Bowling Green State University Athletics
Tuesday, November 4
Bowling Green, Ohio
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Wright State
Junior Jake Genrich & the Falcons enter the final week of the regular season with a lot to play for
Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications
Falcons Enter Final Week of Regular Season with a Lot on the Line
November 03, 2014 | Men's Soccer
BGSU hosts WSU for I-75 Cup, travels to NIU with a chance for a MAC Tournament berth
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, after picking up a pair of overtime wins last week, enters the final week of the regular season with a lot on the line. First, the Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols conclude the home portion of the schedule with a Tuesday (Nov. 4) match vs. Wright State University. That contest, the teams' annual battle for the I-75 Cup, will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Cochrane Field.
Then, the Brown and Orange will head to DeKalb, Ill., to close the regular season with a match against Northern Illinois University. That game, which has Mid-American Conference Tournament implications for the Brown and Orange, will start at 6:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. Eastern) at the NIU Soccer Complex.
LINKS
BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF | BGSU Men's Soccer Story Archives
BGSU Statistics | 2014 Media Guide | Career Stats of Current Falcons
Wright State Men's Soccer | Northern Illinois Men's Soccer
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FALCONS FIGHTING HUNGER
The BGSU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is sponsoring the annual Falcons Fighting Hunger Canned Goods Food Drive again this year. Fans are encouraged to bring canned goods to several designated BGSU athletic events, including Tuesday's Wright State game. SAAC will be collecting canned goods just inside the Cochrane Field entrance, and those donating will receive a coupon good for $4 off a ticket to either the upcoming BGSU football game vs. Kent State (Nov. 12) or the hockey game vs. Ohio State (Nov. 14). And, as if that weren't enough, fans donating canned goods will also receive a coupon for a free 12 oz. fountain drink or popcorn.
FREE ADMISSION TO HOME FALCON FUTBOL / FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Admission for all Falcon 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. There will be live stats as well as a video stream for Saturday's match at NIU (fee required for the video stream). 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 worked overtime to win a pair of matches last week. On Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 29), sophomore Pat Flynn scored in the 109th minute to give the Falcons a 1-0 victory at Detroit. Redshirt soph Ryan Heuton made eight saves in earning his fourth shutout of the season, and BG's eighth clean sheet as a team.
On Saturday (Nov. 1), redshirt soph Max Auden scored with 15 minutes left in regulation, then again in OT, as the Falcons rallied for a 2-1 win over Western Michigan at Cochrane Field. Sophomore Jacob Roth assisted on both Auden goals, while Heuton made six saves in 91-plus minutes of work. Redshirt soph Nick Landsberger played the final eight and a half minutes in net for the Brown and Orange.
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THE FALCONS & THE MAC TOURNAMENT RACE
Heading into the final week of the regular season, the Falcons sit in fifth place in the MAC standings. The top-four teams will advance to the MAC Tournament. BGSU can clinch a berth in the league tournament with a win or a tie at Northern Illinois, depending upon the outcome of Saturday's other matches around the conference. Here are the possible scenarios...
SATURDAY'S (Nov. 8) MATCHES
BGSU at Northern Illinois / West Virginia at Western Michigan / Buffalo at Akron
IF BGSU WINS AT NIU – The Falcons will make the MAC Tournament with a loss by WMU, or a loss or tie by Buffalo. BGSU would have seven points, and would pass UB if the Bulls lose or tie against UA. If WMU loses to WVU, the Falcons and Western each would have seven points, but BGSU would win the tiebreaker by virtue of a win in the head-to-head meeting.
IF BGSU TIES NIU – The Falcons would make the MAC Tournament with a Buffalo loss at Akron. BGSU and UB each would have five points, and the teams tied in their regular-season meeting. BGSU, however, would have a better result against the other teams in the standings when broken down from top to bottom. Both teams lost to WVU, and both teams would have lost to Akron. But, BGSU defeated WMU while UB tied the Broncos.
THE I-75 CUP
The Falcons and Wright State will be playing for possession of the I-75 Cup in Tuesday night's match. The cup, which goes to the winner of the BGSU-WSU match each year, was instituted by Falcon coach Eric Nichols and his counterpart, Bryan Davis. BG is 3-1-0 vs. the Raiders since the two coaches came up with the idea for the cup prior to the 2010 season.
100 WINS FOR NICHOLS
Saturday's wild win over Western Michigan was the 100th victory in the head-coaching career of Eric Nichols. Nichols, who spent four years (2004-07) as the head coach at Ohio Dominican, is in his sixth year at the BGSU helm (Nichols spent the 2008 season as an assistant coach at Davidson). Nichols enters Tuesday's WSU match with an overall head-coaching record of 100-72-20.
SUCCEEDING IN THE CLASSROOM AS WELL
Two Falcon sophomores earned an academic honor on Thursday (Oct. 30), as Pat Flynn and Joe Sullivan were named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team. The team, which is made up of student-athletes from Division I schools in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, is the result of voting by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) members within the district. Both Flynn and Sullivan hail from Naperville, Ill., and both have a cumulative grade-point average higher than 3.80. Their names will be placed on the national ballot for consideration for Academic All-America honors.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 11-5-1 overall, and the Falcons have a MAC record of 1-2-1.The Falcons are 5-2-1 in home matches, 5-3 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site contests to date. BGSU has outscored opponents by a 30-14 margin over the first 17 games. Four of the team's five losses have come by a single goal.
Sophomore Pat Flynn leads the Falcons with 13 goals and 29 points, and ranks third or better in the entire nation in both categories. Flynn also has three assists, and six of his goals have been game winners. He is ranked sixth or better in the country 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. Redshirt sophomore Max Auden has 11 points on the year, while senior Danny Baraldi and sophomore Jacob Roth have 10 apiece. Auden and Baraldi each have scored four goals, while Roth has a BG-best eight assists.
Freshman Brad Macomber has scored six points in his initial season with the Falcons, while junior Ryan James has four.
In goal, redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger has seen action in 11 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, 28 stops and a 1.06 GAA. Both 'keepers have saved a penalty kick within the last two weeks, with Heuton's – coming early in the overtime period vs. WMU – 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 eight players have started all 17 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 16 starts, while Landsberger and junior Jake Martin have started nine games apiece and Heuton eight.
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• For the first time in over a decade, 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 11 wins is the program's highest in 17 years. No BGSU team has won as many as 11 matches since the 1997 Falcons went 18-6-0 en route to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
• Saturday's WMU match marked the first time in 2014 that BG has come back to win a game in which the Falcons were trailing. BGSU is now 1-5-0 in such matches this season.
• BGSU has scored 30 goals this season, the program's highest total since the 1999 team scored 35 times.
• No fewer than 11 of those 30 goals have come in the 76th minute or later. Seven of those 11 goals have come with the score tied and have given BGSU the lead for good.
• BG's top three scorers all are sophomores from Naperville, Ill. Pat Flynn leads the Falcons with 29 points, including 13 goals, while Joe Sullivan has 13 points and Max Auden 11.
• Two other Falcons – senior Danny Baraldi and sophomore Jacob Roth – have 10 points apiece. 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 topped last year's totals in home wins, road wins and neutral-site wins. This year's team is 5-2-1 at home, 5-3-0 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.
• The Falcons are now 3-1-1 in overtime matches this season. BG's three OT wins are the most in a season since 2001. That team also went 3-1-1 in such matches.
CHART-TOPPERS
The Falcons are well represented in the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings, released Monday (Nov. 3). BGSU is ranked among the top 32 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. Flynn is second in the country in total goals, third in total points and game-winning goals, fifth in goals per game and sixth in points per game.
SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
Wright State enters Tuesday's match with an overall record of 10-5-2, and the Raiders are 4-3-1 in Horizon League play. WSU is riding a four-match unbeaten streak, with wins over Green Bay, IPFW and UIC, and a 1-1 draw at Oakland on Saturday. The Raiders are 8-1-0 at home and 2-4-2 on the road this year to date. Sophomore Eric Lynch leads the team in scoring, with his 21 points coming on five goals and a WSU-best 11 assists. Classmate Peguy Ngatcha has 15 points, including a team-high seven goals, while yet another soph, Jake Stovall, has five goals and 10 points. Sophomore Tyler Blackmer has played in 15 of the team's 17 matches in goal, and has six shutouts, 63 saves and a 1.09 GAA. Head coach Bryan Davis and the Raiders went 6-11-2 overall and 3-4-0 in HL play a year ago.
A LOOK AT THE HUSKIES
Northern Illinois is 3-8-5 overall, and the Huskies are 0-3-1 in MAC play entering Saturday's game vs. BGSU. NIU has dropped a pair of narrow 2-1 contests in the last two matches, including a home setback to Akron on a late penalty kick Saturday night. NIU is 2-3-2 at home, 0-5-2 on the road and 1-0-1 in neutral-site contests this season to date. Senior Isaac Kannah leads the Huskies in goals and assists, with four of each for a total of 12 points. Sophomore Chris Paton and freshman Len Heinson have three goals apiece. Redshirt junior Andrew Glaeser has played in 15 of the Huskies' 16 matches, and has 56 saves, four complete-match shutouts and a 1.43 GAA. Head coach Eric Luzzi welcomed back 13 letterwinners, including eight starters, from the 2013 team that went 4-13-1 overall and 0-5-1 in the MAC.
THE SERIES
BGSU leads Wright State, 7-6-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won each of the last two meetings in overtime. Two years ago, Ryan James scored his second goal of the match in the second OT for a 3-2 Falcon win at Cochrane Field. Last fall, an own goal in overtime gave the Brown and Orange a 1-0 win in Dayton. BGSU is 4-2-2 in home games and 3-4-0 in road matches vs. the Raiders through the years.
BGSU trails Northern Illinois, 16-8-1, in that series, but the Falcons won last year's meeting, 1-0, on a 'Golden Goal' by Anthony Grant at Cochrane. The teams' last meeting in DeKalb, two years ago, was a scoreless double-OT draw. That tie broke a six-match NIU series winning streak, and Grant's goal in last year's matchup was BG's first against Northern since 2007. BG has records of 7-6-0 at home, 1-9-1 on the road and 0-1-0 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Huskies through the years.
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 30th or better in each of those categories. And, the 2014 team ranks 28th in the country on another rather important list: winning percentage. A few more statistics that illustrate BG's defensive improvement over the last few seasons can be found in the PDF version of this release.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Saturday's match at Northern Illinois is the final match of the regular season for the Falcons. Should BGSU advance to the MAC Tournament, the semifinal matches will be played on Friday, Nov. 14, with the championship contest on Sunday, Nov. 16. The MAC Tournament will be hosted by the league regular-season champion.
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Then, the Brown and Orange will head to DeKalb, Ill., to close the regular season with a match against Northern Illinois University. That game, which has Mid-American Conference Tournament implications for the Brown and Orange, will start at 6:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. Eastern) at the NIU Soccer Complex.
LINKS
BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF | BGSU Men's Soccer Story Archives
BGSU Statistics | 2014 Media Guide | Career Stats of Current Falcons
Wright State Men's Soccer | Northern Illinois Men's Soccer
| U PÂ Â N E X TÂ Â I NÂ Â F A L C O NÂ Â S O C C E R | ||
| BGSU vs. Wright State Cochrane Field | Bowling Green, Ohio | Tue., Nov. 4 7:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Twitter |
| BGSU at Northern Illinois NIU Soccer Complex | DeKalb, Ill. | Sat., Nov. 8 7:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Twitter | Video Stream (Fee) |
| M A CÂ Â S T A N D I N G SÂ Â &Â Â S C H E D U L E | ||
| Team (Overall) | MAC (Pts.) | Remaining MAC Match |
| Akron (10-5-1) | 3-1-0 (9) | v Buffalo |
| Western Michigan (8-5-4) | 2-1-1 (7) | v West Virginia |
| West Virginia (10-6-1) | 2-1-1 (7) | @ Western Mich. |
| Buffalo (5-9-2) | 1-1-2 (5) | @ Akron |
| Bowling Green (11-5-1) | 1-2-1 (4) | @ Northern Ill. |
| Northern Illinois (3-8-5) | 0-3-1 (1) | v Bowling Green |
FALCONS FIGHTING HUNGER
The BGSU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is sponsoring the annual Falcons Fighting Hunger Canned Goods Food Drive again this year. Fans are encouraged to bring canned goods to several designated BGSU athletic events, including Tuesday's Wright State game. SAAC will be collecting canned goods just inside the Cochrane Field entrance, and those donating will receive a coupon good for $4 off a ticket to either the upcoming BGSU football game vs. Kent State (Nov. 12) or the hockey game vs. Ohio State (Nov. 14). And, as if that weren't enough, fans donating canned goods will also receive a coupon for a free 12 oz. fountain drink or popcorn.
FREE ADMISSION TO HOME FALCON FUTBOL / FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Admission for all Falcon 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. There will be live stats as well as a video stream for Saturday's match at NIU (fee required for the video stream). 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 worked overtime to win a pair of matches last week. On Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 29), sophomore Pat Flynn scored in the 109th minute to give the Falcons a 1-0 victory at Detroit. Redshirt soph Ryan Heuton made eight saves in earning his fourth shutout of the season, and BG's eighth clean sheet as a team.
On Saturday (Nov. 1), redshirt soph Max Auden scored with 15 minutes left in regulation, then again in OT, as the Falcons rallied for a 2-1 win over Western Michigan at Cochrane Field. Sophomore Jacob Roth assisted on both Auden goals, while Heuton made six saves in 91-plus minutes of work. Redshirt soph Nick Landsberger played the final eight and a half minutes in net for the Brown and Orange.
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THE FALCONS & THE MAC TOURNAMENT RACE
Heading into the final week of the regular season, the Falcons sit in fifth place in the MAC standings. The top-four teams will advance to the MAC Tournament. BGSU can clinch a berth in the league tournament with a win or a tie at Northern Illinois, depending upon the outcome of Saturday's other matches around the conference. Here are the possible scenarios...
SATURDAY'S (Nov. 8) MATCHES
BGSU at Northern Illinois / West Virginia at Western Michigan / Buffalo at Akron
IF BGSU WINS AT NIU – The Falcons will make the MAC Tournament with a loss by WMU, or a loss or tie by Buffalo. BGSU would have seven points, and would pass UB if the Bulls lose or tie against UA. If WMU loses to WVU, the Falcons and Western each would have seven points, but BGSU would win the tiebreaker by virtue of a win in the head-to-head meeting.
IF BGSU TIES NIU – The Falcons would make the MAC Tournament with a Buffalo loss at Akron. BGSU and UB each would have five points, and the teams tied in their regular-season meeting. BGSU, however, would have a better result against the other teams in the standings when broken down from top to bottom. Both teams lost to WVU, and both teams would have lost to Akron. But, BGSU defeated WMU while UB tied the Broncos.
THE I-75 CUP
The Falcons and Wright State will be playing for possession of the I-75 Cup in Tuesday night's match. The cup, which goes to the winner of the BGSU-WSU match each year, was instituted by Falcon coach Eric Nichols and his counterpart, Bryan Davis. BG is 3-1-0 vs. the Raiders since the two coaches came up with the idea for the cup prior to the 2010 season.
100 WINS FOR NICHOLS
Saturday's wild win over Western Michigan was the 100th victory in the head-coaching career of Eric Nichols. Nichols, who spent four years (2004-07) as the head coach at Ohio Dominican, is in his sixth year at the BGSU helm (Nichols spent the 2008 season as an assistant coach at Davidson). Nichols enters Tuesday's WSU match with an overall head-coaching record of 100-72-20.
SUCCEEDING IN THE CLASSROOM AS WELL
Two Falcon sophomores earned an academic honor on Thursday (Oct. 30), as Pat Flynn and Joe Sullivan were named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team. The team, which is made up of student-athletes from Division I schools in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, is the result of voting by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) members within the district. Both Flynn and Sullivan hail from Naperville, Ill., and both have a cumulative grade-point average higher than 3.80. Their names will be placed on the national ballot for consideration for Academic All-America honors.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 11-5-1 overall, and the Falcons have a MAC record of 1-2-1.The Falcons are 5-2-1 in home matches, 5-3 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site contests to date. BGSU has outscored opponents by a 30-14 margin over the first 17 games. Four of the team's five losses have come by a single goal.
Sophomore Pat Flynn leads the Falcons with 13 goals and 29 points, and ranks third or better in the entire nation in both categories. Flynn also has three assists, and six of his goals have been game winners. He is ranked sixth or better in the country 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. Redshirt sophomore Max Auden has 11 points on the year, while senior Danny Baraldi and sophomore Jacob Roth have 10 apiece. Auden and Baraldi each have scored four goals, while Roth has a BG-best eight assists.
Freshman Brad Macomber has scored six points in his initial season with the Falcons, while junior Ryan James has four.
In goal, redshirt sophomore Nick Landsberger has seen action in 11 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, 28 stops and a 1.06 GAA. Both 'keepers have saved a penalty kick within the last two weeks, with Heuton's – coming early in the overtime period vs. WMU – 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 eight players have started all 17 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 16 starts, while Landsberger and junior Jake Martin have started nine games apiece and Heuton eight.
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• For the first time in over a decade, 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 11 wins is the program's highest in 17 years. No BGSU team has won as many as 11 matches since the 1997 Falcons went 18-6-0 en route to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
• Saturday's WMU match marked the first time in 2014 that BG has come back to win a game in which the Falcons were trailing. BGSU is now 1-5-0 in such matches this season.
• BGSU has scored 30 goals this season, the program's highest total since the 1999 team scored 35 times.
• No fewer than 11 of those 30 goals have come in the 76th minute or later. Seven of those 11 goals have come with the score tied and have given BGSU the lead for good.
• BG's top three scorers all are sophomores from Naperville, Ill. Pat Flynn leads the Falcons with 29 points, including 13 goals, while Joe Sullivan has 13 points and Max Auden 11.
• Two other Falcons – senior Danny Baraldi and sophomore Jacob Roth – have 10 points apiece. 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 topped last year's totals in home wins, road wins and neutral-site wins. This year's team is 5-2-1 at home, 5-3-0 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.
• The Falcons are now 3-1-1 in overtime matches this season. BG's three OT wins are the most in a season since 2001. That team also went 3-1-1 in such matches.
CHART-TOPPERS
The Falcons are well represented in the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings, released Monday (Nov. 3). BGSU is ranked among the top 32 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. Flynn is second in the country in total goals, third in total points and game-winning goals, fifth in goals per game and sixth in points per game.
SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
Wright State enters Tuesday's match with an overall record of 10-5-2, and the Raiders are 4-3-1 in Horizon League play. WSU is riding a four-match unbeaten streak, with wins over Green Bay, IPFW and UIC, and a 1-1 draw at Oakland on Saturday. The Raiders are 8-1-0 at home and 2-4-2 on the road this year to date. Sophomore Eric Lynch leads the team in scoring, with his 21 points coming on five goals and a WSU-best 11 assists. Classmate Peguy Ngatcha has 15 points, including a team-high seven goals, while yet another soph, Jake Stovall, has five goals and 10 points. Sophomore Tyler Blackmer has played in 15 of the team's 17 matches in goal, and has six shutouts, 63 saves and a 1.09 GAA. Head coach Bryan Davis and the Raiders went 6-11-2 overall and 3-4-0 in HL play a year ago.
A LOOK AT THE HUSKIES
Northern Illinois is 3-8-5 overall, and the Huskies are 0-3-1 in MAC play entering Saturday's game vs. BGSU. NIU has dropped a pair of narrow 2-1 contests in the last two matches, including a home setback to Akron on a late penalty kick Saturday night. NIU is 2-3-2 at home, 0-5-2 on the road and 1-0-1 in neutral-site contests this season to date. Senior Isaac Kannah leads the Huskies in goals and assists, with four of each for a total of 12 points. Sophomore Chris Paton and freshman Len Heinson have three goals apiece. Redshirt junior Andrew Glaeser has played in 15 of the Huskies' 16 matches, and has 56 saves, four complete-match shutouts and a 1.43 GAA. Head coach Eric Luzzi welcomed back 13 letterwinners, including eight starters, from the 2013 team that went 4-13-1 overall and 0-5-1 in the MAC.
THE SERIES
BGSU leads Wright State, 7-6-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won each of the last two meetings in overtime. Two years ago, Ryan James scored his second goal of the match in the second OT for a 3-2 Falcon win at Cochrane Field. Last fall, an own goal in overtime gave the Brown and Orange a 1-0 win in Dayton. BGSU is 4-2-2 in home games and 3-4-0 in road matches vs. the Raiders through the years.
BGSU trails Northern Illinois, 16-8-1, in that series, but the Falcons won last year's meeting, 1-0, on a 'Golden Goal' by Anthony Grant at Cochrane. The teams' last meeting in DeKalb, two years ago, was a scoreless double-OT draw. That tie broke a six-match NIU series winning streak, and Grant's goal in last year's matchup was BG's first against Northern since 2007. BG has records of 7-6-0 at home, 1-9-1 on the road and 0-1-0 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Huskies through the years.
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 30th or better in each of those categories. And, the 2014 team ranks 28th in the country on another rather important list: winning percentage. A few more statistics that illustrate BG's defensive improvement over the last few seasons can be found in the PDF version of this release.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Saturday's match at Northern Illinois is the final match of the regular season for the Falcons. Should BGSU advance to the MAC Tournament, the semifinal matches will be played on Friday, Nov. 14, with the championship contest on Sunday, Nov. 16. The MAC Tournament will be hosted by the league regular-season champion.
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