BGSU Men's Soccer: Preseason is Underway; Falcons Host Dayton Saturday

Saturday, August 11

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Dayton

Zach Buescher Sam Pugliese - August 10 2018

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

BGSU Men's Soccer: Preseason is Underway; Falcons Host Dayton Saturday

August 10, 2018 | Men's Soccer

Falcons meet Flyers in the first of three 2018 scrimmages

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team has officially begun preparing for the 2018 season. The Falcons kicked off the preseason schedule on Wednesday (Aug. 8), as the players took part in several organizational meetings and also went through the team's annual photo day and a green-screen shoot. Practices officially began on Thursday morning (Aug. 9) for head coach Eric Nichols and his team.

LINKS
2018 BGSU Men's Soccer Schedule
2018 BGSU Men's Soccer Roster
PHOTO GALLERY: Friday morning's practice
VIDEO: Post-Practice Interview with Coach Nichols
Join the Falcon Club Today!

Nichols and assistant coaches Zach Mason, Sean Teepen and Oliver Harris welcome back 13 letterwinners, including eight starters, from last year's team. BGSU finished the 2017 season with an overall record of 7-9-1. Five of the team's setbacks came by one goal on the road to nationally-ranked opponents.

Nichols welcomes back a total of four players who started at least 16 of the Falcons' 17 matches last year, including juniors Chris Brennan and Anthony Mwembia. Brennan led a balanced scoring attack with five goals and 14 points a season ago, while Mwembia played every second of every match in goal and had a 1.04 goals-against average, a saves percentage of .780 and seven shutouts.

Brennan was named to the All-Mid-American Conference Second Team in 2017, while Mwembia earned All-Ohio Team honors.

Senior Tate Robertson started every match last fall, and finished second on the team in scoring. Robertson's total of 11 points included a BG-best seven assists in 2017.

Robertson is joined in the senior class by Ebenezer Ackon, Moe Mustafa and Peter Pugliese. Ackon, a Ghana native, was cleared to play by the NCAA in mid-October of last season, and started each of the Falcons' final five matches on the back line. Mustafa made 11 starts a year ago and had nine points, including four goals. Pugliese started 15 matches in the midfield and had three assists.

The returning juniors, in addition to Brennan and Mwembia, includes Amandy Ayima, Charlie Maciejewski and Tom Wrobel. Wrobel and Maciejewski made a combined 19 starts a year ago.

Returning starters Zach Buescher and Chris Sullivan headline the sophomore class, which also includes Erik Horvath, Sam Pugliese and Vinny Worner. Buescher was one of three returning Falcons to start every match last fall, while Sullivan played in every match, making 11 starts.

Nichols and his staff have added a talented class of newcomers to the 2018 roster. The eight-member signing class, announced in February, included Mitchell Hughes, Jensen Lukacsko, Colin McCort, Kale Nichols, Alec Srodawa, Ike Swiger, Ryan Troutman and Matt Walters. Hughes graduated from high school in December and enrolled at BGSU for the spring semester, taking part in spring-season practices and matches with the Falcons.

Falcon fans can get their first look at the 2018 team on Saturday evening (Aug. 11), when Dayton comes to town for a 7:00 p.m. scrimmage inside Cochrane Stadium. The Falcons and Flyers are scheduled to play four 25-minute periods. There will not be any live stats or video for Saturday's match, but admission is free.

Following the UD match, the Brown and Orange will host Notre Dame for a second scrimmage at Cochrane. The Fighting Irish will come to BG on Wednesday (Aug. 15). Three days later, the Falcons will hit the road to close the scrimmage schedule against Duquesne.

The regular season begins on Saturday, Aug. 25, when Northern Kentucky comes to Cochrane for a 7:00 p.m. start. BGSU's home schedule also includes Wright State (Aug. 31), Michigan State (Sept. 7) and Valparaiso (Sept. 29) out of conference, and Akron (Oct. 6), Western Michigan (Oct. 20) and SIUE (Nov. 3) in league play.

The road schedule includes trips to face Big Ten Conference foes Penn State (Aug. 28) and Ohio State (Sept. 11), and the non-league slate also includes road matches vs. Western Illinois (Sept. 2), Wofford (Sept. 15), Cleveland State (Sept. 18), Purdue Fort Wayne (Sept. 22), IUPUI (Oct. 9) and Cincinnati (Oct. 23). In MAC action, BGSU will head to Northern Illinois (Oct. 13) and West Virginia (Oct. 26). The complete and most up-to-date 2018 schedule can be found by clicking the link near the top of this page.

For more information on the men's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Twitter (@BGAthletics and @BGSUmenssoccer), Instagram (bgsumenssoccer) and Facebook (B GMensSoccer) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.