Bowling Green State University Athletics
Max Auden & the Falcons will open the 2015 regular season on Friday night, Aug. 28
Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications
Nichols, Falcons Announce 2015 Schedule
May 08, 2015 | Men's Soccer
BGSU's fall slate includes five matches vs. NCAA Tournament participants
Bowling Green State University men's soccer coach Eric Nichols has announced his team's fall schedule for 2015. The Falcons' 18-match regular-season slate includes five contests against teams that qualified for the NCAA Championships last season.
BGSU Men's Soccer 2015 Schedule
Four of those five opponents advanced to at least the second round of the NCAAs, with two making it to the third round and one advancing all the way to the national quarterfinals. Five of BGSU's opponents were listed among the top 36 teams in the nation in the final RPI rankings of 2014, including a pair of teams among the top 15.
"Our group wants to compete against the very best, so we sought out the most challenging slate of opponents possible," said Nichols, who enters his seventh season at the BGSU helm. "This schedule will test us on multiple levels and give us opportunities to showcase what we can do against some of the best programs in college soccer."
The Falcons will play eight matches inside the friendly confines of Cochrane Field. BG begins the season with seven of the first nine matches at home, and the Brown and Orange will close the schedule by playing on the road eight times over the final nine matches.
The season begins with a three-match homestand. After an exhibition game at Cincinnati on Aug. 22, the Falcons will host SIUE on Friday, Aug. 28, as the regular season commences. The Cougars won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament last fall, then posted a road win against Northwestern in the first round of the NCAAs.
Two days later (Aug. 30), Western Illinois comes to town for the Falcons' lone scheduled afternoon match at Cochrane Stadium. All of BG's other home matches are slated to start at 7:00 p.m., but the WIU match is set for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.
BG's season-opening three-match homestand concludes when Cleveland State comes to town on Saturday, Sept. 5. The Falcons posted a 1-0, overtime win in Cleveland (on a goal by Jacob Roth in his hometown) in last year's meeting, marking the third consecutive series matchup that was decided by that score.
Then, the Brown and Orange will head to Huntington, W.Va., for a pair of matches, taking on Evansville (Sept. 11) and Marshall (Sept. 13), before BG returns home for a season-long four-match home swing.
That homestand begins with matches vs. IPFW (Sept. 18) and Detroit (Sept. 26). The Falcons downed both the Mastodons and the Titans on the road by narrow 1-0 results last year, scoring late in regulation at IPFW and getting a Pat Flynn 'Golden Goal' at UDM.
Then, the Brown and Orange will close the month of September with a home match vs. Michigan State. The Spartans, who downed BG by a single goal last season, finished the 2014 campaign ranked 10th in the RPI. MSU has advanced to the NCAA's round of eight in each of the last two years.
The first match of October is also the first Mid-American Conference test for the Falcons, as Northern Illinois comes to Cochrane on Saturday, Oct. 3. Last fall, the Falcons' 2-1 win in DeKalb clinched a MAC Tournament berth for the Brown and Orange.
BG begins the first of two four-match road swings the following week, heading to Columbus to face Ohio State on Wednesday, Oct. 7. The Buckeyes advanced to the second round of last year's NCAA Championships. After a Saturday afternoon (Oct. 10) match at IUPUI, the Falcons will travel to New York to take on Syracuse on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The Orange went 16-4-1 last season, advancing to the third round of the NCAAs and winding up with a 15th-place listing in the RPI.
The Falcons will return to conference play on each of the next two Saturdays, beginning with a match at Western Michigan on Oct. 17. The Brown and Orange posted a come-from-behind victory over the Broncos at Cochrane last November, as Ryan Heuton saved a WMU penalty kick in overtime before Max Auden headed home his second goal of the match for a 2-1 win that kept BG's league tournament hopes alive.
BG's lone home match in the season's final nine contests comes the following Saturday night (Oct. 24), as the Falcons face West Virginia. After dropping a 2-1 decision to the Mountaineers in the teams' regular-season meeting a year ago, the Brown and Orange rallied from a second-half deficit for a 3-2 OT victory in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament. Auden's 'Golden Goal' in that match gave the program its first league tourney win since 2006.
The Falcons return to the road to end the month of October with matches at Wright State (Oct. 27) and Buffalo (Oct. 30). Both teams battled BG into overtime at Cochrane last season, as the Falcons tied the Bulls, 1-1, but downed the Raiders by a 2-1 score. The win over the Raiders was the Falcons' fourth in five matches since the teams began playing for the I-75 Cup, a trophy that goes to the winner of the BGSU-WSU match each year.
November begins with a trip to Boone, N.C., as the Falcons step outside of MAC play for one last time with a match at Appalachian State (Nov. 3). The teams have met on just one prior occasion, battling to a scoreless draw in a tournament at Davidson in the 2010 season opener.
Then, the final night of the 2015 regular season sees the Falcons travel to Northeast Ohio for a rematch of the 2014 MAC Tournament Championship, as BG takes on Akron on Saturday evening, Nov. 7. Last November, the Brown and Orange took a second-half lead against the Zips, only to see the hosts rally for a 2-1 win and the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
This year's MAC Tournament begins with semifinal-round matches at the site of the regular-season champion on Friday, Nov. 13. The two survivors will remain in town for the final, which will take place on Sunday, Nov. 15.
Nichols and his staff -- assistants Eric Reed, Zach Lemke and Brandon Silva -- finished the 2014 campaign with an overall record of 14-6-1 and a MAC ledger of 2-2-1. The Falcons more than doubled the overall win total from the previous season, and the 14 wins marked the program's highest victory total in 17 years. BG, picked to finish fifth in the MAC standings, wound up in a tie for third, and the Brown and Orange advanced to the championship match of the league tournament for the first time since 2003. The Falcons were ranked 64th in the country in the final RPI listings of the 2014 season.
The complete 2015 schedule follows. For the latest updates throughout the season, click here or click the 'schedule' link on the men's soccer page at BGSUFalcons.com.
2015 BGSU MEN'S SOCCER SCHEDULE
August
Sat., 22 – at Cincinnati (scrimmage), 7:00
Fri., 28 – SIUE, 7:00
Sun., 30 – WESTERN ILLINOIS, 1:00
September
Sat., 5 – CLEVELAND STATE, 7:00
Fri., 11 – vs. Evansville (at Huntington, W.Va.), TBA
Sun., 13 – at Marshall, TBA
Fri., 18 – IPFW, 7:00
Sat., 26 – DETROIT, 7:00
Tue., 29 – MICHIGAN STATE, 7:00
October
Sat., 3 – NORTHERN ILLINOIS, 7:00 *
Wed – at Ohio State, 7:00
Sat. 10 – at IUPUI, 12:00
Tue., 13 – at Syracuse, 7:00
Sat., 17 – at Western Michigan, 1:00 *
Sat., 24 – WEST VIRGINIA (Senior Night), 7:00 *
Tue., 27 – at Wright State, 7:00
Fri., 30 – at Buffalo, 7:00 *
November
Tue. 3 – at Appalachian State, 7:00
Sat., 7 – at Akron, 7:00 *
Fri., 13 – MAC Tournament semifinals (site of regular-season champion)
Sun., 15 – MAC Tournament championship (semifinal site)
HOME matches played at Cochrane Field
* - Mid-American Conference match
All times p.m. and Eastern
Schedule subject to change
BGSU Men's Soccer 2015 Schedule
Four of those five opponents advanced to at least the second round of the NCAAs, with two making it to the third round and one advancing all the way to the national quarterfinals. Five of BGSU's opponents were listed among the top 36 teams in the nation in the final RPI rankings of 2014, including a pair of teams among the top 15.
"Our group wants to compete against the very best, so we sought out the most challenging slate of opponents possible," said Nichols, who enters his seventh season at the BGSU helm. "This schedule will test us on multiple levels and give us opportunities to showcase what we can do against some of the best programs in college soccer."
The Falcons will play eight matches inside the friendly confines of Cochrane Field. BG begins the season with seven of the first nine matches at home, and the Brown and Orange will close the schedule by playing on the road eight times over the final nine matches.
The season begins with a three-match homestand. After an exhibition game at Cincinnati on Aug. 22, the Falcons will host SIUE on Friday, Aug. 28, as the regular season commences. The Cougars won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament last fall, then posted a road win against Northwestern in the first round of the NCAAs.
Two days later (Aug. 30), Western Illinois comes to town for the Falcons' lone scheduled afternoon match at Cochrane Stadium. All of BG's other home matches are slated to start at 7:00 p.m., but the WIU match is set for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.
BG's season-opening three-match homestand concludes when Cleveland State comes to town on Saturday, Sept. 5. The Falcons posted a 1-0, overtime win in Cleveland (on a goal by Jacob Roth in his hometown) in last year's meeting, marking the third consecutive series matchup that was decided by that score.
Then, the Brown and Orange will head to Huntington, W.Va., for a pair of matches, taking on Evansville (Sept. 11) and Marshall (Sept. 13), before BG returns home for a season-long four-match home swing.
That homestand begins with matches vs. IPFW (Sept. 18) and Detroit (Sept. 26). The Falcons downed both the Mastodons and the Titans on the road by narrow 1-0 results last year, scoring late in regulation at IPFW and getting a Pat Flynn 'Golden Goal' at UDM.
Then, the Brown and Orange will close the month of September with a home match vs. Michigan State. The Spartans, who downed BG by a single goal last season, finished the 2014 campaign ranked 10th in the RPI. MSU has advanced to the NCAA's round of eight in each of the last two years.
The first match of October is also the first Mid-American Conference test for the Falcons, as Northern Illinois comes to Cochrane on Saturday, Oct. 3. Last fall, the Falcons' 2-1 win in DeKalb clinched a MAC Tournament berth for the Brown and Orange.
BG begins the first of two four-match road swings the following week, heading to Columbus to face Ohio State on Wednesday, Oct. 7. The Buckeyes advanced to the second round of last year's NCAA Championships. After a Saturday afternoon (Oct. 10) match at IUPUI, the Falcons will travel to New York to take on Syracuse on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The Orange went 16-4-1 last season, advancing to the third round of the NCAAs and winding up with a 15th-place listing in the RPI.
The Falcons will return to conference play on each of the next two Saturdays, beginning with a match at Western Michigan on Oct. 17. The Brown and Orange posted a come-from-behind victory over the Broncos at Cochrane last November, as Ryan Heuton saved a WMU penalty kick in overtime before Max Auden headed home his second goal of the match for a 2-1 win that kept BG's league tournament hopes alive.
BG's lone home match in the season's final nine contests comes the following Saturday night (Oct. 24), as the Falcons face West Virginia. After dropping a 2-1 decision to the Mountaineers in the teams' regular-season meeting a year ago, the Brown and Orange rallied from a second-half deficit for a 3-2 OT victory in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament. Auden's 'Golden Goal' in that match gave the program its first league tourney win since 2006.
The Falcons return to the road to end the month of October with matches at Wright State (Oct. 27) and Buffalo (Oct. 30). Both teams battled BG into overtime at Cochrane last season, as the Falcons tied the Bulls, 1-1, but downed the Raiders by a 2-1 score. The win over the Raiders was the Falcons' fourth in five matches since the teams began playing for the I-75 Cup, a trophy that goes to the winner of the BGSU-WSU match each year.
November begins with a trip to Boone, N.C., as the Falcons step outside of MAC play for one last time with a match at Appalachian State (Nov. 3). The teams have met on just one prior occasion, battling to a scoreless draw in a tournament at Davidson in the 2010 season opener.
Then, the final night of the 2015 regular season sees the Falcons travel to Northeast Ohio for a rematch of the 2014 MAC Tournament Championship, as BG takes on Akron on Saturday evening, Nov. 7. Last November, the Brown and Orange took a second-half lead against the Zips, only to see the hosts rally for a 2-1 win and the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
This year's MAC Tournament begins with semifinal-round matches at the site of the regular-season champion on Friday, Nov. 13. The two survivors will remain in town for the final, which will take place on Sunday, Nov. 15.
Nichols and his staff -- assistants Eric Reed, Zach Lemke and Brandon Silva -- finished the 2014 campaign with an overall record of 14-6-1 and a MAC ledger of 2-2-1. The Falcons more than doubled the overall win total from the previous season, and the 14 wins marked the program's highest victory total in 17 years. BG, picked to finish fifth in the MAC standings, wound up in a tie for third, and the Brown and Orange advanced to the championship match of the league tournament for the first time since 2003. The Falcons were ranked 64th in the country in the final RPI listings of the 2014 season.
The complete 2015 schedule follows. For the latest updates throughout the season, click here or click the 'schedule' link on the men's soccer page at BGSUFalcons.com.
2015 BGSU MEN'S SOCCER SCHEDULE
August
Sat., 22 – at Cincinnati (scrimmage), 7:00
Fri., 28 – SIUE, 7:00
Sun., 30 – WESTERN ILLINOIS, 1:00
September
Sat., 5 – CLEVELAND STATE, 7:00
Fri., 11 – vs. Evansville (at Huntington, W.Va.), TBA
Sun., 13 – at Marshall, TBA
Fri., 18 – IPFW, 7:00
Sat., 26 – DETROIT, 7:00
Tue., 29 – MICHIGAN STATE, 7:00
October
Sat., 3 – NORTHERN ILLINOIS, 7:00 *
Wed – at Ohio State, 7:00
Sat. 10 – at IUPUI, 12:00
Tue., 13 – at Syracuse, 7:00
Sat., 17 – at Western Michigan, 1:00 *
Sat., 24 – WEST VIRGINIA (Senior Night), 7:00 *
Tue., 27 – at Wright State, 7:00
Fri., 30 – at Buffalo, 7:00 *
November
Tue. 3 – at Appalachian State, 7:00
Sat., 7 – at Akron, 7:00 *
Fri., 13 – MAC Tournament semifinals (site of regular-season champion)
Sun., 15 – MAC Tournament championship (semifinal site)
HOME matches played at Cochrane Field
* - Mid-American Conference match
All times p.m. and Eastern
Schedule subject to change
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