Two NE Ohio Opponents on Tap for Falcons This Week

Tuesday, October 7

Cleveland, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Cleveland State

Ian Haskin v Eastern Illinois - Knavel photo

Ian Haskin (16) & the Falcons face Cleveland State on Tuesday before hosting Akron this weekend

October 06, 2014 | Men's Soccer

BGSU travels to Cleveland State Tuesday, hosts Akron in Saturday's MAC Opener

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, off to the program's best start in nearly two decades, will play a pair of Northeast Ohio foes this week. The Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols will conclude a three-game road swing on Tuesday night (Oct. 7), facing Cleveland State University. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field in downtown Cleveland.

Then, on Saturday (Oct. 11), the Brown and Orange will return home to begin Mid-American Conference play against the defending league champion, the University of Akron. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field, and admission is free.

LINKS
BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF | BGSU Men's Soccer Story Archives
BGSU Statistics | 2014 Media Guide | Career Stats of Current Falcons
CSU Men's Soccer | Akron Men's Soccer

UP NEXT IN FALCON SOCCER
BGSU at Cleveland St.	Tue., Oct. 7 7:00 p.m.	Live Stats \| Twitter
BGSU vs. Akron	Sat., Oct. 11 7:00 p.m.	Live Stats \| Twitter

LAST WEEK
Senior tri-captain Danny Baraldi scored with just 6:45 to go, lifting the Falcons to a 1-0 win at IPFW Wednesday night (Oct. 1). The Falcons dominated the statistical categories, including advantages of 25-6 in shot attempts and 11-2 in shots on goal, and finally broke through when sophomore Jacob Roth's diagonal ball was headed to Baraldi by soph Joe Sullivan. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Heuton made two saves to pick up his second shutout in as many starts.

GOOD START
BGSU's 8-2-0 start to the season is the team's best in nearly two decades, since the 1995 team went 9-1-0 through the first 10 matches. That '95 club went on to a 16-3-2 record, a MAC Tournament title and the first of three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

SURPASSING LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL
• BGSU's 1-0 win at St. Bonaventure on Sept. 28 was the Falcons' seventh victory of the fall, topping the win total for all of last season. After posting another 1-0 road win at IPFW, BG is now 8-2-0 this season, after the 2013 club went 6-7-6 overall.

• BGSU last won eight games in 2012, going 8-9-3 that fall. The Falcons have not surpassed the eight-win total since the 2000 team went 9-8-1.

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 in the top-15 in the nation in each of those categories. And, the 2014 team ranks 11th in the country on another rather important list: winning percentage.

CHART-TOPPERS
The Falcons are very well represented in the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings, released Friday (Oct. 3). BGSU is ranked among the top five teams in the nation in five categories – and the top-15 in the nation in 10 total categories – while sophomore Pat Flynn leads the country in four individual stats. Junior Ryan James and sophomores Jacob Roth and Joe Sullivan all are listed among the top-30 players in the nation on at least one chart.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons' overall record of 8-2-0 includes marks of 4-1 at home, 3-1 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site matches to date. BGSU has outscored opponents by a 24-6 margin over the first 10 games.

Sophomore Pat Flynn leads the Falcons – and the nation – with 12 goals and 27 points. Flynn also has three assists, and five of his goals have been game winners.

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 and redshirt sophomore Max Auden have 10 and seven points, respectively. Baraldi is tied for second on the team in goals, with four, while Auden has two goals and three assists. Freshman Brad Macomber and sophomore Jacob Roth have six points apiece, and junior Ryan James has four. Roth leads the Brown and Orange with six assists, while Sullivan has five and James four.

In goal, redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger has started eight games, and has three complete-match shutouts, 26 saves and a goals-against average of 0.78. Redshirt soph Ryan Heuton has played in three matches, starting two. He has stopped all 10 shots on goal he has faced in 225 minutes of work.

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.

Nichols and his staff – Eric Reed, Zach Lemke and Brandon Silva – have utilized the same starting lineup for all but two matches this season to date. Auden, Baraldi, Flynn, James, Roth, Sullivan, seniors Jon Kumher and Vlad Lekarev and junior Jake Genrich have started all 10 games, while junior Jake Martin has made nine starts and Landsberger eight.

FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• Last Monday (Sept. 29), for the second week in a row, the Falcons received votes in the College Soccer News poll.

• Sophomore Pat Flynn has 12 goals and 27 points this season. No BG player scored more than six goals or 13 points during all of last year.

• No BGSU player had scored as many as 12 goals since Steve Klein had 18 in the 1996 season, and no Falcon had reached 27 points since Klein exploded for 50 points in that '96 campaign.

• The Falcons are 7-0-0 this season in matches in which Flynn scores at least one point, and BG is 1-2-0 in matches in which he is held scoreless.

• Flynn has five game-winning goals on the year, leading the nation in that category.

• Senior Danny Baraldi's goal at IPFW was his fourth of the season and the 18th of his career. He now has 57 points in 64 matches as a Falcon.

• Baraldi is just two points away from tying Dennis Mepham (59 points from 1976-79) for 10th place on the BGSU career list.

• Baraldi now has 10 points this season, matching his total for all of last year.

• Baraldi has posted double-digit point totals in each of his four years at BGSU. He is the first Falcon to do so since Chris Dore (1996-99).

• Baraldi's game-winning goal was his first of the year and the fifth of his career. He had two winners in both 2011 and '12.

• Baraldi's goal at IPFW marked the seventh time BGSU has scored in the 76th minute or later this season. Four of those seven goals have come with the score tied, giving the Falcons the lead for good.

• Sophomore Joe Sullivan has scored six goals in his BGSU career. Four of those six goals have been game-winners. He had a pair of winners last season, and scored the GWG in Falcon victories over Niagara and St. Bonaventure this fall.

• Sullivan ranks second on the team with 13 points this year. He has doubled his goal total – and more than doubled his assist and point totals – from a year ago. The Naperville, Ill., native had two goals and two assists for six points as a freshman in 2013, and has four goals and five assists this fall to date.

• Sullivan has been involved in the scoring on five of BGSU's last six goals, dating to the win at Michigan on Sept. 16.

• Beginning with that Michigan match, BG has won three consecutive road games, all by 1-0 scores. The Falcons downed the Wolverines, St. Bonaventure and IPFW during that stretch.

• BGSU is 3-1-0 in road games and 4-1-0 in all matches away from home in 2014. Last year, BG was 3-5-3 in games played away from Cochrane Field.

• Sophomore Jacob Roth's assist on Wednesday night was his sixth of the season. No Falcon player had more than four assists during all of last year.

• Redshirt sophomore Ryan Heuton posted his second shutout in his second start at BGSU. He played one half of the Falcons' win over Findlay, and was in net for all 90 minutes against both St. Bonaventure and IPFW. Heuton has played a total of 225 minutes this season, and has saved all 10 shots on goal he has faced.

• The Falcons have six shutouts in 10 matches this season. Redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger has three complete-match shutouts, while Heuton has two clean sheets. Landsberger and Heuton each played one half of the Findlay game.

• BGSU has scored 24 goals this season after scoring 25 during all of last year.

• BGSU posted six wins in the month of September, going 6-2-0. The Falcons had not won six games in a calendar month since 1997. That '97 club won six games in both October (6-2-0) and November (6-1-0), with the November wins including three MAC Tournament games, an NCAA Tournament Play-In match and an NCAA first-round victory.

SCOUTING THE VIKINGS
Cleveland State enters Tuesday's match with a 4-5-0 overall record, and the Vikings are 2-0-0 in Horizon League play after a 1-0 win at Belmont on Saturday (Oct. 4). The BGSU game will be just the second home game of the year for CSU, and the first since August 29. CSU has played eight consecutive road games, and the team is 1-0 at home and 3-5 on the road this year to date. The team's wins have come against Salem International, Marshall, Milwaukee and Belmont. Junior Alvaro Pichardo leads the team with five points on the year, and he is one of three players with two goals this season. Nick Ciraldo has started eight of the team's nine games in goal, and has 35 saves, two shutouts and a GAA of 2.35. Head coach Ali Kazemaini's team went 8-12 overall and 3-4 in the Horizon League a year ago.

A LOOK AT THE ZIPS
Akron is 5-3-1 on the year, heading into a Tuesday (Oct. 7) game at Michigan State. The Zips downed #21 UAB, 1-0, on Saturday evening (Oct. 4), and UA has gone 5-1-1 after losing the first two matches of the season. The Zips are 4-0-0 at home and 1-3-1 on the road this year to date. The team's wins have come against UCF, Hartford, Tulsa and Ohio State, in addition to UAB. Sophomore Adam Najem, who scored the winner vs. UAB, leads the team with three goals and eight points this fall. Redshirt freshman Sam Gainford has a UA-best three assists. Junior Jake Fenlason has played every minute in goal, and has three shutouts, 43 saves and a GAA of 0.85. Last year, the Zips went 17-4-1 overall and 5-1-0 in the MAC in Jared Embick's first season as head coach. UA won the MAC's regular-season and tournament titles in 2013.

THE SERIES
BGSU trails Cleveland State, 15-13-1, in the all-time series between the teams, and the visiting team has won each of the last three meetings. A year ago, the Vikings scored in the second overtime to down the Falcons, 1-0, at Cochrane Field (Oct. 16, 2013). Two seasons ago, BG picked up a 1-0 victory in the team's last trip to downtown Cleveland (Sept. 14, 2012). CSU won the teams' 2011 meeting, a result which snapped an eight-match series unbeaten streak for the Brown and Orange. BGSU played CSU every year for over two decades, from 1973-94. Since '94, however, the teams have met just seven times. The Falcons are 8-7-0 at home and 5-8-1 on the road vs. the Vikings through the years.

BGSU trails Akron, 43-8-3, in that series, and the Zips have won the last 15 meetings. Last fall, UA slogged past the Falcons, 1-0, in Akron (Sept. 21, 2013). The Zips picked up a 2-0 win in the team's last trip to Cochrane Field, two years ago (Sept. 22, 2012). The Falcons' last win in the series came 12 years ago, a 1-0 triumph at Cochrane (Oct. 27, 2002).

UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following the Akron match, the Falcons will prepare for a second-straight Saturday home contest vs. a Mid-American Conference foe. BGSU will meet Buffalo on Oct. 18 at Cochrane Field, with first touch scheduled for 7:00 p.m.