Falcons Face Flames as MVC Race Heats Up

Wednesday, October 18

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

UIC

Lineups - Anthem - Team v NKU - Sept 12 2023

Photo by: Daniel Carlson, BGSU Athletics

October 17, 2023 | Men's Soccer

BGSU Notes (PDF)UIC Men's Soccer 2023 Record Book (PDF)Support BGSU Men's Soccer

BGSU meets UIC on Wednesday night at Cochrane

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BGSU vs. UIC
Wednesday, Oct. 18 | 7:00 p.m.
Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio
Video/Web Stream: WBGU-TV (YouTube)
Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com

• The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team returns home for two of the next three matches, and both will likely be against teams in the top-25 conversation. This week, the Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols face UIC on Wednesday night (Oct. 18), with that Missouri Valley Conference contest set for a 7:00 p.m. start at Cochrane Stadium. It marks BGSU's first home match in nearly three weeks.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Wednesday's UIC match will be streamed on YouTube, free of charge, and produced by WBGU-TV. Live stats and Twitter/X updates (@BGSUMSoccer), as always, will also be available.

• Links to any available live audio/video/stats for all 2023 matches can be found right here at BGSUFalcons.com on game day.

TOUGH CROWD
• The Falcons are currently undefeated at home this fall, with a record of 5-0-1 inside Cochrane Stadium. BGSU has two home regular-season matches remaining, and will definitely be put to the test, to say the least, in those two games.

• Wednesday's opponent, UIC, is receiving votes in this week's College Soccer News poll after recently spending several weeks in multiple national polls.

• Next week, the Falcons will host four-time defending MVC champion Missouri State. The Bears are ranked 13th in the nation in this week's CSN poll, and MSU is 16th in both this week's Top Drawer Soccer poll and the most recent United Soccer Coaches listings.

FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons have an overall record of 5-5-3, and BGSU is 2-2-0 in Missouri Valley Conference action. BG is coming off of a narrow 2-1 loss at Belmont on Saturday night (Oct. 14).

• Bowling Green returned 11 letterwinners, including seven starters, from the 2022 team that went 6-5-5 overall and finished third in the Mid-American Conference with a 4-2-2 league ledger. Nichols and his staff have a whopping 14 newcomers on the 2023 roster.

• Entering the UIC match, the Falcons have scored 17 goals while allowing 19 this fall. A pair of sophomores lead the way offensively, as Trace Terry and Andrew Shaffer are BGSU's top-two scorers. Terry, after scoring nine points in a two-match span, has 12 points on a team-high four goals and four assists. He is tied for the team lead in the latter category. Terry has tripled his point total for all of last season.

• Shaffer has matched his 2022 totals with three goals and two assists for eight points. Eli Shope also has three goals, and ranks third on the team with seven points, while Alberto Anaya has six points and Kyle Cusimano four. Anaya has four assists to tie Terry for the team lead in that category.

• Four Falcons – Rodrigo Montez Silva, Taylor Dyson, Jake Bergin and Jake Lane – each have found the back of the net once this year.

• Anaya is the Falcons' top returning scorer from a year ago. He had 10 points on three goals and four assists in 2022, despite missing four of BG's 16 matches due to injury. Shaffer had eight points and Josh Erlandson seven last season, with each player scoring three goals.

• Brendan Graves has played all 13 matches in goal this season, and has 65 saves, two shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.46.

• Graves has played every second of the Falcons' last 35 matches – a total of 3,170 minutes. No other BGSU player has been between the posts since Oct. 22, 2021.

• A total of 18 different Falcons have started at least one match this season. Only four players – Graves, Terry, Kyle Blasingame and Mads Christensen – have been in the Starting XI for all 13 contests.

• Graves, as mentioned, has played every second so far this season. Blasingame leads the field players in minutes played, having been on the pitch for 1,102 of the 1,170 total minutes. Christensen (1015), Shope (985) and Terry (951) round out the team's top five in that category.

• Many more fascinating notes such as those listed above can be found by clicking on the attached PDF, which is located near the top of this very page.

THE OPPONENT
• UIC is 8-3-2 overall, and the Flames are 3-1-1 in MVC play after dismantling Evansville, 5-1, on Saturday night (Oct. 14). UIC is ranked 22nd in the nation in goals per game (2.08). Individually, Bart Muns has 18 points, with a team-high six goals along with six assists. Joshua Torres and Jesus De Vicente have 12 and 11 points, respectively, and De Vicente is ranked among the national leaders with seven assists. In goal, Oren Asher has started 11 of the team's 13 matches, and has 38 saves, four shutouts and a GAA of just 1.18. Head coach Sean Phillips and the Flames went 5-9-2 overall in 2022, and finished 3-4-1 in its inaugural season in the MVC.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead UIC, 1-0-0, in the all-time series. The lone prior meeting was a 6-1 BGSU victory more than three decades ago at Cochrane (Sept. 14, 1991).

UP NEXT
• Following the UIC match, the Falcons will return to the road to meet Drake this weekend. That contest will begin at 1:00 p.m. locally – 2:00 p.m. ET – on Sunday (Oct. 22) at Mediacom Stadium.

• Then, BGSU will end the home portion of the regular-season schedule against nationally-ranked Missouri State (Oct. 27).

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
• For more information on the BGSU men's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUMSoccer), Instagram (bgfalcons and bgsumsoccer) and Facebook (BGMensSoccer) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.