Bowling Green State University
IUPUI
Falcons Close Regular Season with Two Road Games
November 01, 2010 | Men's Soccer
BGSU needs a win or a tie at FAU to qualify for MAC Tournament
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, entering the final week of the regular season, is in the hunt for a Mid-American Conference Tournament berth ... but, for the Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols, the elimination-round matches begin this weekend ... after a midweek non-conference match with IUPUI, the Brown and Orange will close regular-season play at Florida Atlantic University, needing a result to make the league tourney ... Wednesday's (Nov. 3) IUPUI match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at Kuntz Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. ... Saturday's (Nov. 6) FAU matchup also will begin at 7:00 p.m., at the FAU Soccer Stadium in Boca Raton, Fla. ... this week's games are the third and fourth, respectively, in BGSU's season-ending four-game road swing.
BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF
THE FALCONS AND THE MAC TOURNAMENT RACE
• For the Falcons, the scenario for making the MAC Tournament is clear ... a win at Florida Atlantic, and BGSU qualifies for the tourney ... a loss to FAU, and the Owls – not BG – would make the tournament.
• Four teams will qualify for the tourney, with the semifinals being held on Friday, Nov. 12, and the final set for Sunday, Nov. 14 ... Akron, as the regular-season champion, will host the MAC Tournament.
• In the event BG and FAU play to a tie, the Falcons would qualify for the league tourney ... if the Falcons and Owls play to a draw, both teams would finish MAC play with a record of 2-3-1 ... the first tiebreaker, head-to-head results, obviously would not break the tie ... the second tiebreaker is results against the rest of the league, starting at the top ... both BGSU and FAU lost to Akron, the regular-season champion ... either Western Michigan or Buffalo will finish second (the Broncos and Bulls currently have identical 3-2-0 league records heading into their Friday [Nov. 5] meeting) ... both BG and FAU lost to WMU, but the Falcons defeated Buffalo while the Owls lost to UB.
• The Falcons could still finish as high as the third seed for the league tourney ... should BGSU win at FAU, a WMU win over UB would leave the Falcons and Bulls in a third-place tie in the final standings ... BGSU would win the tiebreaker by virtue of a 2-0 win over UB at Cochrane Field on Oct. 9.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons dropped a pair of matches on the road last week ... BGSU fell by a 5-1 final at Michigan on Wednesday (Oct. 27), then lost a narrow 1-0 decision at Northern Illinois on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 30) ... in the U-M match, the Wolverines' Soony Saad and Justin Meram scored two goals apiece to help the home team to the victory ... Michigan scored four first-half goals to take a commanding lead ... the Falcons' lone goal came with just under 10 minutes left in the match, as freshman Ryan Comiskey blasted home a shot from near the 18-yard line ... on Saturday, NIU's Juan Hoyos scored late in the second half to give the host Huskies the win ... Hoyos netted the lone goal of the match with just 4:23 remaining in the second period ... Northern was credited with 18 shot attempts to BGSU's eight, but the Falcons had a 4-3 advantage in shots on goal ... junior goalkeeper Miguel Rosales had two saves in each of last week's two matches ... freshman Michael Wiest made his collegiate debut in the Michigan contest, playing the last 29-plus minutes of the match ... he was not called upon to make a save.
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 Indianapolis on Wednesday, or to Boca Raton 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.
BGSU IN THE RPI
The Falcons are 90th of 204 schools in the latest NCAA Men's Soccer RPI, released last Tuesday (Oct. 26) 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 5 of the PDF version of these notes.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons will enter Wednesday's IUPUI match with an overall record of 5-8-2, and BGSU is 2-3-0 in Mid-American Conference action ... BG is looking to snap a three-game losing streak, with two of those three setbacks coming to Big Ten Conference foes, Michigan State and Michigan ... most recently, the Falcons suffered a 1-0 loss at Northern Illinois Saturday afternoon (Oct. 30) ... prior to the last three games, the Brown and Orange had won three of four contests, with the wins over IPFW, Buffalo and Hartwick.
• Junior Max Weston leads the team with 12 points, having been involved in the scoring of eight of BGSU's 13 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 and Weston each have two game-winning goals this fall to date.
• Freshman Sam Galloway has three points this season, with all coming on assists ... he ranks second on the team in that category ... no fewer than six Falcons – juniors Colin Armstrong and Chris Jurtovski, sophomores Joey D'Agostino and Zach Lemke and freshmen Ryan Comiskey and Zach Schewee – each have two points on the season ... Armstrong, Comiskey, D'Agostino, Lemke and Schewee have one goal apiece, while Jurtovski has recorded two assists.
• Junior Miguel Rosales has started all 15 matches in goal this fall to date ... he has played over 1369 minutes, and has five shutouts, a MAC-leading 67 saves and a goals-against average of 1.58 ... in the five MAC matches, Rosales has a pair of shutouts and a GAA of 1.00 ... freshman Michael Wiest made his collegiate debut in the Michigan game (Oct. 27) ... he played over 29 minutes of scoreless ball, and did not face a shot on goal.
• Junior tri-captain Tanner Fink has played 1395 of the 1398 minutes over the first 15 matches, while senior Thomas McLean – also a tri-captain along with Fink and Topolic – has played 1385 minutes ... freshman Brandon Silva and Schewee have logged 1370 and 1331 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 8-20-5 at the helm of the men's soccer Falcons, and is 67-42-6 overall in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach ... he is 4-6-1 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.
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 was picked to win the 2010 MAC title, after the Zips captured both the regular-season and tourney titles in '09 ... 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 first-place votes)
2 - Northern Illinois
3 (tie) - Hartwick; Western Michigan
5 - Buffalo
6 - Bowling Green
7 - Florida Atlantic
THE JAGUARS / THE BGSU-IUPUI SERIES
IUPUI enters the week with an overall record of 9-7-1, and the Jaguars are 4-2-0 in Summit League play ... on Saturday (Oct. 30), the Jags suffered a 1-0 loss at UMKC on a late goal ... that loss snapped a five-match unbeaten streak ... that streak included wins over IPFW and Wright State, two teams the Falcons also beat ... that five-match unbeaten streak also included a 0-0, double-overtime tie with nationally-ranked Butler on Oct. 20 ... that is the lone blemish on Butler's 15-0-1 record ... Jeff Keyler paces the Jaguars in scoring, with his 13 points including a team-high five goals ... he is also tied for the team lead in assists, with three ... Perez Agaba has four goals and 10 points this fall, while Ryan Robinson has six points, on three goals ... in net, Tyler Keever has made 12 starts, and has 40 saves and a goals-against average of 1.26 ... Alex Mannen has played in seven matches, starting five ... Mannen has two complete-match shutouts, 25 saves, a GAA of just 0.62 and a record of 5-0-1 ... Steve Franklin is in his 16th season as head coach at IUPUI ... he welcomed back 15 letterwinners, including nine starters, from the 2009 team ... last year, the Jags were 5-11-3 overall and finished with a Summit League record of 3-2-1 ... the school's athletics web site is www.IUPUIJags.com.
The Falcons trail IUPUI, 1-0-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... the lone previous meeting came six years ago at BGSU's Cochrane Field, as part of BGSU's Kelme Classic, with the Jaguars scoring in the second overtime for a 3-2 win (Sept. 4, 2004) ... Wednesday's meeting, obviously, will be the first between the Falcons and Jags in Indianapolis.
THE OWLS / THE BGSU-FLORIDA ATLANTIC SERIES
Florida Atlantic has an overall record of 5-7-2, and the Owls – like the Falcons – are 2-3-0 in MAC play, sitting in a fourth-place tie with BGSU ... FAU will step outside of conference play for a Tuesday (Nov. 2) match at North Carolina State, before hosting the Falcons on Saturday night ... the Owls saw a three-game winning streak ended with Sunday's (Oct. 30) 1-0 loss at Buffalo ... prior to that, the team had posted one-goal wins over Northern Illinois, Florida Gulf Coast and Hartwick ... FAU is 4-1-2 at home this year to date, including a 2-0-0 MAC mark in Boca Raton ... individually, Darnell King leads the Owls in scoring, with eight points ... he paces the club in both goals (three) and assists (two) ... Lukas Simon has two goals this fall ... James McCormick, a transfer from Akron, has played nearly 1000 minutes in goal, and has three shutouts, 47 saves and a 1.23 GAA ... Jeremy Crumpton has made four starts, and has 13 saves and a 2.01 GAA this fall ... Kos Donev is in his 24th year as head coach at his alma mater ... in 2009, the Owls finished with records of 4-10-2 overall and 0-6-0 in the MAC ... the school's athletics web site is www.fausports.com.
The Falcons lead FAU, 2-1-0, in that series, and the teams have split a pair of 2-1 results in Boca Raton ... BGSU went to Boca and picked up a win three years ago (Sept. 2, 2007) ... Thomas McLean scored his first collegiate goal in that match ... two seasons ago (Oct. 19, 2008), in FAU's first year in the MAC, the Owls got a 'Golden Goal' to down BGSU ... last year (Nov. 7, 2009), in the lone meeting in Bowling Green, Cameron Hepple scored twice and Byard Ebling also found the net in a 3-0 win ... Dylan Schoettley earned the first clean sheet of his collegiate career, making seven saves.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Falcons have tripled the road win total for all of last season ... BGSU enters the week with a record of 3-4-1 in road games this year to date ... the Falcons went 1-6-1 in true road contests in 2009 ... in fact, 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.
THE 2010 CAPTAINS
Seniors Thomas McLean and Dusko Topolic and junior Tanner Fink are the captains of the 2010 men's soccer Falcons.
