Falcons Host Titans in Thursday's Regular-Season Opener

BGSU vs. DETROIT MERCY
Thursday, Aug. 15 | 7:00 p.m.
Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio
Video/Web Stream: WBGU-TV/YouTube
Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com

• The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team begins the 2024 regular-season schedule on Thursday evening (Aug. 15), when the University of Detroit Mercy Titans come to town. Head coach Chris Fox and the Falcons will meet the Titans in a 7:00 p.m. start at Cochrane Stadium.

• The UDM match is part of a two-game homestand to begin the regular season, as the Falcons face Findlay on the following Thursday (Aug. 22).

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Thursday's UDM match will be streamed on YouTube, and produced by WBGU-TV. Live stats and periodic Twitter updates (@BGSU_Wsoccer) will also be available during the match.

• Links to live audio/video/stats for all 2024 matches can be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com (on the women's soccer schedule page and in the right column on the main page) on match day.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons return 17 letterwinners, including seven starters, from last season's club. The 2023 team went 10-6-2 on the season, and BGSU finished the MAC regular-season schedule with a record of 8-1-2, good for second place in the 12-team league (and just one point shy of first-place Western Michigan).

• Chris Fox begins his first season at the BGSU helm after two highly-successful seasons at the helm of Morehead State. Kerry Edwards and Kate Larbes round out the coaching staff.

• The Falcons lose seven letterwinners from last year's squad, but the returning players combined to score 19 of the team's 26 goals last season.

• Brynn Gardner is back after leading the 2023 team with 16 points, while Ellie Pool was second with 13 points. Emma Stransky had nine points in her freshman campaign to rank among the top-five scorers on the '23 squad.

• Brynn Gardner scored a team-high six goals, with Pool having found the back of the net four times and Stransky three. Pool led the team with five assists, while Brynn Gardner had four and Stransky and Emilie Gardner three apiece.

• Madison Vukas played in all 18 matches in goal a year ago, as she split time with the graduated Lili.Berg – each 'keeper played 45 minutes in each game. Vukas ended the season with a goals-against average of 1.11.

• In MAC matches, Brynn Gardner finished with 14 points, while Pool had 10 and Lexi Czerwien five.

• Vukas had a GAA of just 0.55 in MAC games, and led the entire conference in saves percentage in MAC matches (.889). She and Berg combined to post seven shutouts last fall, with six coming against league foes.

• A total of 24 different players saw action in at least one match last season, with 18 players starting at least once.

A LITTLE MORE INFO ABOUT LAST SEASON
• The Falcons went 2-4-0 in non-conference play in 2023, with three of those four losses coming at the hands of nationally-ranked teams (#17 Michigan State, #21 Pittsburgh and #11 Notre Dame), and all four of those setbacks were against schools from Power 5 conferences (two schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference and one each from the Big Ten and Big 12).

• Then, however, the Falcons began MAC play with a six-game unbeaten streak, going 5-0-1 and posting four-straight shutouts to begin the league schedule. A loss to Kent State snapped that streak, but after a scoreless tie with Buffalo, the Falcons ended the regular-season schedule with three consecutive wins.

• BGSU fell to Ohio, 2-1, in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament.

#MACTION
• BGSU, as mentioned, finished with a record of 8-1-2 in MAC play in 2023, good for second place in the league. The Falcons have most definitely enjoyed more than their fair share of success in conference action over the last few years. BG won four-straight regular-season and tournament titles from 2018-21, before finishing third in the MAC in 2022 and second in '23.

• Since the start of the 2018 season, the Falcons have a record of 47-8-6 in MAC regular-season matches, good for a winning percentage of .820. BGSU has eight more wins than any other team during that span, and 10 of the other 11 programs have at least twice the amount of losses as the Falcons in that time...
MAC REGULAR-SEASON RECORDS SINCE 2018 (through the 2023 season)
School     Record   Pct.  MAC Championships *
Bowling Green 47- 8- 6   .820 8 (4 Regular-Season, 4 MAC Tournament)
Ball State 39-14-11   .695 1 (1 Regular-Season)
Buffalo 33-17-13   .627 2 (1 Regular-Season, 1 MAC Tournament)
Western Michigan 36-21- 8   .615 1 (1 Regular-Season)
Kent State 30-21-11   .573 1 (1 MAC Tournament)
Ohio 31-24-10 .554 0
Central Michigan 22-32-10 .422 0
Miami 22-35- 6 .397 0
Toledo 19-34- 9 .379 0
Eastern Michigan 20-38- 6 .359 0
Akron 17-39- 8 .328 0
Northern Illinois 13-46- 6 .246 0
* Includes division titles (MAC split into East & West divisions for the 2020[-21] season)

SUCCESSFUL AT HOME
• Heading into Thursday's UDM match, BGSU has a record of 44-11-9 at home since the start of the 2017 season. The Falcons are 35-6-6 against MAC teams at Cochrane Stadium in that time, having outscored the opposition, 90-32, in those 47 matches.

SUCCESSFUL ON THE ROAD
• The Falcons have a record of 28-6-3 on the road against MAC opponents since the start of the 2017 season. BG is 25-3-2 in league road contests since the beginning of 2018, having outscored the opponents by a 76-18 count. In those 30 matches, BGSU has scored at least two goals 24 times, and at least three goals on 14 occasions.

• BGSU is 22-2-2 in the last 26 MAC road contests, dating to late in the 2018 season.

• Overall, the Falcons are 17-11-3 in true road games over the last four years. No fewer than eight of those 11 road losses have come against opponents from Power 5 conferences, with a ninth coming to a team (Xavier in 2022) that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championships that season.

PRETTY DARN SUCCESSFUL AGAINST THE MAC, NO MATTER THE SITE
• As mentioned, the Falcons have enjoyed great success against MAC competition in recent years. BGSU advanced to the MAC Tournament final in 2017 before falling in OT, then won both the regular-season and tourney 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 NCAAs for the third-straight season. Then, in the fall of 2021, BG captured the MAC's regular-season title, then shut out both Buffalo and Kent State in the league tournament to head back to the national tourney yet again.

• Entering the 2024 season, the Falcons are 29-6-7 in the last 42 games vs. MAC opponents, having outscored the foes by an 82-27 count in that span.

• BGSU is 77-37-18 overall since the start of 2017. The Falcons are 53-12-7 in MAC regular-season matches and 63-14-10 in all games vs. MAC foes in that time. Since the beginning of 2018, BG is 64-30-17 overall, 47-8-6 in MAC regular-season action and 55-9-9 in all games vs. league opposition. A handy list follows...
THE FALCONS SINCE 2018
Year   Overall MAC All MAC*   Home    Away   Neutral
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 11-7-3 8-2-1   10-2-1 6-3-2   5-4-1   0-0-0
2022 9-5-5 6-2-3    7-2-4 4-2-3   5-3-1   0-0-1
2023 10-6-2 8-1-2 8-2-2 5-2-1   5-3-1   0-1-0
TOTALS   64-30-17 47-8-6   55-9-9   37-9-9 27-20-5   0-1-3
* All matches (regular-season & tournament) vs. MAC schools

96 PERCENT OF THE TIME, SCORING TWO GOALS WORKS EVERY TIME
(or, 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 2017, BGSU is 65-1-3 when scoring at least two goals in a match. In that time, the Falcons are 12-36-15 when being held under two goals.

• The Falcons are undefeated in the last 36 home matches (35-0-1) when scoring at least twice. The last time BG scored two or more goals at Cochrane Stadium and lost was on Oct. 20, 2016 (4-3 loss to Western Michigan).

FINISHING STRONG
• The Falcons have played their best down the stretch in recent seasons. In 2022, after a loss to begin October, BGSU ended the season with a record of 6-1-2. During that stretch (Oct. 6 to Nov. 3), the Falcons outscored the opponents, 21-4.

• In roughly that same time span the previous year (Oct. 3 to Nov. 7, 2021), BGSU went 9-1-0 and outscored opponents by nearly the same margin (20-4). That run ended with a dominant victory in the MAC Tournament's championship match.

• Last season, the success began slightly earlier, as the Falcons went 8-1-2 from Sept. 21 through the end of October.

• October has been a highly-successful month for the Falcons. BGSU went 6-1-1 in October in 2023, and since the start of the 2017 season, BGSU has a record of 40-8-3 in the 10th month of the year.

• BGSU is 6-4-3 in November during that span. That includes a 6-1-3 mark in MAC Tournament play and an 0-3 record in the NCAA Tournament.

• The Falcons have been pretty darn successful during the early portion of the season as well. Let's break it down month by month, shall we?
THE FALCONS BY MONTH (since 2018)
Year Aug.    Sept. Oct. Nov.   Overall
2018 1-1-1   5-2-1 7-1-0   1-1-1   14-5-3
2019 1-1-1   3-3-1 8-1-0   2-1-1   14-6-3
2020(-21) (5-1-0 in March, 1-0-1 in April) 6-1-1
2021 1-3-0   1-2-3 7-1-0   2-1-0   11-7-3
2022 0-2-1   3-1-2 6-2-1   0-0-1   9-5-5
2023 2-2-0   2-2-1 6-1-1   0-1-0   10-6-2
TOTALS   5-9-3   14-10-8 34-6-2 5-4-3   64-30-17 *
* overall total includes March & April records in spring of 2021

THE OPPONENT
• Detroit Mercy went 7-9-3 last season, and the Titans finished the 2023 campaign with a 5-5-0 Horizon League record. Abbey Lodato returns after leading that '23 club in scoring, with 14 points. In goal, Jazmine Scott is gone after starting 17 of the team's 19 matches in the 2023 campaign. Eva Hill is one of four returning 'keepers from a year ago. She played in three matches, starting two, between the posts last season.

THE SERIES
• BGSU trails UDM, 8-7-0, in the all-time series, but the Falcons have won the last four meetings. Last season, Ellie Pool scored early in the second half to lift the Orange and Brown to a 2-1 win in the Motor City (Aug. 31, 2023). The last meeting at Cochrane Stadium saw the Falcons pick up a 1-0 victory in the 2022 home opener (Sept. 4, 2022). BGSU is 4-3-0 at home and 3-5-0 on the road against the Titans over the years.

UP NEXT
• Following the UDM match, the Falcons will be back at home next Thursday (Aug. 22), taking on Findlay in another 7:00 p.m. start at Cochrane.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will play three-straight road games, beginning with a contest at Duquesne on Sunday, Aug. 25. First touch is set for 3:00 p.m. in downtown Pittsburgh.

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
• For more information on the women's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSU_WSoccer), Instagram (bgsu_wsoccer) and Facebook (bgsuwsoc) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.

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