Road Swing Continues at NKU, WVU

FALCONS at NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Tuesday, October 4 – 7:00 p.m.
NKU Soccer Stadium | Highland Heights, Ky.
Live Stats: NKUNorse.com | Twitter: @BGSUmenssoccer

FALCONS at #15 WEST VIRGINIA
Friday, October 7 – 7:00 p.m.
Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium | Morgantown, W.Va.
Live Stats: WVUsports.com | Twitter: @BGSUmenssoccer

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Links to any live audio/video/stats will be available on the men's soccer schedule page at BGSUFalcons.com on match day

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UP NEXT IN FALCON SOCCER
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team continues a three-match road swing as the month of October begins. Head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons head to Highland Heights, Ky., for a Tuesday night (Oct. 4) matchup with Northern Kentucky University. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at the NKU Soccer Stadium.

Then, BGSU will begin Mid-American Conference play on Friday evening (Oct. 7), facing West Virginia University. That match is also set for a 7:00 p.m. start at WVU's Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. BGSU is in the midst of a stretch which sees the Falcons play on the road six times in seven games.

FREE ADMISSION / FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Again this season, admission to all Falcon men's and women's soccer home regular-season matches is free. For those who can't make it to Cochrane Stadium, live stats will be available for each home contest via BGSUFalcons.com. Twitter updates for all men's soccer action in 2016, both home and away, will be available via @BGSUmenssoccer. And, plans are in the works to broadcast several home matches on ESPN3.com. All of the pertinent information can be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com on the day of the match.

• In addition to live stats for each of the next two games, the WVU match is scheduled to have a live stream via WVUsports.com.

MAX IS BACK
• Fifth-year senior Max Auden missed the Falcons' first seven matches due to an injury suffered early in the spring semester, but has returned to the lineup in a big way. Auden was cleared to play and made his 2016 debut in the Dayton match (Sept. 20), playing 64 minutes off the bench.

• Auden made his first start of the season against Ohio State (Sept. 24), and the second-year captain scored what proved to be the winning goal in the Falcons' 2-0 victory over the Buckeyes at Cochrane Stadium.

• The goal was his fourth career game-winning goal – the other three all came against MAC opponents in November of 2014 – and marked the second-straight year he found the back of the net against Ohio State.

A FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons have a 6-3-1 record this season to date. BG opened the year with three multiple-goal wins at Cochrane Stadium, downing IUPUI, Appalachian State and Marshall. The Falcons scored 10 goals and conceded just one in those three matches.

• BG went on the road for the first time and picked up a win, as freshman Chris Brennan's goal with just four seconds left in the second overtime gave the Falcons a thrilling 1-0 victory at Cleveland State. But, three days later (Sept. 10), BG lost for the first time in 2016, falling at Western Illinois by a 2-1 result.

• The Brown and Orange bounced back with a 2-0 win over Wright State in this year's battle for the I-75 Cup. Seniors Jacob Roth and Pat Flynn scored BG's goals in that win. BG fell at Cincinnati, 1-0, then battled Dayton to a 1-1, double-OT draw.

• BG downed Ohio State by a 2-0 result before a crowd of over 2,500 fans at Cochrane. In last week's lone match, the Falcons returned to the road and dropped a narrow 1-0 decision against #25 Michigan State.

• BGSU is 5-0-1 at home and 1-3-0 on the road this season. The Falcons have outscored the opponents, 15-2, in the six home matches, but BG foes have outscored the Brown and Orange by a 4-2 count in the four road contests.

• The Falcons are 5-0-0 when scoring two or more goals this season. BGSU is 13-0-1 in such matches since the start of the 2015 season, and the Falcons are 43-4-5 when scoring at least two goals in the Eric Nichols Era.

• BGSU was ranked eighth in the Great Lakes Region in the latest NSCAA ratings (as of last Tuesday, Sept. 27). Prior to that, the Falcons had been sixth in back-to-back weeks and ninth in each of the following two weeks.

• Nine different players have scored at least one goal for the Falcons this season to date. Brennan has a team-leading four goals, while Flynn and fellow senior Joe Sullivan have scored three goals apiece.

• Flynn has a team-best nine points, while three of his teammates – Brennan, Sullivan and freshman Robert Miller III – have eight apiece. Miller and Roth share the team assists lead, with four each.

• Freshman Anthony Mwembia has played all 939-plus minutes in goal this season to date. He has 37 saves, five shutouts and a goals-against average of just 0.57.

• A total of 20 players have seen action for the Falcons this fall to date, with 15 players making at least one start. Eight players – Flynn, Mwembia, Roth, Sullivan, juniors Brad Macomber and Alexis Souahy, redshirt sophomore Bismark Agyeman and true soph Tate Robertson – each have started all 10 matches.

• The Falcons have a record of 29-18-3 (.610) since the beginning of the 2014 season. The '14 team went 14-6-1, posting the program's most wins in nearly two decades (since 1997), and advanced to the MAC Tournament's championship match for the first time since 2003. Last year's team finished 9-9-1, marking only the second time since 2000 that BGSU had won as many as nine games in a season.

SENIORS ARE LEAVING THEIR MARK
• All four of the Falcons' seniors have made their mark on the program. BGSU has a record of 35-25-9 since Max Auden, Jacob Roth and Joe Sullivan made their respective playing debuts in 2013, and the Falcons are 29-18-3 since Pat Flynn joined that group prior to the 2014 campaign.

• That quartet is beginning to etch their names in the BGSU record book as well. Flynn has career totals of 26 goals and 63 points. He is tied with Chris Dore (1996-99) for eighth place on the BGSU career goals list, and is just one goal behind seventh-place Dave Kindl (1993-96). Flynn is only four goals shy of fifth place on that list.

• With 63 points, Flynn is 10th on that BGSU career chart. He is three points behind Kindl and five points in back of eighth-place Dennis Wesley (1983-84).

• Sullivan enters the NKU match with a career total of 47 points, on 16 goals and 15 assists. Roth has 38 points on 11 goals and 16 assists. Roth, the Falcons' active career leader in assists, is just six shy of 10th place on that BG career list.

• Flynn and Sullivan each have eight career game-winning goals, good for a tie for fourth place on that BGSU list (NOTE: GWG information since 1987).

• Auden, who missed the first seven matches of the year due to an injury suffered in the spring, has played in the last three matches, starting against Ohio State and Michigan State. He scored the winner vs. OSU, and now has 24 career points on eight goals and eight assists. Auden now has four career game-winning goals, with the first three coming against MAC teams (two in overtime) in 2014.

• The complete career lists for goals, assists, points and GWG are on page 7.

NAPERVILLE ––> BGSU
• Three of the Falcons' four seniors – Max Auden, Pat Flynn and Joe Sullivan – are natives of Naperville, Ill. Auden and Sullivan played high-school soccer together at Naperville North H.S., while Flynn attended Naperville Central H.S.

• But, all three played club ball for Galaxy Soccer Club under the direction of Brett Strang, a BG men's soccer alumnus. Naperville North is coached by another Falcon men's soccer alum, Jim Konrad.

• Auden, Flynn and Sullivan are the latest in a long line of Naperville products who have played for the Falcons during the Eric Nichols Era. Naperville natives Byard Ebling, Tanner Fink, Danny Shea and Michael Wiest all played at least two seasons at BGSU under Nichols.

LOOKING TO MAINTAIN THAT HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE
• The Falcons are 5-0-1 at home this season after posting the aforementioned 2-0 win over Ohio State (Sept. 24). BGSU has outscored the opponents, 15-2, in those five matches at Cochrane Stadium.

• Since the start of the 2014 season, BGSU has a record of 17-4-2 at Cochrane. The Falcons went 6-2-0 last year and 6-2-1 in 2014. All four home losses in that time have come by identical 1-0 scores. The two '14 setbacks both came against nationally-ranked opponents. Last year's home losses came on a goal in overtime and a goal with under two minutes left in regulation.

• The Falcons have outscored the opponents, 59-15, at Cochrane Stadium, dating to the final home game of the 2013 season. BG has scored at least two goals in 17 of the 24 matches in that time, with three or more goals in 10 of those games.

• Falcon senior Pat Flynn has singlehandedly outscored the opponents at Cochrane Stadium in his Falcon career. Flynn has scored 19 goals in home games since transferring to BGSU prior to the 2014 season, while Falcon foes, as mentioned, have 15 goals during that time.

SCOUTING NKU
Northern Kentucky has an overall record of 0-9-2 on the season, and the Norse are 0-4-0 in Horizon League play to date. NKU suffered a 4-0 loss at UIC over the weekend, but battled Cincinnati to a scoreless draw in the previous match. Four of the team's losses have been by a single goal. Kobie Qualah leads the Norse with two goals and four points, while Anders Mathiesen has picked up a pair of assists. In goal, Christian Carey has made seven starts and has 19 saves and a 2.31 goals-against average. Owen Betz has started each of the last two matches, making a total of 13 saves, including 11 in the UIC game. Last season, coach John Basalyga's team went 8-7-4 overall and 4-2-3 in Horizon League play. Basalyga – a 1973 BGSU graduate and the father of Falcon women's soccer coach Lindsay Basalyga – welcomed back 16 players from that 2015 club.

A LOOK AT WVU
West Virginia is 6-2-1 on the season, heading into Friday night's MAC opener vs. the Falcons. The Mountaineers saw a seven-match unbeaten streak, and a school-record shutout streak of over 750 minutes, come to an end in Saturday's 2-1 overtime loss to visiting Saint Mary's (Calif.). WVU, ranked in all four polls last week, is 4-1-1 at home, 1-0 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site matches this year to date. Three players – Jad Arslan, Felix Angerer and Joey Piatczyc – are tied for the team lead with five points. Arslan, Angerer and Tucker Stephenson have two goals apiece, while Piatczyc has a team-high three assists. In goal, Jose Santos has played every second of every match, and has 23 saves, seven shutouts and a GAA of just 0.43. A year ago, head coach Marlon LeBlanc's team went 7-12-0 overall and 2-3 in MAC play. LeBlanc welcomed back 13 letterwinners, including five starters, from that club.

THE SERIES
BGSU leads Northern Kentucky, 1-0-1, in the all-time series between the teams. Three years ago, the teams played to a scoreless draw at the NKU Soccer Stadium. The following year (Sept. 12, 2014), Pat Flynn's goal with just over five minutes left gave the Falcons a 2-1 win over the Norse at Cochrane Stadium. Brad Macomber had a goal and an assist in that victory.

The Falcons lead West Virginia, 5-2-2, in that series. Last year, the Falcons got a pair of second-half goals for a 2-0 win at Cochrane (Oct. 24, 2015). In 2014, the teams split a pair of one-goal outcomes, as WVU scored a late goal for a 2-1 regular-season victory in Morgantown, before Max Auden scored in the first minute of overtime to give BG a 3-2 win in the MAC Tournament semifinals. The Falcons are 2-1-0 at home, 0-1-1 on the road and 3-0-1 at neutral sites vs. WVU through the years.

UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following the WVU match, the Falcons will return home to face Western Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 15. Then, BGSU will return to the road for the next three matches, taking on Kentucky, Northern Illinois and Fort Wayne.

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Bismark Agyeman

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