Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
#8 Butler
Falcons Open Road Swing by Facing No. 8/9 Butler Wednesday
October 12, 2010 | Men's Soccer
Bulldogs are nation's lone unbeaten, untied team; BGSU heads to Hartwick this weekend
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, riding a two-game winning streak, will play a pair of road games this week, beginning with a game against the only unbeaten, untied NCAA Division-I team in the nation ... the Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols will head to Indianapolis for a Wednesday (Oct. 13) game against nationally-ranked Butler University ... kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the Butler Bowl ... then, the Falcons will return to Mid-American Conference action, venturing to Oneonta, N.Y., for a Saturday (Oct. 16) contest against Hartwick College ... that game will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Elmore Field.
BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF
MAC NOTES & STATS - PDF
LIVE STATS FOR WEDNESDAY'S BUTLER MATCH
LIVE STATS FOR SATURDAY'S HARTWICK MATCH
LIVE VIDEO FOR SATURDAY'S HARTWICK MATCH
FREE ADMISSION FOR HOME MATCHES
As part of BGSU's Centennial celebration, admission to all Falcon home soccer matches in the 2010 regular season will be free ... the BGSU men have just one remaining home match, facing nationally-ranked Michigan State on Wednesday, Oct. 20.
LIVE STATISTICS
Again in 2010, all BGSU home men's soccer matches, as well as all of the team's away contests (at least all of the road games so far), will have live statistics available on the web ... if you can't make it to Indianapolis, Ind., on Wednesday or to Oneonta, N.Y., on Saturday, log on to BGSUFalcons.com at game time ... the live stats links can be found on the front page of the site (in the 'schedule' section) or by clicking on the men's soccer 2010 schedule and choosing the corresponding match.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons picked up a pair of wins last week, downing IPFW, 2-1 in overtime, in Fort Wayne before blanking Buffalo, 2-0, at Cochrane Field ... on Wednesday (Oct. 6), BGSU surrendered a goal less than three minutes in, but rallied for the win ... sophomore Joey D'Agostino tied the score midway through the first half, and junior Max Weston netted the match-winning goal at the 98:24 mark ... junior Miguel Rosales made seven saves for the Brown and Orange ... then, on Saturday (Oct. 9), sophomore Zach Lemke headed home a cross less than five minutes into the UB match, for what proved to be the winning goal ... the Falcons doubled the lead on an own goal early in the second period, as senior Thomas McLean's long free kick was headed into the net by a UB defender ... Rosales made six saves, including several difficult stops, to earn his fourth shutout of the season.
ROAD WARRIORS
Beginning with this week's games at Butler and Hartwick, the Falcons will play six of seven games on the road to end the regular season ... BGSU will host Michigan State on Wednesday, Oct. 20, then will play four-straight games away from home, against Michigan, Northern Illinois, IUPUI and Florida Atlantic ... all three of BG's remaining MAC matches – vs. 'Wick, NIU and FAU – will take place on the road.
WEDNESDAY WARRIORS
Last week's trip to IPFW started a stretch which sees the Falcons play a game on each of five consecutive Wednesdays ... BGSU has a record of 3-0-0 in Wednesday games this year to date, with a 1-0 win at Detroit (Sept. 15), a 3-0 home victory against Wright State (Sept. 22) and the OT triumph at IPFW.
FOUR-FOUR-TWO
With a 4-4-2 record heading into the Butler game, the Falcons have topped the win total for all of last season ... BGSU went 3-12-3 during the 2009 campaign.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
As mentioned, the Falcons will enter Wednesday's Butler match with an overall record of 4-4-2, and BGSU is 1-2-0 in Mid-American Conference action ... BG's wins have come over Detroit (1-0; Sept. 15), Wright State (3-0; Sept. 22), IPFW (2-1 in OT; Oct. 6) and Buffalo (2-0; Oct. 9), and the Falcons' two ties were against Appalachian State (0-0; Sept. 3) and host Davidson (2-2; Sept. 5) in the Davidson adidas Classic on the season's opening weekend ... for the Brown and Orange, the losses have come against top-ranked Akron, Valparaiso, Lipscomb and Western Michigan, all by 2-0 scores ... junior Max Weston leads the team with 11 points, having been involved in the scoring of seven of BGSU's 10 goals this season ... Weston also leads the Falcons in goals, with four, and assists (three) ... six of Weston's teammates have two points apiece ... senior tri-captain Dusko Topolic, junior Colin Armstrong, sophomores Joey D'Agostino and Zach Lemke and freshman Zach Schewee each have scored one goal this year to date ... junior Chris Jurtovski has two assists ... junior Miguel Rosales has played all 948-plus minutes in goal, and has four shutouts, a MAC-leading 51 saves and a goals-against average of 1.04 ... Schewee has played 945 of the 948 minutes over the first 10 matches, as has junior tri-captain Tanner Fink ... freshman Brandon Silva has played 936 total minutes and senior tri-captain Thomas McLean 935 ... Falcon coach Eric Nichols is in his second season at the BG helm ... Nichols and assistant coach Paul Habrecht welcomed back a total of 14 letterwinners, including seven starters, from last year's club ... the 2009 Falcons went 3-12-3 overall and posted a MAC mark of 2-3-1, placing fifth in the league standings ... BG scored a total of 21 goals last season, and the departed players combined to score 17 of them ... the Falcons' top-two scorers last season were the graduated Cameron Hepple (10 goals, 21 points) and Jacob Lawrence (five goals, 13 points) ... the Falcons have 12 newcomers on the 2010 team ... junior Byard Ebling was the top returning scorer, having recorded two goals and five points last season ... the only other players on the 2010 roster who scored in '09 are Jurtovski and Weston, who had one goal apiece ... in goal, the lone returning 'keeper is sophomore Dylan Schoettley ... he played in 10 matches a year ago, starting the final seven ... Schoettley had 44 saves and a GAA of 2.27 in 2009 ... Rosales is in his first season at BGSU after transferring from the Univ. of Cincinnati.
FALCON COACH ERIC NICHOLS
BGSU coach Eric Nichols is in his second season at the Falcon helm ... he was hired on Feb. 17, 2009, and is just the fifth head coach in the 46-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 2009 regular-season opener, and picked up his first MAC victory at Buffalo ... Nichols has a 7-16-5 record at the helm of the men's soccer Falcons, and is 66-38-6 overall in his sixth 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 coach Paul Habrecht and director of operations Alma-Lynn Dupont in 2010.
EVEN STEVEN
Believe it or not, the Falcons have a .500 record through 10 games for the first time in 13 years ... BGSU has not been .500 or better after the first 10 games of the year since 1997, when the Falcons started 7-3-0.
THE BULLDOGS / THE BGSU-BUTLER SERIES
Butler enters the week with an overall record of 10-0-0 and national rankings of #8 by TopDrawerSoccer.com and #9 in both the SoccerTimes.com and NSCAA polls ... the Bulldogs are the only undefeated, untied team in NCAA Division I ... BU's most recent win was a 2-1 triumph over UIC in overtime on Saturday (Oct. 9), moving the team's record to 4-0-0 in the Horizon League ... Butler is 4-0 at home, 4-0 on the road and 2-0 at neutral sites ... the team has scored 23 goals and allowed just five ... Ben Sippola leads the Bulldogs with 17 points on the year ... Sippola has team-high totals of six goals and five assists ... Adekunle Oluyedun has 10 points and Matt Hedges nine ... both players have four goals to date ... Fabian Knopfler has played every match in goal, and has 22 saves, five shutouts and a goals-against average of just 0.49 ... head coach Kelly Findley welcomed back 16 letterwinners, including eight starters, from last year's club that went 14-3-2 overall and 6-1-1 in HL play ... BU won the 2009 league regular-season title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament ... the school's athletics web site is www.butlersports.com.
The Falcons lead Butler, 1-0-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... the only prior meeting was a 3-2 BGSU triumph in Indianapolis ... that match was part of the Butler Nike/Snickers SoccerFest II.
THE HAWKS / THE BGSU-BUFFALO SERIES
Hartwick has a record of 2-8-1, and the Hawks are 1-1-0 in MAC play ... HC is idle until Saturday's game vs. BGSU ... the Hawks started the season with a record of 0-6-1, but have won two of the last four matches ... 'Wick has posted 1-0 wins over Hartford at home (Sept. 25) and at Northern Illinois (Oct. 2) ... most recently, the Hawks fell by that same 1-0 score at home against Adelphi (Oct. 9) ... Hartwick is 1-5-1 at home and 1-3-0 on the road this fall ... Steven Amaya and Dan Summers have combined for seven of the team's 10 goals ... Amaya leads the team in goals (four) and points (nine), while Summer has six points on three goals ... Jake Wright has started nine of the team's 11 games in goal, and has 30 saves and a GAA of 2.29 ... John Scott is in his first season as a collegiate head coach ... the Hawks went 10-4-4 overall and 3-1-2 in MAC play a season ago ... 'Wick finished second in both the MAC regular-season standings and the conference tournament in 2009 ... the school's athletics web site can be accessed by logging on to www.hartwick.edu and clicking 'athletics.'
The Falcons are Hartwick are tied, 1-1-2, in that series ... last year, the teams battled to a 2-2 draw at Cochrane Field (Oct. 25, 2009) ... after a 1-0 BGSU win in 1984, the teams did not play again until Hartwick became an affiliate member of the MAC in 2007 ... the teams have played to a pair of 2-2 ties in Bowling Green, and HC won the lone prior meeting at Elmore Field, 2-0, two years ago (Oct. 4, 2008).
FALCONS ON THE ROAD
• BGSU's win at IPFW (Oct. 6) enabled the Falcons to surpass the road win total for all of last season ... heading into the Butler match, BG is now 2-1-1 in road games this year to date ... the Falcons went 1-6-1 in true road contests in 2009.
• The Falcons have a record of 2-1-2 in all matches away from home (road and neutral-site games combined) ... last year, BGSU was 1-8-1 in such games.
BACK-TO-BACK WINS
BGSU has won back-to-back games for the first time in over two years ... the wins over IPFW and Buffalo mark the first such streak since the 2008 team won three-straight games in mid-September ... those victories came over Centenary, Central Arkansas and IPFW.
CLEAN SHEETS FOR ROSALES, FALCONS
• The win over Buffalo on Saturday (Oct. 9) was the Falcons' fourth shutout of the season, topping the total for all of last year ... the Brown and Orange had three shutouts in 18 games in 2009.
• Junior Miguel Rosales has been in goal for every minute of the Falcons' first 10 games this year, and has four complete-match shutouts ... no Falcon goalie has had more clean sheets since David DeGraff had five in the 2003 season.
MAX POWER
Junior Max Weston continued his scoring success in last week's two games ... Weston had the first 'Golden Goal' of his career in the win at IPFW, and assisted on what proved to be the match-winning goal against Buffalo ... he has a team-leading total of 11 points, and has been involved in the scoring of seven of the Falcons' 10 goals this fall.
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG (a few more BGSU notes)
Junior Max Weston's goal at IPFW marked the Falcons' first overtime goal in over two years ... BGSU's last OT win had come at Central Arkansas on Sept. 13, 2008 ... on that day, Jacob Lawrence scored both goals, including the 'Golden Goal,' in a 2-1 victory • the IPFW win also marked BGSU's first come-from-behind victory of the season, and the first since last year's (Oct. 16, 2009) win at Buffalo • sophomore Joey D'Agostino had his first collegiate goal in the win at IPFW • freshman Sam Galloway had his first career point in that game, with the assist on Weston's winner • redshirt soph Zach Lemke's goal vs. UB was the first of his collegiate career ... he became the fifth different Falcon to score his first-ever goal in 2010 • Galloway had the primary assist on that goal, for his second helper in as many games • BGSU has scored multiple goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
THE 2010 CAPTAINS
Seniors Thomas McLean and Dusko Topolic and junior Tanner Fink are the captains of the 2010 men's soccer Falcons.
