Falcons Head to Huntington for 2014's Lone Scrimmage

Wednesday, August 20

Huntington, W.Va.

5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Marshall (Scrimmage)

Redshirt sophomore Brent Winkler defends against senior Vlad Lekarev in practice Tuesday morning. The Falcons head to Huntington, W.Va., for a Wednesday scrimmage vs. Marshall

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

August 19, 2014 | Men's Soccer

BGSU faces Marshall Wednesday evening

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team begins the 50th season in program history this week. The 2014 edition of the Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols will tune up for the regular-season opener with an exhibition match at Marshall University on Wednesday (Aug. 20). Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at MU's Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex in Huntington, W.Va.

Following the Marshall scrimmage, the Brown and Orange will open the regular season on Friday, Aug. 29, against IUPUI. The Falcons and Jaguars will meet in a 6:00 p.m. start at Cochrane Field.

BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF
PHOTO GALLERY - Tuesday's practice

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 matches and selected away games will be available via @Mike Cihon. 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.

THE STARTING XI (11 things you should know about the Falcons)
• The 2014 season marks the 50th year of BGSU men's soccer. Legendary coach Mickey Cochrane initiated varsity programs in both soccer and lacrosse at BG in 1965, after serving as club coach of both sports at the University the previous year.

• Eric Nichols, now in his sixth season at BG, is just the fifth coach in the illustrious history of BGSU men's soccer, which spans nearly five decades. Cochrane, Gary Palmisano, Mel Mahler and Fred Thompson are the only other individuals to have served as head coach of the men's soccer Falcons.

• The Falcons' next regular-season victory will be the 400th in the history of the program. Entering the fall of 2014, BGSU has an overall record of 399-343-78, good for a winning percentage of .534.

• Nichols and the Falcons lost a total of 10 seniors off of last year's team. The 2014 team has eight returning letterwinners, including four starters, and the Falcons have 12 newcomers on the 24-man roster.

• Nichols also has several newcomers on the coaching staff. Eric Reed joins the Falcons after spending the last two seasons at Davidson. Former BGSU standout Zach Lemke begins his second season on the coaching staff, while another former Falcon playing great, Brandon Silva, embarks upon his first season on the staff.

• One of the seniors on last year's team was goalkeeper Michael Wiest, who played every second of every match in both 2012 and '13. This year's roster includes three 'keepers – redshirt sophomores Ryan Heuton and Nick Landsberger and true freshman Billy Larsen – and one of those three will make his BGSU debut when the opening whistle blows on Aug. 29.

• BGSU's returning field players combined to score seven of the Falcons' 25 goals last year. Senior Danny Baraldi led the returnees with three goals and 10 points last fall, and has posted double-digit point totals in each of his first three seasons.

• Baraldi's four assists led all BGSU players last season. The returnees registered 11 of the team's 25 assists in 2013.

• Baraldi and two of his teammates have been named to the College Sports Madness Preseason All-Mid-American Conference Team. Baraldi was named to the all-league first team by the website, while juniors Jake Genrich and Ryan James each earned second-team accolades.

• The Falcons played nine overtime matches last season, a new school record. The 1984 Falcons saw eight matches go to overtime, as did the 2003 club. In fact, all nine of last year's OT matches required a second OT.

• The 2013 Falcons saw another record fall, as six of those matches ended in a draw.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons went 6-7-6 in 2013, and BGSU finished with a record of 2-2-2 in MAC play, tying for fourth in the conference in the final regular-season standings. BG went 3-2-3 at home, 3-4-3 on the road and 0-1-0 in neutral-site matches a year ago.

The Falcons lost 10 seniors off of last year's team, including the top-two scorers in Ryan Comiskey and Anthony Grant. Comiskey had team-league totals of six goals and 13 points, while Grant scored a total of 11 points, including four goals.

Senior Danny Baraldi is the Falcons' top returning scorer, with three goals and four assists for 10 points a year ago. Baraldi has posted double-digit point totals in each of his first three seasons, and has scored 47 points in 54 career matches with the Brown and Orange.

Sophomore Joe Sullivan tied for fourth on the team in scoring a year ago, with six points in his initial season. Both of his goals proved to be game winners, tying him with Grant for the team lead in that category.

Junior Ryan James scored four points and senior Jon Kumher three last fall. Baraldi and James are two of just four returning starters for head coach Eric Nichols. That group also includes junior Jake Genrich and redshirt sophomore Max Auden.

Last year's team scored 25 goals – the program's highest total since 2003 – while allowing just 17, the fewest conceded since 2001.

HEAD COACH ERIC NICHOLS
Eric Nichols embarks upon his sixth season with the Falcons. He was named the fifth coach in BGSU men's soccer history on Feb. 17, 2009. In his first five seasons with the Falcons, Nichols has changed the culture of the program, showing steady improvement each season.

Nichols has an overall record of 30-45-18 in his first four years at BG. The Falcons had an RPI of 184 in the 2008 season, the year before Nichols arrived. In 2012, BGSU finished with an RPI of 99. The '12 campaign saw the Falcons post eight wins against a tough schedule. BGSU's 8-9-3 overall mark represented the team's most wins and highest winning percentage since 2003. Last season, the Falcons went 6-7-6 overall, with the seven losses marking the lowest total at BG since 1997.

Nichols came to Bowling Green after spending the 2008 season as assistant coach at Davidson College. Prior to his stint at Davidson, Nichols was the head men's soccer coach at Ohio Dominican for four seasons (2004-07). Under his guidance, the Panthers recorded a 59-22-1 (.728) overall mark, including a final ranking of fourth in 2007. That team advanced to the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Tournament.

Nichols also has coaching experience as an assistant at Ohio Wesleyan and as head coach of the Columbus Crew's U18 U.S. Soccer Academy team.

Additional biographical information on Nichols, along with the rest of the Falcons, can be found on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.

SCOUTING THE THUNDERING HERD
Marshall is coming off a 2-11-6 season in 2013, and the Thundering Herd went 0-6-3 in Conference USA play. Head coach Bob Gray returns 15 players from that team, 12 of whom have starting experience. Junior Jack Hopkins is the Herd's top returning scorer from a season ago. He had six points on three goals, one of which came against the Falcons. Another junior, Bijan Gloston, is the lone goalkeeper with any collegiate experience on the MU roster. Gloston started two matches last year and had a goals-against average of 0.96. Wednesday's scrimmage marks Marshall's first action of the 2014 season.

A LOOK AT THE JAGUARS
IUPUI posted a 2-12-5 overall record last season, and the Jaguars finished fourth in the Summit League with a 2-2-2 conference record. Head coach Isang Jacob welcomes back 15 letterwinners, including eight starters, from that club. Five IUPUI players recently received mention from College Sports Madness, as junior back Clint Hoffer was named to the website's Preseason All-Summit League Team, while three of his teammates – Eduardo Cortes, Lance Davis and Tyler Drumm – earned second-team honors. Additionally, Emmanuel Usen was the site's preseason pick for Summit League Freshman of the Year. Davis, a junior, is the team's top returning scorer, having amassed five points a year ago. Cortes, a junior GK, started 16 of IUPUI's 19 matches last saseon, and had 84 saves, three shutouts and a 2.03 GAA. The Jags have two home scrimmages, facing Northern Illinois on Tuesday (Aug. 19) and SIU Edwardsville Friday (Aug. 22), before venturing to Cochrane Field for the regular-season opener.

THE SERIES
Wednesday's match, obviously, will not count as part of the BGSU-Marshall series. But, the Falcons lead Marshall, 7-4-3, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has a four-match series unbeaten streak. Last year, the Falcons and Herd played to a 1-1 tie in Huntington (Sept. 27, 2013). Danny Baraldi converted a second-half penalty kick to give BG the lead, but MU's Jack Hopkins tied the match on a header with exactly two minutes remaining in regulation. Two years ago, the teams battled to a scoreless draw at Cochrane Field (Sept. 1, 2012). BGSU posted a 2-0 win over the Herd at Cochrane in 2009, in the BG head-coaching debut of Eric Nichols. The Falcons are 4-1-1 at home, 1-3-2 on the road and 2-0-0 in neutral-site meetings with Marshall over the years.

BGSU and IUPUI are tied, 1-1-1, in that series, but BGSU has a two-match unbeaten streak vs. the Jaguars. The most recent meeting came three years ago, when Colin Armstrong scored in the final seconds of the first half to help the Falcons to a 1-0 win at Cochrane Field (Sept. 30, 2011). The teams battled to a scoreless draw the prior season in Indianapolis (Nov. 3, 2010). The first-ever meeting between the teams saw the Jags pick up a 3-2 win in thte 2004 season in first-day action at BGSU's Kelme Classic.

FAMILIAR NAMES AND FACES
There are some BGSU and/or Mid-American Conference ties with each of the Falcons' next two opponents. Wednesday's foe, Marshall, had two stints as a Mid-American Conference member, with the men's soccer team competing in the MAC during the second stint, from 1997 to 2004. 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).

Former BGSU men's soccer student-athlete Garrett Bireline is in his first season as an assistant coach at IUPUI. Bireline, a native of Marion, Ind., was named BGSU's Junior Scholar-Athlete of the Year in April of 2010, and earned his degree in 2011.