Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, September 27
Huntington, WV
5:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Marshall
Road Swing Continues with Trips to Marshall, NKU
September 25, 2013 | Men's Soccer
BGSU NOTES & STATISTICS - PDF
Marshall Men's Soccer | NKU Men's Soccer
Then, on Sunday (Sept. 29), the Brown and Orange will be in Highland Heights, Ky., to face Northern Kentucky University. The Falcons meet the Norse in a 1:00 p.m. start at NKU Soccer Stadium.
FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Live stats, as well as video streaming, are scheduled to be available for both the Marshall and Northern Kentucky matches. All available links can be found right here at BGSUFalcons.com, on the men's soccer schedule page, on match day.
FAMILIAR NAMES AND FACES
There are some BGSU and/or Mid-American Conference ties with each of this weekend's opponents. Friday's opponent, Marshall, had two stints as a Mid-American Conference member, with the men's soccer team competing in the conference during the second stint, from 1997 to 2004. Head coach Bob Gray's team tied for the league regular-season crown in 2000, and advanced to the semifinals of the MAC Tournament in four-straight seasons (1999-2002).
Northern Kentucky head coach John Basalyga is a BGSU graduate, and played on the 1972 Falcon baseball team that won the first MAC championship in that program's history. He is the father of Lindsay Basalyga, who is in her first season as BGSU's women's soccer head coach.
THE STARTING XI (11 things you should know about the Falcons)
• The Falcons are 1-4-2 on the young season, after suffering a pair of 1-0 road losses last week. Both Michigan State (Sept. 18) and Akron (Sept. 21) scored late in the first half to down the Brown and Orange.
• Five of Bowling Green's last six matches have come against teams either nationally-ranked or receiving votes in a national poll. BG played three Big Ten opponents in a five-match span, and also faced Marquette, Milwaukee and UA on the road. BGSU is in the midst of an eight-match stretch in which the Falcons play at Cochrane Field just once.
• BGSU's current five-game road swing is the team's longest in two years. Head coach Eric Nichols and Company went 3-1-1 on the last five-match swing, with wins over Duquesne, Pittsburgh and Detroit, a tie at Lipscomb and a loss at Belmont in mid-September of 2011.
• This season, the Falcons are 1-0-2 at home, 0-3-0 on the road and 0-3-0 in neutral-site matches to date. The home matches include a 5-0 win over Malone in the season opener, and a pair of draws vs. Big Ten foes. BG tied Michigan, 1-1, on Labor Day (Sept. 2) and played Ohio State to a scoreless draw (Sept. 13) at Cochrane Field.
• The Falcons held a whopping 35-12 advantage in total shot attempts in that Ohio State match, putting nine shots on goal to OSU's two. BG set season highs in both shots and shots on goal. In fact, the total of 35 shots attempted was the most by the Falcons in 17 years, since BG had 40 shot attempts on Nov. 3, 1996, in an 8-0 win over Western Michigan at Cochrane.
• Senior goalkeeper Michael Wiest has been in goal for every second of the Falcons' seven matches, and his 1-4-2 win-loss record is not indicative of the way he has played this fall. Wiest made seven stops against MSU and five more vs. UA last week. He now has 31 saves, a goals-against average of 1.07 and a saves percentage of .795. Wiest leads the MAC in saves, saves per game (4.43) and saves pct.
• The Falcons have six goals on the season, scored by six different players. Seniors Ryan Comiskey, Joey D'Agostino, Anthony Grant, Brandon Silva and Ryan Snashall and sophomore Ryan James each have found the back of the net.
• BGSU has a total of five assists, with five different players recording one each. Three players – Comiskey, Grant and James – each have a goal and an assist, and are tied for the team scoring lead with three points apiece.
• Seven Falcons have started all seven of BGSU's matches to date. That list includes D'Agostino, Grant, Silva and Wiest, along with seniors Zach Schewee and Sean Sikich and sophomore Jake Genrich.
• Rodcliff Hall has returned to the BGSU roster. Hall played for the Brown and Orange in the 2011 season, with 10 points on four goals and a pair of assists en route to earning All-MAC Second-Team honors. He did not play soccer in 2012, but attended BGSU in the spring and summer of 2013.
• Hall rejoined the Falcons prior to Wednesday's match at Michigan State. He did not see action in that match, but came off the bench to play 31 minutes in Saturday's Akron contest. Hall had two shot attempts vs. the Zips.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons are 1-4-2 on the young season. After a 5-0 win over Malone and a 1-1 tie against Michigan at Cochrane Field, BG suffered a pair of shutout losses to Marquette and host Milwaukee at the latter school's Panther Invitational. The Brown and Orange returned home and battled Ohio State to a scoreless draw on Sept. 13. Last week, BG suffered 1-0 road losses vs. Michigan State and Akron. Six different players have scored one goal apiece, while five different Falcons each have one assist on the year.
In goal, senior Michael Wiest has started all seven matches this season to date. He has 31 saves, two shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.07. Wiest and fellow senior Sean Sikich each have played all 670 minutes this season, while senior Zach Schewee has been on the pitch for 665 minutes and senior Brandon Silva 657.
Head coach Eric Nichols and his staff returned a total of 13 letterwinners, including nine starters, from last year's club. The 2012 Falcons finished with an overall record of 8-9-3 and a MAC mark of 3-3-1. BGSU tied for fourth in the league regular-season standings last fall, and qualified for the MAC Tournament.
SCOUTING THE THUNDERING HERD
Marshall enters Friday's BGSU match with a record of 2-4-2, but the Thundering Herd is undefeated over the last three games. MU posted home shutout wins over IPFW and VMI before battling Northern Kentucky to a 1-1 draw on Sunday (Sept. 22). MU is 2-1-1 at home and 0-3-1 on the road this season to date. The Herd's eight goals this year have come from seven different players. Jack Hopkins is the only player on the team with two goals, and he leads MU with four points. Daniel Jodah has a team-leading three assists on the year. Danny Sellitti has started six of the Herd's eight games this fall, and has 19 saves, three shutouts and a goals-against average of 0.93. Head coach Bob Gray welcomed back 14 players from last year's team that finished with an 11-5-1 overall record and a 3-5-0 mark in Conference USA.
NOTING THE NORSE
Northern Kentucky is 3-2-3 heading into Sunday's match with the Falcons, and the Norse will come into that BGSU contest riding a four-match unbeaten streak. That streak includes wins over Loyola (Ill.) and Wright State, and draws against Cincinnati and Marshall. The Norse downed WSU by a 2-1 count on the road Friday (Sept. 20) before battling the Herd to that 1-1 tie. Sunday's match marks the team's home opener, as the first eight matches have seen the Norse go 1-1-3 in true road matches and 2-1-0 in neutral-site contests. Caleb Eastham leads the team with four goals and eight points on the year. Brendan Murphy has a team-high three assists to date. In goal, A.J. Fleak has started every match, and has 24 saves, one shutout and a 1.33 GAA. Additionally, Fleak has scored a goal this season, which proved to be the game-winning goal at Wright State, as his long punt bounced over the WSU 'keeper and into the net. Head coach John Basalyga, a BGSU alum and the father of Falcon women's soccer coach Lindsay Basalyga, guided the Norse to a 7-10-1 record in 2012, the program's first season at the NCAA Division-I level. The Norse went 4-3-1 in Atlantic Sun Conference play, finishing fourth in the league, but NKU was unable to compete in the postseason due to reclassification.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Marshall, 7-4-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has a three-match series unbeaten streak. Last year, the Falcons and Herd played to a scoreless tie in double-overtime at Cochrane Field (Sept. 1, 2012). Michael Wiest made four saves in that match. Exactly three years prior to the 2012 meeting, the Falcons posted a 2-0 win over the Herd at Cochrane, in the BGSU head-coaching debut of Eric Nichols. The Falcons' last trip to Huntington resulted in a 3-3, double-OT draw exactly five years prior to this season's meeting (Sept. 27, 2008). The Falcons are 4-1-1 at home, 1-3-1 on the road and 2-0-0 in neutral-site meetings with Marshall over the years.
Sunday's BGSU-NKU match will mark the teams' first-ever meeting in men's soccer.
THE 2013 CAPTAINS
Seniors Joey D'Agostino, Brandon Silva and Michael Wiest are the tri-captains of the 2013 Falcons. Silva, a fifth-year senior, is a team captain for the third consecutive year, while D'Agostino, also in his fifth year, has been named a captain for the second-straight season.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following the NKU match, BGSU's lengthy road swing will come to an end with a MAC matchup at Buffalo on Friday, Oct. 4. The Falcons return to Cochrane Field to face Detroit on Tuesday, Oct. 8, beginning a three-game homestand that also includes matches vs. Northern Illinois (Oct. 12) and Cleveland State (Oct. 16).
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