Falcons Head West for Midweek Matchup with Northern

Tuesday, October 25

DeKalb, Ill.

8:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Northern Illinois

Photo by: Mallory Hiser, BGSU Athletics

October 24, 2022 | Men's Soccer

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BGSU faces Huskies on Tuesday night in DeKalb

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

FALCONS at NORTHERN ILLINOIS – Tuesday, October 25
8:00 p.m. ET | NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex | DeKalb, Ill.
• Video/Web Stream: NIU All-Access •
• Live Stats: NIUHuskies.com | Twitter: @BGSUmenssoccer •

FIRST TOUCH
• The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team hits the road for the next two games, beginning with a midweek match in DeKalb. Head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons meet Northern Illinois University in Mid-American Conference action on Tuesday evening (Oct. 25). First touch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. locally (8:00 p.m. ET) at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Tuesday's NIU contest will be streamed via NIU All-Access (fee required). Live stats and Twitter updates (@BGSUmenssoccer), as always, will also be available.

• Links to live audio/video/stats for all 2022 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.

FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons are 4-4-5 on the season, and BGSU is 2-1-2 in MAC play entering the NIU match. BG is unbeaten in the last four matches, having tied Akron twice while posting a pair of 3-0 wins over the MAC's newest member, Chicago State.

• The Falcons' most recent outing, on Friday night (Oct. 21) at Cochrane Stadium, saw Joey Akpunonu, Sergi Martinez and Trace Terry all score goals in a win over CSU on Senior Night.

• Brendan Graves made five saves vs. the Cougars, as Graves and the back line earned a shutout for the third-straight match and the sixth time this season.

• Last Monday (Oct. 17), Graves made a pair of stops to keep a clean sheet on the road against #20 Akron. The Falcons and Zips played to draws in each of this year's two meetings (Akron is 3-0-0 against the rest of the MAC).

• BGSU has allowed just seven goals in 13 games this season. The Falcons have not given up more than one goal in a match since last year's NCAA Championships second-round contest at Indiana.

• The Falcons have kept the opponent off of the scoreboard in the first half in 14 of the last 15 matches, dating to last November. The first Akron game (Oct. 6) marked the first – and so far the only – time this year that the Brown and Orange surrendered a first-half goal.

• No fewer than 10 of this year's 13 games have been scoreless at the half, with the lone exceptions being the Oakland (BG led, 3-0), Akron (BG trailed, 1-0) and Chicago State (BG led, 1-0) matches at Cochrane.

• All four of BGSU's losses – to Loyola (Ill.), Ohio State, Western Michigan and Georgetown – have come by identical 1-0 scores.

• In the Falcons' five draws – scoreless ties at DePaul, Michigan and Akron, and 1-1 home outcomes vs. Michigan State and UA – BG outshot the foes by a combined total of 71-41. The Falcons had a 21-15 lead in shots on goal against those five opponents.

• All four of BGSU's wins have been by multiple goals. In addition to the two 3-0 wins over Chicago State, the Falcons posted victories at Air Force (3-1; Sept. 17) and at home vs. Oakland (6-0; Sept. 23).

INDIVIDUALLY...
• Sergi Martinez leads a balanced BGSU scoring attack with 10 points on the season. Martinez has three goals and a team-leading four assists.

• Alberto Anaya has nine points and Joey Akpunonu eight. Anaya, who has missed three matches due to injury, exploded for seven points in the win over Oakland. Akpunonu, like Anaya, has two game-winning goals this season. Akpunonu paces the Falcons with four goals this fall.

• Freshman Andrew Shaffer has seven points, including three goals, on the season. Shaffer and Martinez are tied for the team scoring lead in MAC matches, with five points apiece.

• Brendan Graves and the BGSU back line have allowed just seven goals – including one on a PK – in 1170 minutes of action. Graves has 33 saves and a goals-against average of 0.54 this season.

• Akpunonu, Graves and Martinez each have started all 13 matches this season. Kyle Cusimano, Josh Erlandson, Jensen Lukacsko and Kale Nichols also have started every match, while Amer Dedic and Nathan Masters have made 12 starts apiece, Anaya 10 and Eli Shope nine.

RHYMES WITH SAVES
• Brendan Graves and the BG back line, as mentioned, have posted three-straight shutouts, and has a total of six clean sheets this season. Graves ranks seventh in the nation in goals-against average (0.54), and is also among the NCAA leaders in saves percentage (.825; 16th) and shutouts (18th).

• Graves enters the NIU match with a GAA of 0.40 in MAC play. He has a career GAA of 0.94, with eight shutouts in his 20 total starts as a Falcon.

A FEW MORE NOTES AND NUMBERS
• In the Eric Nichols Era, BGSU is now 79-9-6 when scoring two or more goals.

• Entering the NIU match, the Falcons have a record of 40-24-12 over the last 76 games, dating to midway through the 2018 season. Sixteen of the 24 setbacks in that time have come by a single goal.

• Friday's match was Senior Night at Cochrane Stadium, with a large contingent of Falcons recognized prior to the contest. That group included Brevin Andreadis, Abdi Faqi, Logan Kowalczyk, Jensen Lukacsko, Sergi Martinez, Michael Montemurri, Kale Nichols, Eli Shope, Carter Womack and student director of operations Trevor Jones.

• After downing Chicago State, BGSU is now 9-3-2 in Senior Day/Night matches since Nichols became head coach prior to the 2009 season. BGSU is undefeated (8-0-1) in the last nine matches, with wins in the last six such contests.

• BGSU has won the last five Senior Day/Night games – vs. SIUE, West Virginia, Akron, Georgia Southern and CSU – by a combined score of 13-0.

THE OPPONENT
• Northern Illinois enters Tuesday's match with an overall record of 5-5-4, and the Huskies are 2-2-1 in MAC play. NIU has been idle since a 2-0 home win over Chicago State last Monday (Oct. 17). Taisei Arima has three goals and seven points to lead a balanced attack, while Enrique Banuelos has a pair of game-winning goals and six points. Martin Sanchez has made 11 starts and has 38 saves, four shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.64. Head coach Ryan Swan welcomed back seven starters from last year's team that finished 15-3-2 overall and 4-0-2 in the MAC. NIU won the league's regular-season and tournament titles in 2021.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons trail NIU, 18-17-2, in the all-time series. BGSU had won seven-straight meetings prior to the teams' 1-1 draw in DeKalb in last season's lone regular-season match (Oct. 16, 2021). NIU then topped the Falcons, 5-2, a month later in the MAC Tournament (Nov. 11, 2021). BGSU is 11-7-0 at home, 5-10-2 on the road and 1-1-0 in neutral-site matches vs. the Huskies over the years.

UP NEXT
• Following the NIU match, the Falcons will return to the road next week, taking on Western Michigan on Wednesday (Nov. 2). That contest begins at 4:00 p.m. at the WMU Soccer Complex. Then, the regular-season schedule concludes when NIU comes to Cochrane four days later (Sunday, Nov. 6).

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

# BGSU FALCON SOCCER #