Falcons Host NKU Saturday as Regular Season Begins

Saturday, August 25

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Northern Kentucky

Ebenezer Ackon v Notre Dame - Aug 15 2018

Senior Ebenezer Ackon & the Falcons host NKU Saturday night, & admission is free

Photo by: Larry Clapper

August 23, 2018 | Men's Soccer

BGSU meets the Norse at Cochrane; Falcons head to Penn State Tuesday

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

FALCONS vs. NORTHERN KENTUCKY – Saturday, Aug. 25
7:00 p.m. | Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio

FALCONS at PENN STATE – Tuesday, Aug. 28
7:00 p.m. | Jeffrey Field | University Park, Pa.

MATCH DAY / FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Saturday vs. NKU: Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com | Twitter: @BGSUmenssoccer
• Live Video: WBGU-TV | Live Audio: None

• Tuesday at Penn State: Live Stats: GoPSUSports.com | Live Audio/Video: TBA

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

BGSU MEN'S SOCCER LINKS
This Week's BGSU Notes
2018 BGSU Men's Soccer Weekly Releases/Notes
The Opponents: NKU | PSU
MAC Preseason Poll Released
2018 Men's Soccer... Schedule | Roster | Media Guide/Record Book
Join the Falcon Club Today!

UP NEXT IN FALCON SOCCER
• The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team begins the 54th season in program history with three matches in a seven-day span. The regular season begins on Saturday night (Aug. 25), when head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons face Northern Kentucky University. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium, and as always, admission is free.

• Then, the Brown and Orange will hit the road for a Tuesday (Aug. 28) matchup with Penn State University. That match is also set for a 7:00 p.m. start, at Jeffrey Field in University Park, Pa.

• All of BGSU's home matches will be played under the lights, with all seven contests starting at 7:00 p.m. In fact, 16 of BG's 17 regular-season contests begin at 7:00 p.m. local time.

#FalconsAtHome this week! @BGSUmenssoccer @BGSUWSoccer #AyZiggy pic.twitter.com/alzQ7BJZEN
— BGSU Athletics (@BGathletics) August 22, 2018

‼️HOME OPENER‼️ This Saturday at 7:00pm we kick off our 2018 campaign vs. @NKUNorseMSOC right here at Cochrane Stadium!! Hope to see you there!! @BGathletics #AyZiggy #FlyWithUs pic.twitter.com/ymkfBtSxAM
— BGSU Men's Soccer (@BGSUmenssoccer) August 22, 2018

LOOKING FOR A(NOTHER) STRONG START
• The Falcons will be looking to continue a tradition of getting the season off to a successful start when NKU comes to town. BGSU has a record of 8-1-0 in home openers during the Eric Nichols Era, and the Falcons have outscored the opposition, 23-3, in those nine matches. BG's only loss came to the team ranked number one in the nation at the time, and that match was scoreless until the 64th minute. The Falcons have kept seven clean sheets in the last nine home openers.
HOME-OPENING MATCHES, NICHOLS ERA
2009 Marshall W 2-0
2010 #1 Akron L 0-2
2011 #9 Michigan W 2-0
2012 St. Bonaventure W 3-0
2013 Malone W 5-0
2014  IUPUI W 2-0
2015  SIUE W 3-1
2016  IUPUI W 4-0
2017  IUPUI W 2-0

LOOKING FOR A(NOTHER) STRONG START II
• As mentioned in the previous note, the Falcons are 8-1-0 in home openers during the Eric Nichols Era. In overall regular-season openers, BGSU is 8-0-1 since Nichols assumed the helm, and the Falcons have outscored the opponents by a 23-1 count. BG scored 17-straight goals in regular-season openers before SIUE, trailing the Falcons by three goals, scored midway through the second half of the 2015 lidlifter at Cochrane.

A FEW THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The 2018 season marks the 54th 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. Cochrane can still be found in attendance at the field that bears his name for many BGSU men's and women's soccer matches.

• Eric Nichols, now in his 10th season at BG, is just the fifth coach in the illustrious history of Falcon men's soccer. Cochrane (1965-77), Gary Palmisano (1978-92, 1994), Mel Mahler (1993, 1995-2003) and Fred Thompson (2004-08) are the only other individuals to have coached the BGSU men's soccer program.

• Nichols – the 2016 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year – enters the 2018 campaign with a record of 69-75-25 at BG, The Falcons, after going 3-12-3 in his first year, have a winning record since the start of the 2010 campaign.

• Nichols and his staff – 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 7-9-1 overall record and a MAC ledger of 1-3-1. Five of the team's setbacks came by one goal on the road to nationally-ranked opponents.

• The Falcons have a record of 39-30-7 (.559) 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.

• The 2015 club finished 9-9-1, marking only the second time since 2000 that BGSU had won as many as nine games in a season. The 2016 team matched that nine-win total, going 9-6-4 overall and finishing MAC regular-season play with a 2-0-3 league ledger to place second in the conference.

• 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 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 group of 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 returnees 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 as well.

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE
• BGSU went 5-2-1 at home last fall, and the Falcons are 10-2-5 at Cochrane Stadium since the start of the 2016 season. BGSU has outscored the opposition, 30-11, in those 17 matches.

• Since the start of the 2014 season, BGSU has a record of 22-6-6 at Cochrane. The Falcons went 6-2-0 in 2015 and 6-2-1 in '14.

• The Falcons have outscored the opponents, 74-24, at Cochrane, dating to the final home game of the 2013 season. BG has scored at least two goals in 22 of the 35 matches in that time, with three or more goals in 11 of those games.

• BGSU was 6-0-0 when scoring two or more goals last year. The Falcons are 20-0-2 in such matches since the start of the 2015 season and 50-4-6 in the Nichols Era.

MWEMBIA MAKES HIS MARK
• Anthony Mwembia enters his junior year as one of the top goalkeepers in the region and possibly the nation. He has 15 shutouts in 35 career starts with the Falcons, with a goals-against average of just 0.87 and a save percentage of .806.

• Mwembia is ranked third among all returning NCAA Division-I 'keepers in career save pct., and is also ranked among the top-20 returnees in the country in career GAA (13th) and solo shutouts (tied for 17th).

THE OPPONENTS
• Northern Kentucky was picked to finish seventh in the Horizon League in 2018. Coach Stu Riddle returns 14 players from last year's team that went 7-6-4 overall, including Jim Barkei, who was named the HL Goalkeeper of the Year in 2017.

• Penn State was tabbed to tie for sixth in the Big Ten Conference in 2018. Ethan Beckford, Brennan Ireland and Aaron Molloy all were named to the league's preseason honors list. New coach Jeff Cook's Nittany Lions host UCF Friday before meeting BG four days later. PSU finished the 2017 season with a 5-10-2 record.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads NKU, 2-0-1, in the all-time series between the teams. After a scoreless draw in 2013, the Falcons picked up 2-1 wins in both 2014 (the lone prior meeting at Cochrane Stadium) and 2016.

• BGSU and Penn State are tied, 1-1-0, in that series, but the teams have not met since 1999. BG won a 1-0 meeting at PSU in 1987, and the Nittany Lions captured an overtime victory by the same score 12 years later in Miami, Fla.

UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
• Following the Penn State match, the Falcons will return home to face Wright State in the battle for the I-75 Cup on Friday, Aug. 31. Then, BGSU will head to Western Illinois (Sept. 2) to begin a stretch in which five of six matches are on the road.

# B G S U M E N ' S S O C C E R #