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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
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Western Michigan
Falcons to Face Western Michigan in MAC Tournament Semifinal
November 08, 2010 | Men's Soccer
BGSU meets the Broncos Friday night in Akron
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, after a road win on the final night of the regular season, has earned a berth in the Mid-American Conference Tournament ... the Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols, the third seed for the four-team tourney, will take on second-seeded Western Michigan University in semifinal-round action on Friday (Nov. 12) ... kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. at Lee R. Jackson Field in Akron, Ohio ... BGSU, after being picked to place sixth in the MAC in the preseason coaches poll, tied for third in the final regular-season standings ... the BGSU-WMU winner will advance to Sunday's (Nov. 14) championship match, to take on either Akron or Buffalo ... top-seeded UA will host fourth-seeded UB in Friday's first semifinal ... the championship match begins at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday.
THE MAC TOURNAMENT
(all matches at Lee R. Jackson Field; Akron, Ohio)
Friday, Nov. 12 – Semifinals
#4 Buffalo at #1 Akron, 5:00 p.m.
#3 Bowling Green vs. #2 Western Michigan, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 14 – Championship
UB/UA winner vs. BGSU/WMU winner, 4:00 p.m.
PDF FILES
BGSU NOTES & STATISTICS | MAC STATS (All games) | MAC STATS (Conf. games only)
THE FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
BGSU enters Friday's match with an overall record of 17-12-0 in the MAC Tournament ... the Falcons are 8-5-0 all-time in neutral-site matches in the tourney, and BGSU is 8-2-0 in the semifinal round heading into the Western Michigan match ... BG qualified for the MAC Tournament in each of the first 15 years in which it was held (1994-2008), before missing the tourney last fall ... BGSU is 6-5-0 overall in quarterfinal-round matches (a quarterfinal round is no longer held) and 3-5-0 in the championship round ... the Falcons won three-straight titles from 1995-97 under head coach Mel Mahler ... that was part of a run in which the Brown and Orange advanced to the championship match in five consecutive seasons between 1994 and '98.
BGSU-WMU IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
the Falcons are 1-2-0 vs. the Broncos in conference tournament games ... all three prior matches vs. WMU came in Kalamazoo, and all three came in a four-year span between 2003 and 2006 ... the teams have met twice in the quarterfinal round and once in the championship match, but Friday's meeting will be their first semifinal-round matchup ... more information on the BGSU-WMU series can be found later in this release, and the Falcons' game-by-game MAC Tournament results are on page 8 of the PDF at the top of the page.
BGSU-AKRON AND BGSU-BUFFALO IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
Should BGSU advance past Western Michigan, the Falcons would face either Akron or Buffalo in the championship match ... BGSU has met Akron seven times in MAC Tournament play, and the Falcons are 3-4-0 against the Zips ... four of those meetings have come in the championship, with each team winning twice ... the Falcons downed UA in the 1995 and 1997 title matches, and the Zips picked up championship-game wins over BGSU in both 1998 and 2002 ... BGSU has met Buffalo twice in league tourney action ... the Falcons picked up a pair of 1-0 wins, downing the Bulls in the 2000 semifinals in Buffalo, and winning a triple-OT quarterfinal-round game in Akron the following season.
FALCONS PICKED TO FINISH SIXTH
The Falcons, as mentioned, were picked to finish sixth in the MAC standings in 2010, according to the preseason coaches poll, but BG wound up in a third-place tie in the final standings ... the poll was 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 ... the complete poll, with the teams' actual finishes, follows.
2010 MAC PRESEASON POLL (reg.-season finish)
1 - Akron (first)
2 - Northern Illinois (tied for fifth)
3 (tie) - Hartwick (seventh); Western Michigan (second)
5 - Buffalo (tied for third)
6 - Bowling Green (tied for third)
7 - Florida Atlantic (tied for fifth)
LAST WEEK
The Falcons went on the road and picked up a win and a tie (not in that order) in the final week of the regular season ... BGSU battled host IUPUI to a scoreless draw in double overtime on Wednesday (Nov. 3) ... the Jaguars are one of two teams to get a result against sixth-ranked Butler (15-0-2 on the year) this year to date, as IUPUI also battled the Bulldogs to a scoreless tie ... in Wednesday's match, the Falcons had season-high totals of 26 shot attempts and nine shots on goal, but could not get a ball past IUPUI 'keepers Alex Mannen and Tyler Keever ... Falcon junior goalkeeper Miguel Rosales made three stops to earn his sixth shutout of the year ... one of the Falcons' 26 shots, off the boot of sophomore Zach Lemke, rang off the crossbar in the second overtime ... on Saturday (Nov. 6), in a win-(or-tie-)or-go-home scenario, the Brown and Orange downed Florida Atlantic, 2-1, to clinch a MAC Tournament berth ... sophomore Joey D'Agostino got the Falcons on the board with just over three minutes gone, and freshman Ryan Comiskey broke a 1-1 tie with just over 20 minutes remaining in the second half ... Rosales made three saves to pick up the win in net.
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 Akron for this weekend's MAC Tournament, 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 were ranked 117th of 204 schools in the latest NCAA Men's Soccer RPI, released last Tuesday (Nov. 2) 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 7 of the PDF.
MAX POWER
Junior Max Weston has been a thorn in the collective side of the Falcons' opponents this fall ... he has a team-leading total of 13 points this year, and has been involved in the scoring of nine of BGSU's 15 goals this season to date ... in addition to points, Weston leads the Falcons in both goals (four) and assists (five) ... he had the first 'Golden Goal' of his career in the win at IPFW, and is tied for the team lead in both game-winning goals and game-winning assists, with two of each.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons will enter Friday's Western Michigan match with an overall record of 6-8-3, and BGSU concluded the regular season with a Mid-American Conference mark of 3-3-0 ... BG tied Buffalo for third place in the MAC standings, but the Broan and Orange earned the third seed for the conference tournament by virtue of a 2-0 win over the Bulls in the teams' head-to-head meeting ... the Falcons enter the league tourney on a two-game unbeaten streak, with a 0-0 tie at IUPUI last Wednesday (Nov. 3) and a 2-1 win at Florida Atlantic to close the regular season Saturday night (Nov. 6) ... the Falcons have qualified for the MAC Tournament for the 16th time in the tourney's 17-year history.
• Junior Max Weston leads the team with 13 points, having been involved in the scoring of nine of BGSU's 15 goals this season ... Weston also leads the Falcons in both goals (four) and assists (five) ... 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.
• Sophomore Joey D'Agostino and freshman Ryan Comiskey each have four points on a pair of goals ... both players scored in the win at FAU ... sophomore Zach Lemke and freshman Sam Galloway have three points each ... all three of Galloway's points have come on assists, as he ranks second on the team in that category ... Lemke has a goal and an assist on the year, with both coming against MAC opponents ... three Falcons – juniors Colin Armstrong and Chris Jurtovski and freshman Zach Schewee – each have two points on the year.
• Junior Miguel Rosales has started all 17 matches in goal this fall ... he has played over 1569 minutes, and has six shutouts, a MAC-leading 73 saves and a goals-against average of 1.43 ... in the five MAC matches, Rosales had 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 1595 of the 1598 minutes over the first 17 matches, while senior Thomas McLean – also a tri-captain along with Fink and Topolic – has played 1585 minutes ... freshman Brandon Silva and Schewee have logged 1570 and 1531 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.
• Nichols and Habrecht's 2010 roster features 12 newcomers, including 11 true freshmen ... three of those newcomers have started every game, and nine of the 12 have made at least two starts this year to date.
• 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 9-20-6 at the helm of the men's soccer Falcons, and is 68-42-7 overall in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach ... he is 5-6-1 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.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Falcons have quadrupled the road win total for all of last season ... in fact, BGSU has won as many road games in 2010 as in the previous three years combined ... BG is 4-4-2 in true road games and 4-4-3 in all matches away from Cochrane Field (0-0-1 in neutral-site matches to date) in 2010 ... the Falcons went a combined 4-20-4 in road contests during the three-year span from 2007-09 ... BG was 5-24-4 in all games away from home during that three-year stretch.
CLEAN SHEETS FOR ROSALES, FALCONS
• The IUPUI match on Wednesday (Nov. 3) marked the Falcons' sixth shutout of the season, twice as many as 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 all but 29-plus minutes of BGSU's first 17 games this year, and has six complete-match shutouts ... no Falcon 'keeper has recorded as many clean sheets in a season since David DeGraff had seven in the 2001 campaign.
THE BRONCOS / THE BGSU-WESTERN MICHIGAN SERIES
Western Michigan enters Friday's MAC Tournament semifinal with an overall record of 9-7-2, and the Broncos ended the regular season with a 4-2-0 mark in conference play ... Western finished second in the MAC standings, and the Broncos are the number-two seed for the league tourney ... WMU has clinched the program's first winning season in seven years ... the Broncos went 5-2-0 at home this year, and WMU is 4-4-2 on the road and 0-1-0 in neutral-site games ... the team's lone neutral-site contest, prior to the BGSU match, was a 2-0 loss to Robert Morris in Green Bay, Wis. (Sept. 17) ... Western ended the regular season on a two-match win streak, with 2-1 wins over Hartwick at home (Oct. 30) and Buffalo on the road (Nov. 5) ... Shane Lyons paces the Broncos' scoring attack, with team-high totals of seven goals and 20 points ... Kai Mendes has 17 points on five goals and a WMU-best seven assists ... Oliver Mayer also has five goals, and has 13 points ... Sean Lewis has started 10 matches in goal, and has three shutouts, 52 saves and a goals-against average of 1.67 ... Stu Riddle is in his second season at the WMU helm ... he welcomed back 10 letterwinners from last year's club that went 6-10-1 overall and 3-2-1 in MAC play ... the school's athletics web site is www.wmubroncos.com.
The Falcons lead Western Michigan, 26-12-3, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Broncos have won the last three meetings ... in this year's regular-season meeting, Western scored twice in a four-minute span for a 2-0 win over the Falcons in BG ... Darren Jones and Pat Schiffer scored for WMU roughly two-thirds of the way through the match, while Sean Lewis had three saves ... last season (Oct. 3, 2009), the Broncos picked up a 1-0 win at Cochrane ... the Falcons have records of 14-4-2 at home, 11-8-1 on the road and 1-0-0 in neutral-site meetings with the Broncos ... BGSU is 1-2-0 vs. Western in MAC Tournament matches ... the lone neutral-site matchup did not come in the MAC Tournament, but did come in Akron (a 2-1 BGSU win in October of 1978 in an in-season tourney) ... Western downed the Falcons, 5-0, in the 2003 league tourney final in Kalamazoo, and the Broncos picked up a 2-0 win at home in the quarterfinal round of the '05 MAC Tournament ... the following year (Oct. 31, 2006), BGSU downed WMU, again in Kalamazoo, by a 2-1 score in the quarterfinals.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE AKRON-BUFFALO SEMIFINAL
Should Bowling Green advance past Western Michigan, the Falcons would face either Akron or Buffalo in the MAC Tournament's championship match ...
• The Zips, currently ranked second in the nation, have a record of 16-1-1, and completed a perfect league schedule for the third consecutive season ... UA went 6-0-0 in MAC action ... Darren Mattocks leads the team with 26 points, including 12 goals ... three other players have at least six goals, including Michael Nanchoff, Darlington Nagbe and Kofi Sarkodie ... Nanchoff has 22 points on seven goals and eight assists ... Nagbe has a team-high nine assists and 21 points ... David Meves has started all 18 matches, and has nine shutouts and a GAA of just 0.45 ... the Zips posted a 2-0 win over the Falcons at Cochrane Field in the teams' 2010 regular-season meeting (Sept. 11) ... UA's athletics web site is www.gozips.com.
• The Bulls enter the MAC Tournament with an overall mark of 7-9-1, and Buffalo went 3-3-0 in MAC play ... beginning with a 2-0 loss at BGSU on Oct. 9, UB has alternated wins and losses over the last seven matches ... one of those wins was a 2-0 victory at Cleveland State, the lone team to beat Akron ... individually, Mike Unwin has 13 points to pace the UB attack ... he has a team-leading five goals, and is tied for the Buffalo lead with three assists ... Juha Kaartoluoma has six points on three goals, while Andy Tiedt and Casey Derkacz each have five points ... Nick Fetterman has started 11 matches in goal, and has 39 saves, two shutouts and a GAA of 2.09 ... the school's athletics web site is www.buffalobulls.com.
HELPS TO SCORE FIRST
Not surprisingly, the Falcons have had better results when scoring the first goal of the match this fall ... BGSU is 5-1-0 when netting the first goal this season ... the Falcons have surrendered the first goal nine times, but have come back on two occasions ... BG is 1-7-1 when allowing the first goal, rallying for a 2-2 tie at Davidson (Sept. 5) and a 2-1 overtime victory over IPFW (Oct. 6).
THE 2010 CAPTAINS
Seniors Thomas McLean and Dusko Topolic and junior Tanner Fink are the captains of the 2010 men's soccer Falcons.
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