Bowling Green State University
Michigan
Falcons Embark Upon Four-Game Road Swing
October 25, 2010 | Men's Soccer
BGSU heads to Michigan this week, NIU this weekend
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, after a narrow loss against a nationally-ranked Big Ten Conference team, hits the road to face another Big Ten foe this week ... the Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols head to Ann Arbor for a Wednesday (Oct. 27) matchup against the University of Michigan ... kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the U-M Soccer Stadium ... following Wednesday's match, the Brown and Orange will travel to DeKalb, Ill. for a Mid-American Conference match against Northern Illinois University this weekend ... the Falcons and Huskies will meet Saturday (Oct. 30), with kickoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. Eastern) at the Huskie Soccer/Track Complex ... BG's final four regular-season matches, beginning with the Michigan game, all will take place on the road.
LINKS
BGSU RELEASE & STATS - PDF
MAC STATISTICS: OVERALL | CONFERENCE ONLY - PDFs
LIVE STATS: BGSU-MICHIGAN | BGSU-NORTHERN ILLINOIS
LIVE VIDEO*: BGSU-MICHIGAN | BGSU-NORTHERN ILLINOIS
* subscription - fee required
LAST WEEK
The Falcons dropped a close match to 10th-ranked Michigan State on Wednesday (Oct. 20) at Cochrane Field ... BGSU took the lead on senior Dusko Topolic's goal nearly two-thirds of the way through the match ... Topolic scored on a rebound after junior Tanner Fink had hit the post with a shot ... but, the Spartans got goals from Brent Rosendall in the 66th minute and Rubin Bega in the 78th ... both MSU goals were unassisted, as Rosendall scored after a BG giveaway, and Bega's goal came on a free kick ... the Spartans had a narrow 14-10 advantage in shot attempts, putting five of those shots on goal to the Falcons' two ... junior Miguel Rosales made three saves for the Falcons.
LIVE STATISTICS
All of BGSU's 2010 matches are scheduled to have live stats available on the web ... if you can't make it to Ann Arbor on Wednesday, or to DeKalb this weekend, 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.
LIVE VIDEO
Live streaming will be available for each of this week's two Falcon futbol matches ... Wednesday's match at Michigan is scheduled to have a live webcast available via the Big Ten Network ... the match will be available through BigTenNetwork.com ... additionally, Saturday's NIU match will have video available as well, through NIUHuskies.com ... there will be a subscription charge to watch each game.
THANKS, SENIORS
Wednesday's Michigan State match was 'Senior Day' for the Falcon men's soccer program ... fourth-year Falcons Robert Barker, Garrett Bireline, Thomas McLean and Dusko Topolic were recognized in a brief ceremony at halftime of the game ... Topolic, as mentioned, scored the Falcons' goal in the MSU match.
BGSU BATTLES THE BIG TEN
When BGSU faces Michigan on Wednesday, the Falcons will be looking to defeat a Big Ten Conference opponent for the first time in over five years ... BGSU's last such win was a 3-2, double-overtime triumph over 11th-ranked Ohio State at Cochrane Field on Sept. 23, 2005 ... that win, believe it or not, broke a 26-match winless streak for the Falcons, dating to the 2003 season ... the victory over OSU on that afternoon at Cochrane Field also marks the last time BGSU defeated a nationally-ranked opponent.
BGSU IN THE RPI
The Falcons are 88th of 204 schools in the latest NCAA Men's Soccer RPI, released Tuesday (Oct. 19) by the NCAA office ... in the five years from 2005 through 2009, BGSU did not have an RPI higher than 152 ... last year, BG finished 180th of 204 schools in the final RPI ... a list of the Falcons' RPI rankings since 2005 can be found on page 6 of the PDF version of this release.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons will enter Wednesday's Michigan match with an overall record of 5-6-2, and BGSU is 2-2-0 in Mid-American Conference action ... BGSU won three of the last five games, with the two setbacks coming to top-10 teams ... the Falcons have downed IPFW, Buffalo and Hartwick during that five-game span, with the losses coming against eighth-ranked Butler and number-10 Michigan State.
• Junior Max Weston leads the team with 12 points, having been involved in the scoring of eight of BGSU's 12 goals this season ... Weston also leads the Falcons in goals and assists, with four of each ... senior tri-captain Dusko Topolic is second on the team with six points, and his total of three goals also puts him second on the Falcons in that category ... Topolic has scored a goal in each of the Falcons' last two games ... Topolic and Weston each have two game-winning goals this fall to date.
• Six Falcons – juniors Colin Armstrong and Chris Jurtovski, sophomores Joey D'Agostino and Zach Lemke and freshmen Sam Galloway and Zach Schewee – each have two points on the season ... Armstrong, D'Agostino, Lemke and Schewee have one goal apiece, while Galloway and Jurtovski both have recorded two assists.
• Junior Miguel Rosales has played all 1218-plus minutes in goal, and has five shutouts, a MAC-leading 63 saves and a goals-against average of 1.33 ... in the four MAC matches, Rosales has a pair of shutouts and a GAA of 1.00.
• Junior tri-captain Tanner Fink has played 1215 of the 1218 minutes over the first 13 matches, while senior Thomas McLean – also a tri-captain along with Fink and Topolic – has played 1205 minutes ... freshman Brandon Silva and Schewee have logged 1190 and 1151 minutes, respectively, of playing time this fall.
• 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 scored the most points of the returnees, with 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 from last fall is sophomore Dylan Schoettley ... he played in 10 matches, starting the final seven, and had 44 saves and a GAA of 2.27 in 2009 ... Rosales is in his first season at BGSU after transferring from 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 record of 8-18-5 at the helm of the men's soccer Falcons, and is 67-40-6 overall in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach ... he is 4-5-1 in MAC matches ... 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.
WEDNESDAY WARRIORS
BGSU is in the midst of a stretch which sees the Falcons play a game on each of five consecutive Wednesdays ... BGSU has a record of 3-2-0 in Wednesday games this year to date, with a 3-0 mark vs. unranked teams ... the wins came at Detroit, (1-0; Sept. 15), at home against Wright State (3-0; Sept. 22), and in overtime at IPFW (2-1; Oct. 6) ... the losses came at eighth-ranked Butler (5-0; Oct. 13) and at home to 10th-rated Michigan State last week (2-1; Oct. 20).
THE WOLVERINES / THE BGSU-MICHIGAN SERIES
Michigan enters the week with an overall record of 8-4-3, and the Wolverines are 2-2-0 in Big Ten Conference play ... U-M will enter the BGSU match looking to snap a two-game losing streak, with both of those setbacks coming on the road against nationally-ranked foes ... Michigan's lone game last week was a 7-1 loss at top-ranked Akron on Tuesday night (Oct. 19) ... the Wolverines are 6-2-1 at home this year to date ... individually, freshman Soony Saad has scored 12 of the team's 25 goals this fall ... he has a team-leading 25 points ... senior Justin Meram has 16 points on five goals and a team-best six assists ... Chris Blais, a redshirt junior, has played all but 23-plus minutes in goal this season ... he has 63 saves, three complete-match shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.42 ... Steve Burns is in his 11th season as head coach of his alma mater ... the only coach in the history of the U-M varsity program, Burns welcomed back 19 letterwinners from the 2009 team ... last year's edition of the Wolverines went 10-7-1 overall and 2-4-0 in Big Ten action ... the school's athletics web site is www.mgoblue.com.
The Falcons trail Michigan, 5-2-0, 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 five contests ... U-M holds a 4-1-0 advantage in games played in Ann Arbor, including a 5-1 win in last year's meeting (Sept. 23, 2009) ... in that game, Max Weston gave the Falcons an early lead, but Michigan responded with a goal late in the first half, then exploded for four goals in a span of just over 12 minutes early in the second half ... Justin Meram had a hat trick for the Wolverines ... the teams met in every year between 2000 and 2004, then met again in 2007 and last season.
THE HUSKIES / THE BGSU-NORTHERN ILLINOIS SERIES
Northern Illinois has an overall record of 6-6-2 to date, and the Huskies are 0-4-0 in MAC play ... NIU plays a Wednesday (Oct. 27) match at Western Michigan before hosting the Falcons three days later ... the Huskies suffered a 3-2 loss at Buffalo Friday (Oct. 22), the team's last time out ... Northern enters the week with a record of 1-3-0 at home and a 3-2-2 mark in away games ... the team's wins have included road games against Wisconsin (2-1 in OT; Oct. 5) and Northwestern (2-0; Oct. 13) ... but, the Huskies head into the WMU game looking to snap a two-game losing streak, with setbacks at Florida Atlantic (1-0; Oct. 16) and UB ... James Stevenson has three goals to lead a balanced NIU scoring attack ... Stevenson, Luis Mojica and Francis Otira each have six points on the year ... in goal, Jordan Godsey has five shutouts, 36 saves and a GAA of just 0.80 ... Northern has allowed just 11 goals in 14 games ... Eric Luzzi, in his second season at the NIU helm, welcomed back 14 letterwinners, including eight starters, from a year ago ... in 2009, the Huskies finished with records of 10-8-1 overall and 3-3-0 in the MAC ... the school's athletics web site is www.NIUHuskies.com.
Northern Illinois leads the Falcons, 14-8-0, in that series, and the Huskies have won the last four meetings ... the teams met twice in both the 2007 and '08 seasons, before meeting at Cochrane Field last fall ... in last year's game, the Huskies posted a 3-0 win on Halloween afternoon (Oct. 31, 2009) ... the last time the teams squared off in DeKalb, Northern picked up a narrow 1-0 win (Oct. 25, 2008) ... the Falcons are 1-8-0 in road matches vs. the Huskies.
ROAD WARRIORS
• The Michigan State game was the only home contest in BGSU's last seven regular-season games ... the Falcons now will play four-straight games away from home, against Michigan, Northern Illinois, IUPUI and Florida Atlantic ... both of BG's remaining MAC matches – vs. NIU and FAU – will take place on the road.
• The Falcons have tripled the road win total for all of last season ... the win at Hartwick (Oct. 16) gave BGSU a record of 3-2-1 in road games this year to date ... the Falcons went 1-6-1 in true road contests in 2009.
• The Falcons' total of road wins is higher than the combined total of the 2008 and '09 teams ... BGSU went 2-13-3 in road games over those two seasons, including a 1-8-1 mark last year and a 1-7-2 record in 2008.
FALCONS PICKED TO FINISH SIXTH
The Falcons were picked to finish sixth in the MAC standings in 2010, according to the preseason coaches poll ... the poll is the result of voting by the league's seven head coaches ... Akron, ranked No. 1 in the nation in every poll, was picked to capture the 2010 MAC title ... last year, the Zips captured both the regular-season and tourney titles ... Northern Illinois was predicted to finish second, while Hartwick and Western Michigan were picked to tie for third place ... Hartwick and Florida Atlantic are affiliate members of the MAC in men's soccer.
2010 MAC PRESEASON POLL
1 - Akron (7); 2 - Northern Illinois; 3T - Hartwick & Western Michigan; 5 - Buffalo; 6 - Bowling Green; 7 - Florida Atlantic
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG (a few more BGSU notes)
Senior Dusko Topolic's goal against Michigan State was his third of the season, the third of his BGSU career and his second in as many matches ... all three of Topolic's goals have been the first goal of a match, and two of them proved to be the game-winning goal ... he scored early in the Falcons' 3-0 home win over Wright State last month (Sept. 22) and also found the net vs. Hartwick and MSU • second-year head coach Eric Nichols has a 2-1-0 record in MAC road games – including a 2-0-0 mark in the state of New York – since his arrival at BGSU ... the Falcons played just two conference games away from home last season, losing at Akron, but posting a 4-3 win at Buffalo ... this year's lone MAC road match to date was a 1-0 win at Hartwick • junior tri-captain Tanner Fink had the primary assist on Topolic's goal vs. MSU ... the assist was the first point of Fink's career.
THE 2010 CAPTAINS
Seniors Thomas McLean and Dusko Topolic and junior Tanner Fink are the captains of the 2010 men's soccer Falcons.
