2007) ... Cameron Hepple scored one of the Falcons' two goals in that match, with Hunter Van Houten assisting ... the teams met every year between 2000 and 2004, as well as in '07.
Akron, as mentioned, is the top-ranked team in the nation in multiple polls ... the Zips have a perfect 6-0-0 mark heading into Saturday's home match vs. the Falcons ... UA has scored 14 goals and allowed just one this year to date ... last weekend, the Zips defeated #8 Indiana, 1-0, on Friday night (Sept. 18) before picking up a 4-0 win over Saint Louis Sunday (Sept. 20) ... those matches, part of the UA Tournament, were the team's first home contests of the season ... the IU game was played before a crowd of 2,443 – a sellout – at Lee Jackson Field ... Teal Bunbury leads the team with eight points ... he is tied for the team lead in both goals (three) and assists (two) ... Yoram Mwila has six points on three goals, while Michael Nanchoff has five points this fall to date ... in goal, David Meves has played every minute, and has nine saves, five shutouts and a GAA of just 0.17 ... a year ago, the Zips went 17-2-4 overall and 6-0-0 in MAC play, winning the league's regular-season and tournament titles ... UA advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA Championships ... head coach Caleb Porter had 12 letterwinners, including seven starters, return from that club ... the school's athletics web site is www.gozips.com.
The Falcons trail Akron, 37-8-3, in that series, and BGSU is looking to snap a nine-game losing streak to the Zips ... BG's last win over UA came in 2002 at Cochrane Field, and the team's last win at Akron came in the 1997 season ... last year, the Zips pulled out a 2-0 decision at Cochrane (Oct. 11, 2008) ... in BG's most recent trip to the Rubber City, UA picked up a 4-0 win two years ago (Oct. 19, 2007) ... the Zips have won six-straight home games vs. the Brown and Orange.
A FEW MORE FALCON NOTES
• Redshirt freshman Jeff Smoker recorded the first double-digit save total of his young career over the weekend ... after stopping a then career-high seven shots at Dayton, Smoker made 10 saves in the IPFW game ... he has started all seven matches for the Falcons, and has a MAC-leading total of 37 saves.
• BGSU has scored four first-half goals this season, topping the total for all of last season ... in 2008, the Falcons scored only three goals before halftime.
• Three first-year Falcons – freshmen Joey D'Agostino and Chris McLean and redshirt sophomore Max Weston – were in the starting lineup for each of the two games over the weekend ... for McLean and Weston, Friday's match at Dayton marked the first start of their collegiate careers.
• Weston picked up an assist on senior Cameron Hepple's second goal of the night at UD ... for Weston, it was his second assist in a three-game span ... he had assisted on another Hepple goal the previous Friday (Sept. 11) vs. Richmond.
• Senior Chuko Evwaraye's goal in Sunday's IPFW match was his first of the season and the ninth of his BGSU career ... Evwaraye's career goal and point (18) totals rank him second among active Falcons, trailing only Hepple.
• Senior Hunter Van Houten (Friday) and sophomore Byard Ebling (Sunday) also picked up assists over the weekend ... Van Houten now has seven career assists, second among active Falcons ... Ebling's helper was his first as a Falcon ... Van Houten and Ebling now have 15 and seven career points, respectively.
• The Falcons and Dayton combined for seven goals on Friday, the highest two-team total in a BG game in nearly two years ... BGSU (2) and Michigan (5) combined for seven scores in the Falcons' last trip to Ann Arbor, on Oct. 17, 2007.
2009 CAPTAINS
Seniors Jacob Lawrence and Hunter Van Houten are the co-captains of the 2009 men's soccer Falcons.
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