What To Watch For: Huskies Come to Town as Home Portion of MAC Schedule Commences

FALCONS vs. NORTHERN ILLINOIS – Sunday, September 26
1:00 p.m. | Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio
• Video/Web Stream: WBGU-TV (YouTube) •
• Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com | Twitter: @bgsuwsoc •

WHAT TO WATCH FOR...
• The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team opens the home portion of the Mid-American Conference schedule on Sunday (Sept. 26) afternoon, as Northern Illinois University comes to town for a 1:00 p.m. matchup at Cochrane Stadium. Sunday's match will be the Falcons' annual Pride Game.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Sunday's NIU contest will be streamed on YouTube, free of charge, and produced by WBGU-TV. Live stats will also be available as well.

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

TOUGH CROWD
• The Falcons finished the non-conference schedule with a record of 1-4-2. Six of BGSU's seven non-league opponents are in the top 100 in the RPI, with five of those schools ranked among the top 51, and three (Xavier, Michigan and Notre Dame) in the top 20.

• BGSU entered the week ranked 89th in the RPI, and the Falcons are second among MAC schools.

A WIN AT WESTERN
• The Falcons opened the MAC schedule on Thursday, posting a 2-0 win at Western Michigan. Kennedy White and Madi Wolfbauer scored first-half goals for the Orange and Brown, while Lili Berg and the BG back line earned a clean sheet in Kalamazoo.

MAC PLAY IS UPON US (OBVIOUSLY)
• The Falcons have enjoyed great success in MAC play in recent years. BGSU advanced to the MAC Tournament's championship match in 2017 before falling in overtime, and the Falcons then proceeded to win both the regular-season and tournament titles in both 2018 and '19.

• In 2020 (actually 2020-21), the Falcons went 5-1-0 in MAC regular-season action, then defeated Ball State in the MAC Championship to advance to the NCAA Championships for the third-straight season.

• After Thursday's 2-0 win at Western Michigan, the Falcons have a 49-23-10 overall record since the start of the 2017 season. BGSU is 32-7-1 in MAC regular-season matches and 39-8-3 in all games vs. conference foes in that time.

• Since the start of the 2018 campaign, the Falcons are 36-16-9 overall, 26-3-0 in MAC regular-season action and 31-3-2 in all games vs. league opposition.

THE FALCONS SINCE 2017
Year Overall MAC All MAC* Home   Away Neutral
2017 13-7-1 6-4-1 8-5-1 7-2-0 6-4-1 0-1-0
2018 14-5-3   10-1-0   12-1-1 10-1-2 4-4-0 0-0-1
2019 14-6-3   10-1-0   12-1-1 8-1-1 6-5-2   0-0-0
2020(-21) 6-1-1 5-1-0 6-1-0 4-0-0 2-1-0   0-0-1
2021   2-4-2 1-0-0 1-0-0 1-1-1 1-3-1   0-0-0
---------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS   49-23-10 32-7-1 39-8-3   30-5-4 19-17-4 0-1-2
SINCE '18  36-16-9 26-3-0 31-3-2   23-3-4 13-13-3 0-0-2
* All matches (regular-season & tournament) vs. MAC schools

SUCCESSFUL AT HOME
• The Falcons went a perfect 4-0-0 at Cochrane Stadium in the spring, with all four wins coming against MAC opponents. BGSU outscored the foes, 10-1, in those four matches.

• BGSU enters Sunday's NIU match with a record of 30-5-4 at home since the start of the 2017 season. The Falcons are 23-2-2 against MAC teams at Cochrane Stadium in that time.

• In those 27 contests vs. conference competition, BGSU has outscored the opposition, 59-19.

SUCCESSFUL ON THE ROAD
• After Thursday's win at WMU, the Falcons have a record of 16-5-1 on the road against MAC opponents since the start of the 2017 season. BGSU is 13-2-0 in conference road contests since the start of the 2018 season, having outscored the opponents, 41-8, in those 15 games.

• The Falcons have scored at least two goals in 12 of those 15 matches, and BG has put at least three goals on the board in nine of those 15 contests.

97 PERCENT OF THE TIME, SCORING TWO GOALS WORKS EVERY TIME
(alternate title: THE MORE GOALS, THE MORE BETTER)
• It would stand to reason that scoring goals increases a team's chances of winning. For the Falcons, that is most certainly the case.

• Since the start of the 2017 season, BGSU has a record of 44-1-1 when scoring at least two goals in a match. In that time, the Falcons are 5-22-9 when being held to fewer than two goals.

• The Falcons have won 27-straight matches when scoring two or more goals at Cochrane Stadium, since a 4-3 loss to Western Michigan on Oct. 20, 2016.

FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• BGSU enters the weekend with an overall record of 2-4-2. As mentioned, the Falcons are ranked 89th in the first RPI rankings of the year.

• BGSU's grueling non-conference schedule saw the Falcons face four Big Ten Conference schools (Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State) as well as one Atlantic Coast Conference member (Notre Dame) and a nationally-ranked Big East Conference foe (Xavier). BGSU also faced Oakland, downing the Golden Grizzlies by a 6-0 count in the fall 2021 home opener. The Falcons opened the MAC slate with a win at Western Michigan.

• The Falcons are 1-1-1 at home and 1-3-1 on the road this season to date. BGSU has been outscored, 15-14, through eight matches.

• Returning All-MAC First-Team performers Madi Wolfbauer and Nikki Cox lead the team in scoring, with nine and eight points, respectively. Wolfbauer leads the Falcons with four goals, while Cox has a pair of goals and a BG-leading four assists.

• Lacee Bethea has six points and Kennedy White five. Bethea is second on the team with three goals, while White has one goal and is second on the squad with three assists.

• Audrey Shea has four points after scoring her first collegiate goal in the Xavier match. Shea became the 16th player on the current roster who has scored at least one goal as a Falcon.

• Lili Berg has started every match in goal, and has 35 saves and a 1.64 goals-against average. She had a career-high seven saves at Michigan State, then topped that total with eight stops vs. XU.

• The Falcons returned 19 letterwinners, including all 11 starters, from last season's club. The 2020(-21) Falcons went 6-1-1 overall and 5-1-0 in MAC play, outscoring opponents by a 17-3 count in the spring.

• The returning players combined for 100 percent of the goals and 90.9% (all but one) of the assists in the spring, and Berg played approximately 96% of the minutes between the posts.

• The Falcons were picked to finish second in the MAC's regular-season race in 2021. BGSU received 132 total points and five first-place votes. Buffalo was tabbed to win the conference, with 136 total points and seven first-place votes. BGSU received six votes to win the MAC Tournament, while UB garnered four.

THE OPPONENT
• Northern Illinois is 3-6-0 overall, and the Huskies are looking to reverse a four-match losing streak. Northern has defeated Chicago State and Valparaiso this season to date, but lost a 3-0 decision to Toledo in Thursday's MAC opener. Haley Hoppe has six goals and 13 points for the Huskies, and Sadie McGill has 48 saves in goal, along with a 2.22 GAA.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads Northern Illinois, 11-10-3, in the all-time series, and the Falcons have won the last four meetings, including a 7-0 decision in DeKalb two seasons ago (Oct. 24, 2019). In the most recent meeting at Cochrane, the Falcons posted a 3-0 win in late September of 2018. BGSU is 5-6-1 in home matches, 6-3-2 on the road and 0-1-0 in neutral-site contests vs. the Huskies through the years.

UP NEXT
• Following the NIU match, the Falcons will remain at home to face Ohio on Thursday (Sept. 30). That contest will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium.

• Then, BGSU open the October slate with road matches against Kent State (Oct. 3) and Ball State (Oct. 7), before returning home for three of the next four games.

# BGSU FALCON SOCCER #

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