Sunday, November 16
Akron, Ohio
1:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Akron (Championship)
Pat Flynn (11) & Danny Shea celebrate after Flynn's first-half goal during Friday's win over WVU
Photo by: Ernie Aranyosi
Falcons Face Akron on Championship Sunday
November 15, 2014 | Men's Soccer
BGSU battles the Zips for a MAC title
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, after posting a come-from-behind win in the Mid-American Conference Tournament's semifinal round, advances to the championship match for the first time in 11 years. The Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols, seeded third for the four-team tourney, will face the number-one seed and tournament host University of Akron on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 16). The match will begin at 1:00 p.m. at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field in Akron, Ohio, and the winner will earn the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
BGSU NOTES & STATISTICS - PDF
2014 MAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
(all matches at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field; Akron, Ohio)
Friday, November 14 – Semifinals
#3 Bowling Green 3, #2 West Virginia 2 (OT)
at #1 Akron 2, #4 Western Michigan 1
Sunday, November 16 - Championship
#3 Bowling Green at #1 Akron, 1:00 p.m.
WAYS TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Tickets for Sunday's match can be purchased online at GoZips.com/Tickets, or at the gate on the day of the game. Reserved tickets are $15 with general admission tickets priced at $10. Note to fans who attended Friday's matches: a separate ticket will be required for the championship match.
Live stats for Sunday's match will be available via GoZips.com, and the link can also be found at BGSUFalcons.com. Simply click on the 'calendar' tab on the front page of the site, or access the stats via the BGSU men's soccer schedule page.
Similarly, live streaming will be available (free of charge) via GoZips.com, with a link at BGSUFalcons.com. The contest will also be broadcast by WARF-AM 1350 in the Akron area.
And, for in-game twitter updates during Sunday's BGSU-Akron championship match, make sure to give @BGSUmenssoccer a follow.
LAST TIME OUT
Redshirt sophomore Max Auden's goal in the first minute of overtime lifted the Falcons to a 3-2, come-from-behind win over West Virginia on Friday afternoon (Nov. 14), in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament. Members of the sophomore class accounted for all three Falcon goals, as Pat Flynn gave BGSU a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute. The Mountaineers scored a pair of goals just over five minutes apart early in the second half to take the lead with just over an hour gone, but Jacob Roth converted a penalty kick with 9:39 left in regulation, and Auden took a pass from Flynn and scored from the left side of the six-yard box with 59 seconds gone in the OT period. Redshirt soph Nick Landsberger made four saves en route to his 10th victory of the fall.
THE FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
• BGSU enters Sunday's match with an overall record of 18-14-0 in the MAC Tournament. The Falcons are now 9-6-0 in neutral-site tourney matches through the years, and BGSU is 9-4-0 in the semifinal round following Friday's win over WVU. The Falcons have advanced to the MAC Tournament's championship match for the ninth time in program history, but the first time since 2003.
• BG qualified for the MAC Tournament in each of the first 15 years in which it was held (1994-2008), and also advanced to the tourney in 2010 and 2012. The Falcons were 6-5-0 in the quarterfinals (a quarterfinal round is no longer held), and BG is 3-5-0 in the championship round. BGSU is now 4-6-0 all-time in league tourney matches held in Akron, Ohio.
• BGSU won three-straight league tourney titles from 1995-97 under 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. A complete match-by-match list of BGSU's league tourney results can be found on page 11 of these notes.
THE FALCONS VS. AKRON IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
BGSU has a record of 3-5-0 in MAC Tournament matches against Akron. The Falcons won each of the teams' first three meetings in the league tourney, but the Zips have captured five-straight MAC Tournament meetings vs. the Brown and Orange. The teams' last MAC Tourney matchup came two years ago in the semifinal round, when host UA picked up a 2-0 win. BGSU is 0-1 in home matches, 1-2 in road contests and 2-2 in neutral-site matchups. BG is 0-1 in quarterfinal-round matchups and 1-2 in semifinal-round meetings with UA. Sunday will mark the fifth BGSU-Akron final in MAC Tournament history. BGSU captured shutout wins in the championship match in both 1995 and 1997, while the Zips posted 4-1 victories in both 1998 and 2002.
BGSU-AKRON MAC TOURNAMENT MEETINGS
Year__Round_________Site________________Result
1994__Semifinal_____Akron, Ohio_________W 1-0
1995__Championship__Kalamazoo, Mich.____W 2-0
1997__Championship__Oxford, Ohio________W 1-0
1998__Championship__Akron, Ohio_________L 1-4
2002__Championship__Bowling Green, Ohio_L 1-4
2004__Quarterfinal__Kalamazoo, Mich.____L 0-1
2006__Semifinal_____DeKalb, Ill.________L 2-8
2012__Semifinal_____Akron, Ohio_________L 0-2
BGSU IN THE RPI
The Falcons were ranked 69th of 205 schools in the latest NCAA Men's Soccer RPI, released last Sunday (Nov. 9) by the NCAA office. Sunday's opponent, Akron, was ranked 27th. The other two MAC Tournament participants, West Virginia and Western Michigan, were ranked 35th and 95th, respectively.
FALCONS PICKED TO PLACE FIFTH
The Falcons were picked to finish fifth in the MAC standings in 2014, according to the preseason coaches' poll, but BGSU wound up in a third-place tie in the final standings. The poll was the result of voting by the league's six head coaches.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 14-5-1 overall, and the Falcons finished the regular season with a MAC record of 2-2-1.The Falcons were 6-2-1 in home matches, and BG is 6-3 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site contests to date. BGSU has outscored opponents by a 37-18 margin.
Sophomore Pat Flynn leads the Falcons with 14 goals and 32 points, and ranks third or better in the entire nation in both categories. Flynn also has four assists, and six of his goals have been game winners. He is ranked eighth or better in the country in five individual categories.
Sophomore Jacob Roth has 16 points on the year, with four goals and a team-leading eight assists, while classmate Joe Sullivan and redshirt sophomore Max Auden have 15 apiece. Auden is second on the team in goals, with six, while Sullivan has five goals and five assists. Auden has three GWG this fall, and Roth and Sullivan have two apiece.
Senior Danny Baraldi rounds out the Falcons' quintet of double-digit scorers, with 10 points on four goals and a pair of assists. Freshman Brad Macomber has scored six points in his initial season with the Falcons, while junior Ryan James has six points as well.
In goal, redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger has seen action in 14 games, while classmate Ryan Heuton has played in nine matches. Heuton has four complete-match shutouts, 38 saves and a goals-against average of just 0.48. Landsberger has three shutouts, 40 stops and a 1.12 GAA. Both 'keepers have saved a penalty kick this season, with Heuton's – coming in overtime vs. Western Michigan (Nov. 1) – keeping BG's MAC Tournament hopes alive.
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 six players have started all 20 matches for Nichols and his staff this fall. That group includes Auden, Flynn, James, Roth, senior Jon Kumher and and junior Jake Genrich. Sullivan has made 19 starts, while seniors Vlad Lekarev and Baraldi have started 18 and 16 matches, respectively.
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• For the first time in 14 years, BGSU will finish with a winning record. The Falcons last finished above .500 in 2000, when BG went 9-8-1 overall.
• The Falcons' total of 14 wins is the program's highest in 17 years. No BGSU team has won as many as 14 matches since the 1997 Falcons went 18-6-0 en route to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
• BGSU has more than doubled last season's win total. The 2013 Falcons went 6-7-6.
• BGSU has won a season-high five-straight games heading into the MAC Tournament. In fact, BG's winning streak is the program's longest since the '97 team won 11 games in a row.
• The Falcons have won four matches in the month of November for the first time since that 1997 club won six November games.
• BGSU has scored 37 goals this season, the program's highest total since the 1997 team scored 56 times.
• No fewer than 14 of those 37 goals have come in the 76th minute or later. Nine of the 14 have come with the score tied and have given BGSU the lead for good.
• BG's top four scorers all are sophomores, with three hailing from Naperville, Ill. Pat Flynn leads the Falcons with 32 points, including 14 goals, while Jacob Roth (a Cleveland native) has 16 points and Joe Sullivan and Max Auden 15 apiece.
• Each of BGSU's last 10 goals has been scored by a sophomore. Players with true or redshirt sophomore status have combined to score 29 goals this year.
• Auden has scored six goals this season. Three of the six have been game-winning goals, with two coming in overtime.
• Auden has scored four of his six goals in the Falcons' six games vs. MAC teams, and he has scored the GWG in all three of BGSU's wins against MAC foes this fall. Those three winners have come in three consecutive weekends, as he scored in wins over Western Michigan (Nov. 1), Northern Illinois (Nov. 8) and West Virginia (Nov. 14).
• One other Falcon – senior Danny Baraldi – has 10 points. The 2014 season marks the first time five players have scored at least 10 points since the 1997 campaign, when a whopping nine players did so.
• BGSU has doubled last year's totals in both home and road wins. This year's team went 6-2-1 at home and is 6-3-0 on the road and 2-0-0 at neutral sites. Last year, BG was 3-2-3 at Cochrane Field, 3-4-3 at hostile venues and 0-1-0 in neutral-site meetings.
• Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Nick Landsberger has 10 wins this season, the highest total by a Falcon 'keeper since Hall-of-Famer Scott Vallow was 10-8-1 in 1998.
• The Falcons are now 5-1-1 in overtime matches this season. BG's total of five OT wins is a new school record. The 1984 team went 4-2-2 in overtime matches.
CHART-TOPPERS
The Falcons are well represented in the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings, released Saturday (Nov. 15). BGSU is ranked among the top 30 teams in the nation in eight of the 11 categories kept by the NCAA, while sophomore Pat Flynn is ranked eighth or better in the country on five total lists. Flynn is second in the country in total goals, third in both total points and game-winning goals, sixth in goals per game and eighth in points per game.
SCOUTING THE ZIPS
Akron enters Sunday's match with an overall record of 12-6-1, and the Zips won the MAC's regular-season title with a 4-1-0 league record. UA, like BGSU, advanced to the league tourney championship with a come-from-behind win in the semifinal round, as the Zips avenged their lone MAC regular-season loss with a 2-1 win over Western Michigan Friday night. UA is 9-1-0 at home this season to date. Sophomore Adam Najem paces UA in scoring, with his 28 points including a team-best 12 goals. Freshman Stuart Holthusen has 11 points, while three other Zips have nine points apiece. One of those three, senior Saad Abdul-Salaam, leads the Zips in assists, with five. In goal, junior Jake Fenlason has played every second of every 2014 match, and has seven shutouts, 69 stops and a GAA of 0.77. Head coach Jared Embick's team went 17-4-1 overall and 5-1-0 in the MAC last season, winning the 2013 league regular-season and tournament titles.
THE SERIES
BGSU trails Akron, 43-8-3, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Zips have won the last 16 meetings. In this year's regular-season matchup, UA scored on an early penalty kick and held on for a 1-0 win at Cochrane Field. Last fall, the Zips slogged past the Falcons by a 1-0 score in Akron. The Falcons' last win in the series came 12 years ago, a 1-0 triumph at Cochrane Field (Oct. 27, 2002). BGSU's last win over the Zips in Akron came in 1997.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
The winner of the BGSU-Akron match will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
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BGSU NOTES & STATISTICS - PDF
2014 MAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
(all matches at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field; Akron, Ohio)
Friday, November 14 – Semifinals
#3 Bowling Green 3, #2 West Virginia 2 (OT)
at #1 Akron 2, #4 Western Michigan 1
Sunday, November 16 - Championship
#3 Bowling Green at #1 Akron, 1:00 p.m.
WAYS TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Tickets for Sunday's match can be purchased online at GoZips.com/Tickets, or at the gate on the day of the game. Reserved tickets are $15 with general admission tickets priced at $10. Note to fans who attended Friday's matches: a separate ticket will be required for the championship match.
Live stats for Sunday's match will be available via GoZips.com, and the link can also be found at BGSUFalcons.com. Simply click on the 'calendar' tab on the front page of the site, or access the stats via the BGSU men's soccer schedule page.
Similarly, live streaming will be available (free of charge) via GoZips.com, with a link at BGSUFalcons.com. The contest will also be broadcast by WARF-AM 1350 in the Akron area.
And, for in-game twitter updates during Sunday's BGSU-Akron championship match, make sure to give @BGSUmenssoccer a follow.
LAST TIME OUT
Redshirt sophomore Max Auden's goal in the first minute of overtime lifted the Falcons to a 3-2, come-from-behind win over West Virginia on Friday afternoon (Nov. 14), in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament. Members of the sophomore class accounted for all three Falcon goals, as Pat Flynn gave BGSU a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute. The Mountaineers scored a pair of goals just over five minutes apart early in the second half to take the lead with just over an hour gone, but Jacob Roth converted a penalty kick with 9:39 left in regulation, and Auden took a pass from Flynn and scored from the left side of the six-yard box with 59 seconds gone in the OT period. Redshirt soph Nick Landsberger made four saves en route to his 10th victory of the fall.
THE FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
• BGSU enters Sunday's match with an overall record of 18-14-0 in the MAC Tournament. The Falcons are now 9-6-0 in neutral-site tourney matches through the years, and BGSU is 9-4-0 in the semifinal round following Friday's win over WVU. The Falcons have advanced to the MAC Tournament's championship match for the ninth time in program history, but the first time since 2003.
• BG qualified for the MAC Tournament in each of the first 15 years in which it was held (1994-2008), and also advanced to the tourney in 2010 and 2012. The Falcons were 6-5-0 in the quarterfinals (a quarterfinal round is no longer held), and BG is 3-5-0 in the championship round. BGSU is now 4-6-0 all-time in league tourney matches held in Akron, Ohio.
• BGSU won three-straight league tourney titles from 1995-97 under 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. A complete match-by-match list of BGSU's league tourney results can be found on page 11 of these notes.
THE FALCONS VS. AKRON IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
BGSU has a record of 3-5-0 in MAC Tournament matches against Akron. The Falcons won each of the teams' first three meetings in the league tourney, but the Zips have captured five-straight MAC Tournament meetings vs. the Brown and Orange. The teams' last MAC Tourney matchup came two years ago in the semifinal round, when host UA picked up a 2-0 win. BGSU is 0-1 in home matches, 1-2 in road contests and 2-2 in neutral-site matchups. BG is 0-1 in quarterfinal-round matchups and 1-2 in semifinal-round meetings with UA. Sunday will mark the fifth BGSU-Akron final in MAC Tournament history. BGSU captured shutout wins in the championship match in both 1995 and 1997, while the Zips posted 4-1 victories in both 1998 and 2002.
BGSU-AKRON MAC TOURNAMENT MEETINGS
Year__Round_________Site________________Result
1994__Semifinal_____Akron, Ohio_________W 1-0
1995__Championship__Kalamazoo, Mich.____W 2-0
1997__Championship__Oxford, Ohio________W 1-0
1998__Championship__Akron, Ohio_________L 1-4
2002__Championship__Bowling Green, Ohio_L 1-4
2004__Quarterfinal__Kalamazoo, Mich.____L 0-1
2006__Semifinal_____DeKalb, Ill.________L 2-8
2012__Semifinal_____Akron, Ohio_________L 0-2
BGSU IN THE RPI
The Falcons were ranked 69th of 205 schools in the latest NCAA Men's Soccer RPI, released last Sunday (Nov. 9) by the NCAA office. Sunday's opponent, Akron, was ranked 27th. The other two MAC Tournament participants, West Virginia and Western Michigan, were ranked 35th and 95th, respectively.
FALCONS PICKED TO PLACE FIFTH
The Falcons were picked to finish fifth in the MAC standings in 2014, according to the preseason coaches' poll, but BGSU wound up in a third-place tie in the final standings. The poll was the result of voting by the league's six head coaches.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 14-5-1 overall, and the Falcons finished the regular season with a MAC record of 2-2-1.The Falcons were 6-2-1 in home matches, and BG is 6-3 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site contests to date. BGSU has outscored opponents by a 37-18 margin.
Sophomore Pat Flynn leads the Falcons with 14 goals and 32 points, and ranks third or better in the entire nation in both categories. Flynn also has four assists, and six of his goals have been game winners. He is ranked eighth or better in the country in five individual categories.
Sophomore Jacob Roth has 16 points on the year, with four goals and a team-leading eight assists, while classmate Joe Sullivan and redshirt sophomore Max Auden have 15 apiece. Auden is second on the team in goals, with six, while Sullivan has five goals and five assists. Auden has three GWG this fall, and Roth and Sullivan have two apiece.
Senior Danny Baraldi rounds out the Falcons' quintet of double-digit scorers, with 10 points on four goals and a pair of assists. Freshman Brad Macomber has scored six points in his initial season with the Falcons, while junior Ryan James has six points as well.
In goal, redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger has seen action in 14 games, while classmate Ryan Heuton has played in nine matches. Heuton has four complete-match shutouts, 38 saves and a goals-against average of just 0.48. Landsberger has three shutouts, 40 stops and a 1.12 GAA. Both 'keepers have saved a penalty kick this season, with Heuton's – coming in overtime vs. Western Michigan (Nov. 1) – keeping BG's MAC Tournament hopes alive.
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 six players have started all 20 matches for Nichols and his staff this fall. That group includes Auden, Flynn, James, Roth, senior Jon Kumher and and junior Jake Genrich. Sullivan has made 19 starts, while seniors Vlad Lekarev and Baraldi have started 18 and 16 matches, respectively.
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• For the first time in 14 years, BGSU will finish with a winning record. The Falcons last finished above .500 in 2000, when BG went 9-8-1 overall.
• The Falcons' total of 14 wins is the program's highest in 17 years. No BGSU team has won as many as 14 matches since the 1997 Falcons went 18-6-0 en route to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
• BGSU has more than doubled last season's win total. The 2013 Falcons went 6-7-6.
• BGSU has won a season-high five-straight games heading into the MAC Tournament. In fact, BG's winning streak is the program's longest since the '97 team won 11 games in a row.
• The Falcons have won four matches in the month of November for the first time since that 1997 club won six November games.
• BGSU has scored 37 goals this season, the program's highest total since the 1997 team scored 56 times.
• No fewer than 14 of those 37 goals have come in the 76th minute or later. Nine of the 14 have come with the score tied and have given BGSU the lead for good.
• BG's top four scorers all are sophomores, with three hailing from Naperville, Ill. Pat Flynn leads the Falcons with 32 points, including 14 goals, while Jacob Roth (a Cleveland native) has 16 points and Joe Sullivan and Max Auden 15 apiece.
• Each of BGSU's last 10 goals has been scored by a sophomore. Players with true or redshirt sophomore status have combined to score 29 goals this year.
• Auden has scored six goals this season. Three of the six have been game-winning goals, with two coming in overtime.
• Auden has scored four of his six goals in the Falcons' six games vs. MAC teams, and he has scored the GWG in all three of BGSU's wins against MAC foes this fall. Those three winners have come in three consecutive weekends, as he scored in wins over Western Michigan (Nov. 1), Northern Illinois (Nov. 8) and West Virginia (Nov. 14).
• One other Falcon – senior Danny Baraldi – has 10 points. The 2014 season marks the first time five players have scored at least 10 points since the 1997 campaign, when a whopping nine players did so.
• BGSU has doubled last year's totals in both home and road wins. This year's team went 6-2-1 at home and is 6-3-0 on the road and 2-0-0 at neutral sites. Last year, BG was 3-2-3 at Cochrane Field, 3-4-3 at hostile venues and 0-1-0 in neutral-site meetings.
• Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Nick Landsberger has 10 wins this season, the highest total by a Falcon 'keeper since Hall-of-Famer Scott Vallow was 10-8-1 in 1998.
• The Falcons are now 5-1-1 in overtime matches this season. BG's total of five OT wins is a new school record. The 1984 team went 4-2-2 in overtime matches.
CHART-TOPPERS
The Falcons are well represented in the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings, released Saturday (Nov. 15). BGSU is ranked among the top 30 teams in the nation in eight of the 11 categories kept by the NCAA, while sophomore Pat Flynn is ranked eighth or better in the country on five total lists. Flynn is second in the country in total goals, third in both total points and game-winning goals, sixth in goals per game and eighth in points per game.
SCOUTING THE ZIPS
Akron enters Sunday's match with an overall record of 12-6-1, and the Zips won the MAC's regular-season title with a 4-1-0 league record. UA, like BGSU, advanced to the league tourney championship with a come-from-behind win in the semifinal round, as the Zips avenged their lone MAC regular-season loss with a 2-1 win over Western Michigan Friday night. UA is 9-1-0 at home this season to date. Sophomore Adam Najem paces UA in scoring, with his 28 points including a team-best 12 goals. Freshman Stuart Holthusen has 11 points, while three other Zips have nine points apiece. One of those three, senior Saad Abdul-Salaam, leads the Zips in assists, with five. In goal, junior Jake Fenlason has played every second of every 2014 match, and has seven shutouts, 69 stops and a GAA of 0.77. Head coach Jared Embick's team went 17-4-1 overall and 5-1-0 in the MAC last season, winning the 2013 league regular-season and tournament titles.
THE SERIES
BGSU trails Akron, 43-8-3, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Zips have won the last 16 meetings. In this year's regular-season matchup, UA scored on an early penalty kick and held on for a 1-0 win at Cochrane Field. Last fall, the Zips slogged past the Falcons by a 1-0 score in Akron. The Falcons' last win in the series came 12 years ago, a 1-0 triumph at Cochrane Field (Oct. 27, 2002). BGSU's last win over the Zips in Akron came in 1997.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
The winner of the BGSU-Akron match will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
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Players Mentioned
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