Bowling Green State University Athletics
Wednesday, October 29
Detroit, Mich.
3:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Detroit
Seniors Jon Kumher, Vlad Lekarev & Danny Baraldi will be recognized in ceremonies prior to Saturday's WMU match
Photo by: BGSU Marketing and Communications
Falcons Face Two Michigan Foes This Week
October 28, 2014 | Men's Soccer
BGSU heads to Detroit Wednesday, then hosts WMU Saturday on Senior Day
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team prepares for a pair of afternoon matches vs. Michigan foes with identical records this week. The Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols head to the Motor City for a Wednesday (Oct. 29) match vs. the University of Detroit Mercy. That contest will begin at 3:00 p.m. at Titan Field.
Then, the Brown and Orange will return home, beginning the month of November with a Mid-American Conference contest this weekend. BG will face league-leading Western Michigan University on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 1), with kickoff scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field. It will be 'Senior Day' for the BGSU program, with the Falcons' three seniors recognized prior to the match.
LINKS
BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF | BGSU Men's Soccer Story Archives
BGSU Statistics | 2014 Media Guide | Career Stats of Current Falcons
Detroit Men's Soccer | Western Michigan Men's Soccer
THANKS, SENIORS
Saturday's WMU match, as mentioned, will be 'Senior Day' for the BGSU men's soccer program. The Falcons' three seniors – Danny Baraldi, Jon Kumher and Vlad Lekarev – will be recognized in on-field ceremonies prior to the match. Baraldi, a four-year starter, has played over 6,000 minutes for the Falcons, and has posted double-digit point totals in each of his four seasons. Kumher, like Baraldi a tri-captain of the 2014 Falcons, has started every game this season and has played all but 23 minutes. Lekarev, in his third year with the Brown and Orange after transferring from Butler Univ., also has started every match this season. Baraldi has made 67 career starts to date, while Kumher and Lekarev have combined to start 51 matches for BGSU.
FREE ADMISSION TO HOME FALCON FUTBOL / FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Admission for all Falcon men's and women's soccer home matches again this season is free. For those who can't make it to Cochrane Field, live stats are scheduled to be available for each home game via BGSUFalcons.com. Twitter updates for all home men's soccer matches (and selected away games) will be available via @BGSUmenssoccer. Information regarding live stats, twitter updates, etc., for BGSU road matches will be available on the web at BGSUFalcons.com on the day of the match.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons dropped a pair of matches on the road, falling to Ohio State, 3-0, and West Virginia, 2-1. On Wednesday (Oct. 22) at OSU, the Buckeyes scored a pair of penalty-kick related goals in the opening half. The first goal came via the PK with under three minutes gone. OSU was awarded a second PK in the 31st minute, and redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger, just into the match, made the save, but the home team scored on the rebound. A goal midway through the second half closed the scoring.
On Saturday (Oct. 25) in Morgantown, the Falcons got on the board first, as Vlad Lekarev's cross to the near post was mishandled by the WVU 'keeper. But, the Mountaineers tied the score on a header late in the first half, then saw another header find the back of the net with 12 minutes to go for what proved to be the winning goal.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 9-5-1 overall, and the Falcons have a Mid-American Conference record of 0-2-1. BG is tied for fifth in the six-team league. The Falcons are 4-2-1 in home matches, 4-3 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site contests to date. BGSU has outscored opponents by a 27-13 margin over the first 15 games. Four of the team's five losses have come by a single goal, including a pair to teams (Michigan State and Akron) ranked in national polls.
Sophomore Pat Flynn leads the Falcons with 12 goals and 27 points, and ranks second in the entire nation in both categories. Flynn also has three assists, and five of his goals have been game winners. He is ranked sixth or better in the entire nation in five individual categories.
Sophomore Joe Sullivan has 13 points on the year, with four goals and five assists. Sullivan has a pair of game-winning goals this fall. Senior Danny Baraldi has 10 points on the season. He is tied with Sullivan for second on the Falcons in goals, with four.
Sophomore Jacob Roth and redshirt soph Max Auden have eight and seven points, respectively. Roth leads the Brown and Orange with six assists, while Sullivan has five and junior Ryan James four. Auden has a pair of goals and three assists this fall to date. Freshman Brad Macomber has six points in his initial season, while James has four.
In goal, redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger has seen action in 10 games, and has three complete-match shutouts, 28 saves and a goals-against average of 1.07. Redshirt soph Ryan Heuton has played in seven matches this fall. Like Landsberger, Heuton has three complete-match shutouts. He has 24 saves, a saves percentage of .889 and a GAA of 0.49. Two of the three goals Heuton has allowed this season have come via penalty kick.
Head coach Eric Nichols and his staff lost 10 seniors off of last year's team, which went 6-7-6 overall and 2-2-2 in MAC play and tied for fourth in the conference.
A total of eight players have started all 15 matches for Nichols and his staff this fall. That group includes Auden, Flynn, James, Roth, Sullivan, seniors Jon Kumher and Vlad Lekarev and junior Jake Genrich. Baraldi has made 14 starts, while Landsberger and junior Jake Martin have started nine games apiece and Heuton six.
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• For the first time in over a decade, BGSU will finish with a winning percentage of .500 or better. The Falcons are 9-5-1 with four regular-season matches left. BG's last finish of .500 or better came in 2001 (8-8-1).
• The last BGSU team to finish over .500 was the 2000 club, which went 9-8-1.
• BGSU has topped last year's totals in home wins, road wins and neutral-site wins. This year's team is 4-2-1 at home, 4-3-0 on the road and 1-0-0 at neutral sites. Last year, BG went 3-2-3 at Cochrane Field, 3-4-3 at hostile venues and 0-1-0 in neutral-site meetings.
• Despite last week's losses, BGSU's record through 15 matches this season is the program's best since 1997. That '97 club was 10-5-0 after 15 games, and wound up going 18-6-0 and advancing to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season.
• BGSU has scored 27 goals this season, topping the total (25) for all of last year.
• Sophomore Pat Flynn has 12 of those goals, and has 27 points this season. No BG player scored more than six goals or 13 points during all of last year.
BUILD FROM THE BACK
Slowly but surely, the Falcons have improved defensively during the Eric Nichols Era. BGSU's totals/averages in a multitude of categories have gotten better in nearly every season since Nichols took over in 2009. Last year, the Falcon defense ranked 26th in the nation in saves pct., 33rd in the country in goals-against average and 36th in NCAA Division I in shutout pct. This season to date, the Falcons are ranked 42nd or better in each of those categories. And, the 2014 team ranks 46th in the country on another rather important list: winning percentage.
CHART-TOPPERS
The Falcons are well represented in the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings, released Monday (Oct. 27). BGSU is ranked among the top 50 teams in the nation in 10 of the 11 categories kept by the NCAA, while sophomore Pat Flynn is ranked sixth or better in the country on five total lists. All of BG's updated rankings can be found in the PDF version of these notes.
SCOUTING THE TITANS
Detroit enters Wednesday's match with an overall record of 8-4-3, and the Titans are 5-1-0 in Horizon League play. UDM is riding a six-match unbeaten streak, and the Titans have posted four consecutive shutouts, including a 3-0 win over Cleveland State in which Detroit did not allow a single shot on goal. UDM, picked to finish seventh in the HL preseason coaches poll, has clinched no worse than a top-three finish. Freshman Spiro Pliakos leads the team in scoring, with his 15 points including a team-high seven assists. Junior Matt Harkema is tied for the team lead with four goals, and has a total of nine points on the year. Senior Matt Ybarra has 10 points, including six assists. In goal, redshirt junior Nathan Steinwascher has played all but one match this fall, and has 63 saves, six shutouts and a GAA of 0.88. Head coach Nicholas Deren welcomed back 15 letterwinners from last year's team that finished 3-11-4 overall and 0-7-0 in the Horizon League.
A LOOK AT THE BRONCOS
Western Michigan is 8-4-3 on the season, heading into a Tuesday match at Dayton, and the Broncos currently sit atop the MAC with a 2-0-1 league record. WMU is 4-1-2 over the last seven matches, and Western takes a two-game winning streak into the UD match, after a 3-0 home win over Northern Illinois and a 1-0 victory on the road against Akron. It was just UA's second MAC regular-season loss in the last eight years. Juniors Sean Conerty and Connor Furgason have 10 points apiece, while classmate Nick Wysong has nine. Furgason leads the Broncos with four goals, while Conerty is among the national leaders with 10 assists this fall to date. In goal, junior Chase Rau has played in 12 matches, but redshirt Drew Shepherd has started the last two contests and posted shutouts vs. both NIU and UA. Rau has 35 saves and a GAA of 1.37 this fall, while Shepherd has 10 saves and a GAA of 0.75 to date. Head coach Chad Wiseman's team finished 9-9-1 overall and 4-1-1 in the MAC last fall, with runner-up finishes in both the league regular-season standings and the conference tournament.
THE SERIES
BGSU leads Detroit, 16-8-2, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Titans have won the last two meetings. Last season, a goal with under five minutes left lifted UDM to a 2-1 win at Cochrane Field. Two seasons ago, Detroit broke a two-match BG series winning streak with a 2-0 victory, also at Cochrane. The Falcons' last trip to the Motor City saw BGSU record a 4-1 win. The home team has not won a match in the BGSU-UDM series since 2007. The Falcons are 8-4-1 at home, and BG is also 8-4-1 on the road vs. the Titans over the years.
BGSU leads Western Michigan, 27-15-3, in that series, but the Broncos won last year's meeting, 1-0, on a free kick late in the first half. Two seasons ago, in the most recent meeting in BG, the Falcons scored with 14 minutes to go for a 2-1 win over the Broncos. That victory snapped a five-match series winning streak for WMU. BGSU went 24-3-2 vs. Western in the first 29 meetings, but the Broncos are 12-3-1 vs. the Falcons since that time. BG has records of 15-4-2 at home, 11-10-1 on the road and 1-1-0 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Broncos through the years.
EXTRA TIME (a few final Falcon notes)
• The Falcons' total of nine wins is the program's highest in 14 years, since the 2000 team finished with a 9-8-1 overall record. BGSU has not posted a double-digit win total since the 1998 club went 10-8-2.
• BGSU has scored eight goals in the 76th minute or later this season. Five of those eight goals have come with the score tied and have given BGSU the lead for good.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following the WMU contest, the Falcons will close the home schedule with a non-conference match vs. Wright State on Tuesday night, Nov. 4, in the teams' annual battle for the I-75 Cup. Then, BGSU wraps up regular-season play with a trip to the MAC's 'West Coast' to face Northern Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 8. The top-four teams in the final standings will qualify for the MAC Tournament, with semifinal matches set for Friday, Nov. 14, and the championship contest two days later.
Then, the Brown and Orange will return home, beginning the month of November with a Mid-American Conference contest this weekend. BG will face league-leading Western Michigan University on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 1), with kickoff scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field. It will be 'Senior Day' for the BGSU program, with the Falcons' three seniors recognized prior to the match.
LINKS
BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF | BGSU Men's Soccer Story Archives
BGSU Statistics | 2014 Media Guide | Career Stats of Current Falcons
Detroit Men's Soccer | Western Michigan Men's Soccer
| U P N E X T I N F A L C O N S O C C E R | ||
| BGSU at Detroit Titan Field | Detroit, Mich. | Wed., Oct. 29 3:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Twitter |
| BGSU vs. Western Michigan Cochrane Field | Bowling Green, Ohio | Sat., Nov. 1 3:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Twitter |
| M A C S T A N D I N G S & S C H E D U L E | ||
| Team (Overall) | MAC (Pts.) | Remaining MAC Matches |
| Western Michigan (8-4-3) | 2-0-1 (7) | @ BGSU | v West Va. |
| Akron (8-5-1) | 2-1-0 (6) | @ Northern Ill. | v Buffalo |
| Buffalo (5-8-2) | 1-0-2 (5) | @ West Va. | @ Akron |
| West Virginia (8-6-1) | 1-1-1 (4) | v Buffalo | @ Western Mich. |
| Bowling Green (9-5-1) | 0-2-1 (1) | v Western Mich. | @ Northern Ill. |
| Northern Illinois (3-7-5) | 0-2-1 (1) | v Akron | v BGSU |
THANKS, SENIORS
Saturday's WMU match, as mentioned, will be 'Senior Day' for the BGSU men's soccer program. The Falcons' three seniors – Danny Baraldi, Jon Kumher and Vlad Lekarev – will be recognized in on-field ceremonies prior to the match. Baraldi, a four-year starter, has played over 6,000 minutes for the Falcons, and has posted double-digit point totals in each of his four seasons. Kumher, like Baraldi a tri-captain of the 2014 Falcons, has started every game this season and has played all but 23 minutes. Lekarev, in his third year with the Brown and Orange after transferring from Butler Univ., also has started every match this season. Baraldi has made 67 career starts to date, while Kumher and Lekarev have combined to start 51 matches for BGSU.
FREE ADMISSION TO HOME FALCON FUTBOL / FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Admission for all Falcon men's and women's soccer home matches again this season is free. For those who can't make it to Cochrane Field, live stats are scheduled to be available for each home game via BGSUFalcons.com. Twitter updates for all home men's soccer matches (and selected away games) will be available via @BGSUmenssoccer. Information regarding live stats, twitter updates, etc., for BGSU road matches will be available on the web at BGSUFalcons.com on the day of the match.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons dropped a pair of matches on the road, falling to Ohio State, 3-0, and West Virginia, 2-1. On Wednesday (Oct. 22) at OSU, the Buckeyes scored a pair of penalty-kick related goals in the opening half. The first goal came via the PK with under three minutes gone. OSU was awarded a second PK in the 31st minute, and redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger, just into the match, made the save, but the home team scored on the rebound. A goal midway through the second half closed the scoring.
On Saturday (Oct. 25) in Morgantown, the Falcons got on the board first, as Vlad Lekarev's cross to the near post was mishandled by the WVU 'keeper. But, the Mountaineers tied the score on a header late in the first half, then saw another header find the back of the net with 12 minutes to go for what proved to be the winning goal.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 9-5-1 overall, and the Falcons have a Mid-American Conference record of 0-2-1. BG is tied for fifth in the six-team league. The Falcons are 4-2-1 in home matches, 4-3 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site contests to date. BGSU has outscored opponents by a 27-13 margin over the first 15 games. Four of the team's five losses have come by a single goal, including a pair to teams (Michigan State and Akron) ranked in national polls.
Sophomore Pat Flynn leads the Falcons with 12 goals and 27 points, and ranks second in the entire nation in both categories. Flynn also has three assists, and five of his goals have been game winners. He is ranked sixth or better in the entire nation in five individual categories.
Sophomore Joe Sullivan has 13 points on the year, with four goals and five assists. Sullivan has a pair of game-winning goals this fall. Senior Danny Baraldi has 10 points on the season. He is tied with Sullivan for second on the Falcons in goals, with four.
Sophomore Jacob Roth and redshirt soph Max Auden have eight and seven points, respectively. Roth leads the Brown and Orange with six assists, while Sullivan has five and junior Ryan James four. Auden has a pair of goals and three assists this fall to date. Freshman Brad Macomber has six points in his initial season, while James has four.
In goal, redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger has seen action in 10 games, and has three complete-match shutouts, 28 saves and a goals-against average of 1.07. Redshirt soph Ryan Heuton has played in seven matches this fall. Like Landsberger, Heuton has three complete-match shutouts. He has 24 saves, a saves percentage of .889 and a GAA of 0.49. Two of the three goals Heuton has allowed this season have come via penalty kick.
Head coach Eric Nichols and his staff lost 10 seniors off of last year's team, which went 6-7-6 overall and 2-2-2 in MAC play and tied for fourth in the conference.
A total of eight players have started all 15 matches for Nichols and his staff this fall. That group includes Auden, Flynn, James, Roth, Sullivan, seniors Jon Kumher and Vlad Lekarev and junior Jake Genrich. Baraldi has made 14 starts, while Landsberger and junior Jake Martin have started nine games apiece and Heuton six.
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• For the first time in over a decade, BGSU will finish with a winning percentage of .500 or better. The Falcons are 9-5-1 with four regular-season matches left. BG's last finish of .500 or better came in 2001 (8-8-1).
• The last BGSU team to finish over .500 was the 2000 club, which went 9-8-1.
• BGSU has topped last year's totals in home wins, road wins and neutral-site wins. This year's team is 4-2-1 at home, 4-3-0 on the road and 1-0-0 at neutral sites. Last year, BG went 3-2-3 at Cochrane Field, 3-4-3 at hostile venues and 0-1-0 in neutral-site meetings.
• Despite last week's losses, BGSU's record through 15 matches this season is the program's best since 1997. That '97 club was 10-5-0 after 15 games, and wound up going 18-6-0 and advancing to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season.
• BGSU has scored 27 goals this season, topping the total (25) for all of last year.
• Sophomore Pat Flynn has 12 of those goals, and has 27 points this season. No BG player scored more than six goals or 13 points during all of last year.
BUILD FROM THE BACK
Slowly but surely, the Falcons have improved defensively during the Eric Nichols Era. BGSU's totals/averages in a multitude of categories have gotten better in nearly every season since Nichols took over in 2009. Last year, the Falcon defense ranked 26th in the nation in saves pct., 33rd in the country in goals-against average and 36th in NCAA Division I in shutout pct. This season to date, the Falcons are ranked 42nd or better in each of those categories. And, the 2014 team ranks 46th in the country on another rather important list: winning percentage.
CHART-TOPPERS
The Falcons are well represented in the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings, released Monday (Oct. 27). BGSU is ranked among the top 50 teams in the nation in 10 of the 11 categories kept by the NCAA, while sophomore Pat Flynn is ranked sixth or better in the country on five total lists. All of BG's updated rankings can be found in the PDF version of these notes.
SCOUTING THE TITANS
Detroit enters Wednesday's match with an overall record of 8-4-3, and the Titans are 5-1-0 in Horizon League play. UDM is riding a six-match unbeaten streak, and the Titans have posted four consecutive shutouts, including a 3-0 win over Cleveland State in which Detroit did not allow a single shot on goal. UDM, picked to finish seventh in the HL preseason coaches poll, has clinched no worse than a top-three finish. Freshman Spiro Pliakos leads the team in scoring, with his 15 points including a team-high seven assists. Junior Matt Harkema is tied for the team lead with four goals, and has a total of nine points on the year. Senior Matt Ybarra has 10 points, including six assists. In goal, redshirt junior Nathan Steinwascher has played all but one match this fall, and has 63 saves, six shutouts and a GAA of 0.88. Head coach Nicholas Deren welcomed back 15 letterwinners from last year's team that finished 3-11-4 overall and 0-7-0 in the Horizon League.
A LOOK AT THE BRONCOS
Western Michigan is 8-4-3 on the season, heading into a Tuesday match at Dayton, and the Broncos currently sit atop the MAC with a 2-0-1 league record. WMU is 4-1-2 over the last seven matches, and Western takes a two-game winning streak into the UD match, after a 3-0 home win over Northern Illinois and a 1-0 victory on the road against Akron. It was just UA's second MAC regular-season loss in the last eight years. Juniors Sean Conerty and Connor Furgason have 10 points apiece, while classmate Nick Wysong has nine. Furgason leads the Broncos with four goals, while Conerty is among the national leaders with 10 assists this fall to date. In goal, junior Chase Rau has played in 12 matches, but redshirt Drew Shepherd has started the last two contests and posted shutouts vs. both NIU and UA. Rau has 35 saves and a GAA of 1.37 this fall, while Shepherd has 10 saves and a GAA of 0.75 to date. Head coach Chad Wiseman's team finished 9-9-1 overall and 4-1-1 in the MAC last fall, with runner-up finishes in both the league regular-season standings and the conference tournament.
THE SERIES
BGSU leads Detroit, 16-8-2, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Titans have won the last two meetings. Last season, a goal with under five minutes left lifted UDM to a 2-1 win at Cochrane Field. Two seasons ago, Detroit broke a two-match BG series winning streak with a 2-0 victory, also at Cochrane. The Falcons' last trip to the Motor City saw BGSU record a 4-1 win. The home team has not won a match in the BGSU-UDM series since 2007. The Falcons are 8-4-1 at home, and BG is also 8-4-1 on the road vs. the Titans over the years.
BGSU leads Western Michigan, 27-15-3, in that series, but the Broncos won last year's meeting, 1-0, on a free kick late in the first half. Two seasons ago, in the most recent meeting in BG, the Falcons scored with 14 minutes to go for a 2-1 win over the Broncos. That victory snapped a five-match series winning streak for WMU. BGSU went 24-3-2 vs. Western in the first 29 meetings, but the Broncos are 12-3-1 vs. the Falcons since that time. BG has records of 15-4-2 at home, 11-10-1 on the road and 1-1-0 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Broncos through the years.
EXTRA TIME (a few final Falcon notes)
• The Falcons' total of nine wins is the program's highest in 14 years, since the 2000 team finished with a 9-8-1 overall record. BGSU has not posted a double-digit win total since the 1998 club went 10-8-2.
• BGSU has scored eight goals in the 76th minute or later this season. Five of those eight goals have come with the score tied and have given BGSU the lead for good.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following the WMU contest, the Falcons will close the home schedule with a non-conference match vs. Wright State on Tuesday night, Nov. 4, in the teams' annual battle for the I-75 Cup. Then, BGSU wraps up regular-season play with a trip to the MAC's 'West Coast' to face Northern Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 8. The top-four teams in the final standings will qualify for the MAC Tournament, with semifinal matches set for Friday, Nov. 14, and the championship contest two days later.
Players Mentioned
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