What To Watch For: Falcons Face WVU to Wrap Up Regular-Season Slate

RV FALCONS at #9/17 WEST VIRGINIA – Thursday, November 4
7:00 p.m. | Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium | Morgantown, W.Va.
• Video/Web Stream: ESPN+ •
• Live Stats: WVUSports.com | Twitter: @BGSUmenssoccer •

WHAT TO WATCH FOR...
• The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team hits the road to wrap up the regular-season schedule this week, and there's a lot to play for. Head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons head to Morgantown for a Mid-American Conference matchup with West Virginia on Thursday night (Nov. 4). First touch is set for 7:00 p.m. at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Thursday's match will be streamed via ESPN+. Live stats will be available as well, and twitter updates can be found at @BGSUmenssoccer.

• Links to live audio/video/stats for all 2021 matches can be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com (on the men's soccer schedule page as well as at the top of the main page) on game day.

MAC TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS
• With one match left in the regular season, the Falcons still have a chance to finish as high as second or as low as fifth in the seven-team Mid-American Conference.

• Northern Illinois has won the regular-season title, and DeKalb, Ill., will be the site of the MAC Tournament semifinals and final on Nov. 10 and 13, respectively. The Huskies are the only team to have completed the regular-season schedule. In addition to the BGSU-WVU match on Thursday, Western Michigan will host Akron while Georgia State hosts Georgia Southern. BG's scenarios are as follows...

>>> IF BGSU BEATS WVU...
• The Falcons would clinch second place, no matter what happens in Thursday's other matches. BGSU would face the third-seeded team (WVU, Akron or Georgia State) in the league tourney semifinals.

>>> IF BGSU TIES WVU...
• The Falcons would clinch a MAC Tournament berth and would be the third or fourth seed. BG would be the third seed if Akron ties or loses at WMU.
• An Akron win and a BG tie would move the Zips past the Falcons into third place. But, even if Georgia State gets a win on Thursday to tie BGSU for fourth, the Falcons win the tiebreaker by virtue of a win in the teams' head-to-head meeting.

>>> IF BGSU LOSES AT WVU...
• The Falcons then would need one favorable outcome from the other two matches around the league.
• Regardless of BGSU's result in Morgantown, the Falcons would qualify for the MAC Tournament with an Akron loss OR a Georgia State loss or tie on Thursday.

TOUGH CROWD
• In a seven-team conference, it stands to reason that BGSU's league schedule consists of three home games and three road matches. All three of the Falcons' road contests are or were against nationally-ranked foes.

• Northern Illinois was ranked 22nd in the nation by United Soccer Coaches and had won nine-straight matches before BG traveled to DeKalb and played the Huskies to a 1-1 draw on Oct. 16. The following weekend, Akron was ranked 24th by College Soccer News when the Falcons headed to the Rubber City.

• This week, West Virginia is ranked ninth in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer and 17th in the College Soccer News poll. BGSU is receiving votes in the CSN poll, and both teams are receiving votes in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll.

• WVU is 17th and BGSU 37th in the latest RPI rankings. The Mountaineers are sixth in this week's USC North Region poll, while the Falcons are seventh.

FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons are 10-3-3 on the season, and BGSU is 2-1-2 start in MAC play. BG went 6-2-1 in a month-long stretch from mid-September to mid-October, before suffering a 5-1 loss at Akron on Oct. 22. The Falcons responded with a dominant 3-0 win at Oakland last Tuesday (Oct. 26), before playing Western Michigan to a 1-1 draw on Saturday night (Oct. 30).

• BGSU began the month of October (some call it 'MACtober') with a pair of home wins over the league's two newest members. The Falcons defeated Georgia State (3-2) and Georgia Southern (4-0) at Cochrane Stadium before going on the road and earning a 1-1 draw vs. Northern Illinois in a matchup of top-25 teams.

• After battling IUPUI to a scoreless draw in the season opener at Cochrane, BG went to Gonzaga, Cleveland State and Michigan State and won all three matches by an 8-1 aggregate. Marshall – #6 in the nation at the time and now up to #1 in multiple polls – got a goal with just 93 seconds left in the second half as the defending national champions downed the Falcons, 1-0, on Sept. 11. But, the Orange and Brown bounced back with four-straight wins, including shutout victories over Wright State, then #13/17 FIU and Detroit Mercy.

• BG downed Canisius before falling at Ohio State in overtime, but the Falcons then picked up seven points in three league matches to begin the month of October.

•BGSU led by two goals on only one occasion during all of last season, and never had a three-goal lead in the spring. But, the Falcons have led by two or more goals in eight of the last 14 games, winning seven such skirmishes by multiple goals.

• BGSU scored as many as two goals in a match only three times in 13 games in the spring. But, the Falcons have recorded two or more goals 10 times in 16 matches this season to date.

• The Falcons have scored three or more goals six times this year after doing so only once in those 13 spring matches.

• BGSU is now 75-8-6 when scoring two or more goals in a match in the Eric Nichols Era.

• BG is 5-1-2 at home and 5-2-1 on the road, and the Falcons have topped the home, road and overall win totals for all of last season. BGSU has outscored opponents by a 31-14 count this season.

• Alberto Anaya and Jacob Erlandson lead a balanced Falcon scoring attack which features six players with at least 10 points. Anaya and Erlandson each have 14 points on five goals and four assists. Anaya picked up his third game-winning goal of the season in the win at Oakland, while Erlandson has a pair of GWG.

• Roberto Fernandez Garrido has 13 points, including a team-high six goals. He came off the bench to score in the second half vs. WMU. Kyle Cusimano has 12 points on the year, while Sergi Martinez has 11 and Nathan Masters 10.

• Cusimano leads the Falcons with eight assists this fall, while Martinez, who has three goals and five assists on the season, was chosen as the United Soccer Coaches Division I Player of the Week on Sept. 22.

• Masters, who assisted on BG's first goal at Oakland, was taken down in the box to draw the PK that resulted in the Falcons' second goal of the night.

• Martinez assisted on the final goal of the win at OU, which was scored by Abdi Faqi. Faqi became the 10th different Falcon to score a goal this fall.

• Logan Kowalczyk played every second between the posts in the season's first 14 matches. He has seven shutouts and a goals-against average of just 0.89. Kowalczyk has kept 12 clean sheets in 26 career starts at BGSU. Brendan Graves made his season debut at Oakland, and recorded the first shutout of his BG career. Graves also played vs. WMU, and has nine saves and a GAA of 0.45 in 200 minutes.

• Entering the WVU contest, the Falcons have an overall record of 35-17-7 over the last 59 games, dating to late in the 2018 season. Twelve of the 17 setbacks in that time have come by a single goal.

FALCONS IN THE RANKINGS
• BGSU was as high as 14th in the nation in the United Soccer Coaches poll on Oct. 19. That marked the program's highest ranking since Nov. 18, 1996, when the Falcons were also 14th in the land.

• BGSU is currently seventh in the North Region rankings. The Falcons have been ranked among the top-10 teams in the region in every poll this season.

• And, BGSU is 37th in the nation in this week's RPI rankings.

CAPTAINS
• Zach Buescher, Jacob Erlandson and Jensen Lukacsko are the captains of the 2021 Falcons.

THE OPPONENT
• West Virginia enters Thursday's contest with an overall record of 10-2-4, and the Mountaineers are 3-1-1 in MAC play. WVU has won three-straight matches, including a 5-0 blowout win at Georgia Southern on Sunday. Ciro Bourlot Jaeggi leads a balanced attack with six goals and 12 points, while Yoran Popovic and Pau Jimenez Albelda each have eight points to date. Steven Tekesky has played all but 14 minutes in goal this fall, and has 34 saves, six shutouts and a GAA of just 0.65. WVU is 7-0-2 at home and 3-2-2 on the road this season to date.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads WVU, 8-4-4, in the all-time series, and the Falcons went 1-0-1 in last season's two meetings. BGSU picked up a 1-0 victory in Morgantown, on a Jacob Erlandson goal (March 17, 2021). Then, Logan Kowalczyk earned his second-straight shutout vs. the Mountaineers as the teams played to a scoreless draw at Cochrane Stadium (April 14, 2021). The teams have seen seven of their 16 all-time meetings require at least one OT. The Falcons are 3-1-2 at home, 2-2-1 on the road and 3-1-1 in neutral-site matches vs. the Mountaineers over the years.

UP NEXT
• The WVU match wraps up the regular-season schedule for the Falcons. If BGSU finishes among the top four teams in the final MAC standings, the Falcons will face an opponent to be determined in the MAC Tournament semfinals in DeKalb, Ill., on Wednesday, Nov. 10.

• The two semifinal-round survivors will remain in DeKalb for the MAC Tournament final on Saturday, Nov. 13.

# BGSU FALCON SOCCER #

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