What To Watch For: Falcons Play a Pair of Road Matches over Labor Day Weekend

Friday, September 3

Cleveland, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Cleveland State

Photo by: Mallory Hiser, BGSU Athletics

What To Watch For: Falcons Play a Pair of Road Matches over Labor Day Weekend

September 01, 2021 | Men's Soccer

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BGSU ventures to Cleveland State, Michigan State

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

FALCONS at CLEVELAND STATE – Friday, September 3
7:00 p.m. | Krenzler Field | Cleveland, Ohio
• Video/Web Stream: ESPN+ •
• Live Stats: CSUVikings.com | Twitter: @BGSUmenssoccer •

FALCONS at MICHIGAN STATE – Monday, September 6
2:00 p.m. | DeMartin Stadium | East Lansing, Mich.
• Video/Web Stream: Big Ten Network+ •
• Live Stats: MSUSpartans.com | Twitter: @BGSUmenssoccer •

WHAT TO WATCH FOR...
• The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team plays a pair of road matches over the extended Labor Day weekend. Head coach Eric Nichols and the defending Mid-American Conference champions travel to Cleveland for a Friday-night (Sept. 3) matchup with Cleveland State. First touch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field.

• Then, on Monday afternoon (Sept. 6), the Falcons will head to East Lansing, Mich., to meet Michigan State. That match is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. at DeMartin Stadium.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Friday's CSU content will be streamed via ESPN+, while Monday's MSU matchup will be available via Big Ten Network Plus (BTN+). Live stats for both matches will be available, and twitter updates will be available at @BGSUmenssoccer.

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

FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons are 1-0-1 on the young season. BGSU battled IUPUI to a scoreless, double-overtime draw in Thursday's (Aug. 26) season opener at Cochrane Stadium, before heading to Washington and picking up a 2-1 win – also in overtime – at Gonzaga on Sunday night (Aug. 29).

• Logan Kowalczyk earned the shutout in goal vs. IUPUI, and now has six clean sheets in 14 career starts as a Falcon.

• At Gonzaga, Nathan Masters and Alberto Anaya scored the goals, with Anaya picking up the overtime winner. The 'Golden Goal' came in just his second game in a BGSU uniform.

• The Falcons had lopsided advantages in nearly all statistical categories in the season's opening week. Through two matches, BGSU has outshot the opponents by a 41-12 margin, with advantages in shots on goal (16-6) and corner kicks (16-3) as well. The foes were whistled for 33 fouls to BG's 17.

• Masters now has three career goals and nine points as a Falcon. The goal against the Zags was his second in the last three matches, as he also scored the first goal of the game in the NCAA Tournament vs. Monmouth back in April.

• Sergi Martinez and Michael Montemurri picked up assists in Sunday's Gonzaga contest. For Martinez, a transfer from Hartford, it was his first point as a Falcon. Montemurri's helper on the Anaya OT winner was his second career assist.

• The Falcons certainly have given fans their money's worth (especially at home, where admission is free!). The Gonzaga match marked BGSU's 10th consecutive contest that was decided by one goal or fewer. Each of the final eight contests last season, as well as the first two matches this season, have either finished in a drew on a one-goal result.

• Six of those 10 matches, including both contests this season to date, have gone to overtime.

• The Falcons are 6-2-2 in that 10-game span, and BG is 4-0-2 in the OT contests during that time.

• Entering the Cleveland State match, the Falcons have an overall record of 26-14-5 over the last 45 matches, dating to late in the 2018 season. Ten of the 14 setbacks in that time have come by a single goal.

• BGSU returned 15 of last season's 18 letterwinners, including eight of the 11 starters from the spring. The 2020(-21) Falcons went 7-5-1 overall and 5-2-1 in MAC play, winning the conference regular-season title and advancing to the NCAA Championships for the seventh time in school history, but the first time since 1997.

• The Falcons won the MAC regular-season crown outright for the first time since 1996, and for just the second time since the MAC began sponsoring the sport of men's soccer in 1993 (BG tied for first in the final league regular-season standings in both 2000 and 2002).

• By winning the MAC, BGSU finished as the number-one team in the number-one conference in the country, in terms of RPI rankings. The MAC ended the 2020-21 season as the top-rated conference in the final RPI, and four of the conference's six teams – West Virginia (12th), BGSU (27th), Western Michigan (33rd) and Akron (39th) – were ranked among the top-40 teams in the nation.

• This fall, BGSU received four votes in the United Soccer Coaches preseason rankings. On Tuesday (Aug. 31), the Falcons were ranked fifth in the initial North Region rankings, trailing Indiana, Maryland, Akron and Penn State.

• The Falcons went 3-0-1 in home matches, 2-4-0 in road contests and 2-1-0 in neutral-site action last season. As mentioned, all four of BGSU's home games went to overtime. BG allowed just one goal at Cochrane Stadium in those four matches.

• BGSU had six players named to the All-MAC Team, tying the school record. Among the returnees, Jacob Erlandson was named to the all-league first team, while Zach Buescher, Logan Kowalczyk and Nathan Masters all earned second-team honors.

• Erlandson is the top returning scorer, having registered eight points on three goals and two assists a year ago. Masters and Kyle Cusimano each had five points including a pair of goals.

• Kowalczyk had a GAA of 0.80 last season. In MAC matches, he went 5-2-1 with a GAA of just 0.59. Kowalczyk and the Falcons posted five shutouts in MAC play, the program's highest total since 1998.

• BGSU's total of five MAC wins was the program's highest since the 1997 team went 5-2-0. Only the 1996 (5-0-0), '97 and 2020-21 teams have won as many as five league matches.

LOOKING TO MAINTAIN THAT HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE
• BGSU finished the 2020(-21) season with a record of 3-0-1 at home, and the Falcons allowed only one goal at Cochrane Stadium in those four matches.

• BGSU is now unbeaten in the last 10 matches at Cochrane Stadium, having gone 8-0-2. Each of the last seven home matches has been decided by one goal or fewer, with the last six contests at Cochrane requiring overtime

• The last home match that did not require more than 90 minutes came on Nov. 9, 2019, when the Falcons downed Northern Illinois by a 1-0 score. Just three days later (Nov. 12, 2019), BGSU topped NIU in OT in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals. Then, all four of the Falcons' home matches in the 2020(-21) season went to overtime.

• The Falcons' last home loss was a 4-3 OT setback vs. Cincinnati on Sept. 17, 2019.

• BGSU is 9-2-2 at home in the last two-plus seasons, having outscored the opponents by a 23-9 count during that time.

• Taking it back a few more years, BG is 21-6-10 at Cochrane Stadium since the start of the 2016 season, and the Falcons have a home record of 33-10-11 since the beginning of the 2014 campaign. The Falcons have outscored the opposition, 104-41, at Cochrane, dating to the final home game of the 2013 season.

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

THE OPPONENTS
• Cleveland State opened the season with a 2-1 loss at Michigan State. The Vikings went 4-5-0 in the spring, with all nine matches coming in Horizon League play. Jannis Schmidt led the team with six goals and 15 points, while Omeed Naeemy played in all nine games and had a 1.06 GAA for coach Sinisa Ubiparipovic.

• Michigan State is 1-1-0 heading into a Friday match vs. Oakland. The Spartans downed CSU before falling to Akron by a 2-1 score. Michael Miller has two goals through the first two matches, while Hunter Morse has played in both matches in goal and has eight saves. MSU went 4-7-0 in the spring, including 4-6-0 in Big Ten Conference regular-season play.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads Cleveland State, 18-16-1, in the all-time series, and the Falcons have captured five of the last six matches. The most recent meeting was a 1-0 BG win at Cochrane in September of 2019. CSU won the last meeting in downtown Cleveland, by a 2-0 score a year prior (Sept. 18, 2018).

• The Falcons trail Michigan State, 24-16-6, in that series, and the Spartans have captured the last seven meetings since the teams played to a scoreless draw in East Lansing 10 years ago (Oct. 19, 2011). BGSU's last series win was a 3-1 decision on the road in 2001.

UP NEXT
• Following the MSU contest, the Falcons will begin a four-match homestand by taking on defending national champion Marshall on Saturday, Sept. 11. The Falcons and Thundering Herd will meet in an 8:00 p.m. start at Cochrane Stadium.

# BGSU FALCON SOCCER #