Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, September 11
Pittsburgh, Pa.
5:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Richmond
Falcons Head to Steel City for Duquesne Invite
September 09, 2009 | Men's Soccer
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, for the second-straight weekend, hits the road for a tournament ... the Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols continue a stretch of six matches away from home, playing two games in the Duquesne Invitational ... BGSU will take on the University of Richmond in Friday action (Sept. 11), beginning at 5:00 p.m. ... then, the Brown and Orange will meet host Duquesne University Saturday evening (Sept. 12), with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. ... both matches will be held at DU's Rooney Field.
BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF
MAC Weekly Release - PDF
LAST WEEK
The Falcons opened the season with three matches in a six-day span ... BGSU began the Eric Nichols Era with a 2-0 win over Marshall Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 1) at Cochrane Field ... senior Cameron Hepple and redshirt sophomore Chris Jurtovski scored BGSU's goals, while redshirt freshman Jeff Smoker and true frosh Dylan Schoettley combined for the shutout in net ... the Brown and Orange participated in the UK Invitational in Lexington, Ky., dropping a 3-0 decision to nationally-ranked Louisville Friday (Sept. 4), before falling to host Kentucky, 4-1, on Sunday (Sept. 6) ... UK was receiving votes in the national polls at the time of the meeting ... sophomore Byard Ebling scored BG's goal vs. the Wildcats on Sunday.
DEAL, EBLING EARN ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
A pair of Falcons were named to the all-tournament team at the UK Invitational over the weekend ... senior Tyler Deal and sophomore Byard Ebling were chosen to the squad.
GOOD DEBUT(S) IN GOAL
The Falcons entered the 2009 season with three goalkeepers on the roster, but none with any collegiate playing time ... but, if Jeff Smoker or Dylan Schoettley were nervous in their first appearances, it certainly didn't show ... Smoker, a redshirt freshman, made four saves in the first half of last Tuesday's (Sept. 1) season opener vs. Marshall ... Schoettley, a true freshman, played the second half, making one save and breaking up several other MU scoring chances ... the two combined for the shutout in BGSU's 2-0 win over the Thundering Herd.
SMOKIN' HOT
Redshirt freshman Jeff Smoker had a successful start to the 2009 season, to say the least ... including exhibitions, Smoker played a total of 241:53 before finally allowing a goal, in the first half of Sunday's Kentucky game ... he played a half of scoreless ball in the Ohio Wesleyan exhibition, before pitching a complete-game shutout in the final exhibition, at Cleveland State ... Smoker played the first half against both Marshall and #23/25 Louisville, making a total of 10 saves ... he finally had to fish a ball out of the back of the net in the 17th minute vs. the Wildcats.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons will take a 1-2-0 record into this weekend's Duquesne Invitational ... BG is 1-0 in home matches, 0-1 in road games and 0-1 in neutral-site contests ... head coach Eric Nichols and Company picked up a 2-0 home win over Marshall before dropping a pair of matches at the Kentucky Invitational ... BGSU's three goals to date have come from senior Cameron Hepple, redshirt sophomore Chris Jurtovski and true soph Byard Ebling ... in goal, redshirt freshman Jeff Smoker and true frosh Dylan Schoettley have split time ... Smoker has played the first half of each of the three games, and has 12 saves and a goals-against average of 1.33 ... Schoettley, who has played the second half of every game, 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 had a successful debut to his BGSU head-coaching career ... the Falcons defeated Marshall, 2-0, in Nichols' debut ... he has a 1-2-0 record at the helm of the men's soccer Falcons, and is 60-24-1 in his fifth season as a collegiate head coach ... Nichols was hired on Feb. 17, 2009, becoming just the fifth head coach in the 45-year history of the program ... he came to BGSU after spending the 2008 season as assistant coach at Davidson College ... prior to his stint there, 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 the Columbus Xoggz and Indiana Blast of the USISL and the Columbus Invaders of the NPSL ... Nichols is joined on the BGSU staff by assistant coaches Paul Habrecht and Eric Pfeifer.
FALCON FIRSTS
• In addition to Eric Nichols picking up his initial victory at BGSU, several other Falcon 'firsts' took place in the Marshall match ...
• As mentioned, the game marked the first collegiate appearances for goalkeepers Jeff Smoker and Dylan Schoettley ... they combined on their first shutout, and Smoker picked up his first collegiate win.
• The match was the debut for several other Falcons as well, including Jake Custer and Chris McLean ... Custer, a sophomore transfer from Taylor University, was in the starting lineup for his first BGSU match ... McLean, the younger brother of Falcon junior Thomas McLean, came off the bench to play 26 minutes in the first half.
• Speaking of Thomas, he and fellow junior Dusko Topolic picked up their first collegiate assists on Chris Jurtovski's goal vs. the Herd ... Thomas McLean now has 11 points as a Falcon, having scored three goals as a freshman and two more last year ... Topolic's assist was his first collegiate point.
THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Richmond has a record of 0-2-0, heading into Friday's match against BGSU ... the Spiders opened the season at the James Madison Invitational, losing to High Point (2-1; Sept. 4) and host JMU (2-0; Sept. 6) ... Ben Brewster has the team's lone goal this year to date, while Brock Tomlinson has played both matches in net ... Tomlinson has 12 saves and a goals-against average of 2.00 ... a year ago, the Spiders went 3-12-3 overall and 2-4-3 in Atlantic 10 Conference play ... first-year head coach Clint Peay inherited 14 letterwinners, including nine starters, from that team ... the school's athletics web site is www.RichmondSpiders.com.
The Falcons and Richmond are tied, 0-0-1, in the all-time series between the teams ... the only previous meeting came in the Toledo Trust/BGSU Soccer Cup, held at Perry Stadium in the 1985 season, with the teams battling to a 2-2 overtime deadlock.
Duquesne will enter the weekend with a 1-2-0 overall record ... the Dukes will host Manhattan on Friday night before facing the Falcons the following evening ... DU opened the season with a 1-0 overtime win over Niagara at home (Sept. 1), before falling in road games against Michigan State (3-1; Sept. 4) and Saint Francis (Pa.) ... the latter game was a 2-0 setback on Monday (Sept. 7) ... Joshua Patterson has scored both of Duquesne's goals so far, while Chris Torres has played all 278-plus minutes in goal and has 12 saves and a GAA of 1.62 ... last year, the Dukes finished 5-10-4 overall and 1-7-1 in A-10 play ... head coach Jake Ouimet welcomed back 17 letterwinners, including seven starters, from that club ... the school's athletics web site is goduquesne.com.
The Falcons are 0-1-0 against Duquesne in that series ... the only previous meeting came on Sept. 8, 2002, at Cochrane Field ... the Dukes posted a 3-0 win in second-day action at the Diadora Classic, hosted by BGSU.
HELPS TO GET ON THE BOARD EARLY
Senior Cameron Hepple scored the Falcons' first goal of the season, with a blistering free kick in the Marshall game (Sept. 1) ... that goal came at the 13:07 mark ... the Falcons hope that goal is a harbinger of things to come ... last year, BG scored just three first-half goals during the entire 19-match season ... the Brown and Orange did not score an opening-half goal in the 2008 season until the eighth match – at Marshall last Sept. 27.
A FEW MORE FALCON NOTES
• Senior Cameron Hepple's goal vs. Marshall was the eighth of his career ... he is now tied for the active career lead in that department with classmate Chuko Evwaraye ... Hepple is BGSU's active career leader in assists (eight) and points (24).
• Redshirt sophomore Chris Jurtovski's goal vs. the Thundering Herd was the second of his career ... his first collegiate marker also had come against Marshall, in last year's 3-3 tie in West Virginia.
• Prior to the Marshall game, BGSU's last season-opening win had come in 2006 (2-1 in OT over Western Illinois at Cochrane Field) ... prior to that, BGSU had not won the first game of the year since 1999, a 3-1 win over Dayton exactly 10 years prior to this season's Marshall match ... that UD match ended a five-year stretch in which BG went 4-0-1 in season openers.
• Sophomore Byard Ebling's goal at Kentucky was the third of his career ... Ebling found the back of the net in last year's Marshall match, and also scored in the Falcons' win over Wright State last fall.
• Freshman Joey D'Agostino picked up his first collegiate point with an assist on Ebling's goal at UK.
FALCONS TABBED FOR FIFTH
The MAC office released the preseason poll on Aug. 19, 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 2009 ... last year, the Zips captured both the regular-season and tourney titles ... Florida Atlantic and Hartwick are affiliate members of the MAC in men's soccer.
2009 CAPTAINS
Seniors Jacob Lawrence and Hunter Van Houten are the co-captains of the 2009 men's soccer Falcons.
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