Falcons Return to the Road to Face Two Ranked Opponents this Week

#19 FALCONS at #2 NOTRE DAME – Tuesday, Sept. 19
7:00 p.m. | Alumni Stadium | Notre Dame, Ind.
Live Stats: UND.com | Twitter: @BGSUmenssoccer
Live Video: ACC Network Extra / ESPN3

#19 FALCONS at #22* OHIO STATE – Friday, Sept. 22
7:00 p.m. | Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium | Columbus, Ohio
Live Stats: OhioStateBuckeyes.com | Twitter: @BGSUmenssoccer
Live Video: BTN Plus (fee required)
* ranking is most recent United Soccer Coaches poll unless noted – OSU ranking is Top Drawer Soccer poll

ON MATCH DAY...
Links to any live audio/video/stats will be available on the men's soccer schedule page right here at BGSUFalcons.com on match day.

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LINKS
This Week's BGSU Notes as a PDF
2017 BGSU Men's Soccer Weekly Releases/Notes
MAC Office Announces Preseason Poll
2017 BGSU Men's Soccer: Schedule | Roster | Record Book
Join the Falcon Club Today!

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UP NEXT IN FALCON SOCCER
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team returns to the road for a pair of matches against nationally-ranked foes this week. Head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons head to Indiana for a Tuesday (Sept. 19) tilt with Notre Dame, before venturing to Columbus for a Friday (Sept. 22) contest against Ohio State. Both matches are slated to begin at 7:00 p.m., with Tuesday's match taking place at UND's Alumni Stadium and Friday's action set for Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

TOUGH CROWD
• The Falcons are in the midst of a difficult four-game stretch in which the opponents have a combined record of 22-3-1 as of Monday morning (Sept. 18). Three of the four opponents are ranked in a national poll, with two of them ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation in at least one poll. The only opponent not currently listed in the national rankings went on the road and defeated two top-25 opponents last week.

• Michigan State, after 1-0 wins over both the Falcons and Michigan last week, is now 7-0-0 on the year. The Spartans are ranked No. 6 in the nation in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll (dated Sept. 12 – the poll comes out on Tuesdays), and MSU is the number-one team in the nation according to the Top Drawer Soccer poll that was released Monday (Sept. 18).

• Notre Dame, the Falcons' Tuesday opponent, is a perfect 5-0-0 on the year, and the Fighting Irish are No. 2 in the country according to last Tuesday's coaches poll. UND is fourth and fifth, respectively, in the two polls released Monday.

• Ohio State, BG's Friday foe, is 22nd in Monday's TDS poll and 26th in the College Soccer News poll that was announced Monday morning.

• The Falcons' final 12 opponents of the regular season have a combined record of 48-24-9 as of Monday morning (Sept. 18). That group includes three undefeated teams and two squads with just one loss.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• For those who can't make it to Cochrane Stadium, live stats are scheduled to be available for each home match via BGSUFalcons.com. Twitter updates for all men's soccer action, both home and away, will be available via @BGSUmenssoccer.

• Additionally, a majority of the Falcons' home matches will be streamed by WBGU. Currently, seven of the eight home contests – including each of the final six – are scheduled to be streamed, free of charge.

• And, an audio stream for many of BG's home matches will be available through the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO).

• As always, all of the pertinent information re: live audio/video/stats can be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com on the day of the match.

FREE ADMISSION
Again this season, admission to all Falcon men's and women's soccer home regular-season matches is free.

LAST WEEK
• After getting off to a 5-0-0 start for the second time in three seasons, the Falcons dropped a pair of games last week. On Wednesday (Sept. 13), BGSU lost a 1-0 decision on the road against No. 6 Michigan State.

• The lone goal in that MSU match was a penalty kick early in the second half. For the Falcon defense, it snapped a shutout streak of over 500 minutes – 502:49, to be exact – to begin the season.

• According to the Top Drawer Soccer web site, BGSU was the final NCAA Division-I team to allow a goal this season.

• Then, on Saturday (Sept. 16), Cincinnati came to Cochrane Stadium and knocked off the Falcons, 3-1. BGSU allowed a goal in the run of play for the first time in 2017 on an own goal in the 32nd minute, and the Bearcats doubled the lead early in the second half.

• Sophomore Chris Brennan cut the Falcons' deficit in half with just 1:32 to go, but the 'Cats scored what amounted to an empty-net goal with 30 seconds left.

STREAKS SNAPPED
• The Falcons' loss at Michigan State snapped BGSU's streaks of five consecutive wins and five-straight shutouts, and the Cincinnati match halted several other impressive BG streaks.

• The loss to UC snapped a 13-match home unbeaten streak for the Falcons, who had not fallen at Cochrane Stadium since a 1-0 overtime setback to Northern Illinois on Oct. 3, 2015.

• BGSU went 9-0-4 in that home unbeaten streak, outscoring opponents by a 26-5 count and posting nine shutouts in those 13 matches.

• BG had not lost in regulation at Cochrane since a 1-0 loss to Michigan State on Sept. 29, 2015. The Spartans scored with less than two minutes remaining in the second half of that match.

• The Falcons had not lost by more than one goal since a 4-0 loss at No. 10 Akron in the final match of the 2015 campaign (Nov. 7, 2015). BGSU had not lost by two or more goals at home in nearly five years, since a 2-0 setback vs. the No. 7 Zips on Sept. 22, 2012.

• BGSU had not given up more than two goals in a game since that 4-0 setback to UA in the final 2015 match.

• The Falcons had not allowed more than two goals at Cochrane in close to six years, since a 3-0 loss to Northern Illinois on Oct. 29, 2011.

• Last week's outcomes marked the first time BG lost back-to-back matches since mid-October of 2015. The Falcons have not dropped three consecutive contests since earlier in that '15 season.

A FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE FALCONS
• BGSU enters the Notre Dame match with a 5-2-0 record. The Falcons posted multi-goal wins – all by shutout – over IUPUI, Cleveland State, Drexel, Penn and Western Illinois, before losing a pair of matches last week. The Falcons have outscored the opponents, 12-4, this season to date.

• Sophomore Chris Brennan leads the Falcons with 10 points, including three goals and four assists. Brennan is tied for the BG lead in both goals and assists.

• Junior defender Moe Mustafa also has three goals, and has seven points in just four matches. Junior Tate Robertson has six points, including four assists to match Brennan's team-best total in that category.

• Junior Alexis Souahy has five points and sophomore Robert Miller III four, and both Souahy and Miller have two goals.

• Both Miller and Mustafa have two game-winning goals on the year. They each recorded their first career GWG during BG's two-match homestand to begin the regular season, and each player scored another winner on the trip to Philadelphia.

• BGSU is 5-0-0 this season when scoring two or more goals. The Falcons are 19-0-2 in such matches since the start of the 2015 season and 49-4-6 in the Nichols Era.

• Sophomore goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia had five shutouts to start the 2017 season, and now has kept 13 clean sheets in 25 career matches. He has 27 saves and a goals-against average of 0.57 on the year. Mwembia's career GAA is 0.69, while his career saves percentage is .842.

• Eight Falcons have started all seven matches to date. That octet includes Brennan, Robertson, Souahy, senior Brad Macomber, juniors Dominic Grida and Peter Pugliese, sophomore Tom Wrobel and freshman Zach Buescher.

• Both Mwembia and Robertson were listed in the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Conference Top-20 rankings. Mwembia was listed as the 10th-ranked player in the MAC, while Robertson was ranked 12th in the league.

• BGSU went two decades (1995 to 2015) without going 4-0 to start the season, but the Falcons have done so in three-straight years now. Both the 2015 and '17 teams began 5-0 and broke into the national rankings, while the '16 team got off to a 4-0 start.

SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE BROWN AND ORANGE
• The 2017 season marks the 53rd year of BGSU men's soccer. Legendary coach Mickey Cochrane initiated varsity programs in both soccer and lacrosse at BG in 1965, after serving as club coach of both sports at the University the previous year. Cochrane can still be found in attendance at the field that bears his name for many BGSU men's and women's soccer matches.

• Eric Nichols, now in his ninth season at BG, is just the fifth coach in the illustrious history of Falcon men's soccer. Cochrane (1965-77), Gary Palmisano (1978-92, 1994), Mel Mahler (1993, 1995-2003) and Fred Thompson (2004-08) are the only other individuals to have coached the BGSU men's soccer program.

• Nichols – the 2016 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year – enters the Notre Dame match with a record of 67-68-24 at BG, The Falcons, after going 3-12-3 in his first year, have a winning record since the start of the 2010 campaign.

• Nichols and the Falcons had an overall record of 9-6-4 in 2016, and BGSU finished MAC regular-season play with a 2-0-3 league ledger. BG finished second in the conference, the program's best showing since the 2002 season, and the Falcons were undefeated at Cochrane Stadium for the first time since 1996.

• The Falcons have a record of 37-23-6 (.606) since the beginning of the 2014 season. The '14 team went 14-6-1, posting the program's most wins in nearly two decades (since 1997), and advanced to the MAC Tournament's championship match for the first time since 2003. The 2015 club finished 9-9-1, marking only the second time since 2000 that BGSU had won as many as nine games in a season. And, obviously, 2016 was the third time, as BG again posted nine victories.

• BGSU ended the 2016 regular season as the only team without a loss in MAC play. The Falcons – picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll – finished second in the league standings, and went unbeaten in the MAC for the first time since 1996.

• Nichols and his staff – assistant coaches Eric Reed and Zach Mason – welcomed back a total of 13 letterwinners, including seven starters, from last year's team. (For additional notes on the BGSU coaching staff, consult page 9 of the PDF link at the top of this page.)

• Anthony Mwembia was an All-MAC First-Team selection in his freshman campaign, while Tate Robertson earned All-MAC Second-Team honors.

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
Notre Dame enters Tuesday's match with a perfect 5-0-0 record. The Fighting Irish are ranked No. 5 or better in every national poll, including No. 2 in the country in the most recent United Soccer Coaches poll. UND is 2-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, having downed Boston College on the road (3-1) and North Carolina State (3-0) at home to begin the league slate. Jeff Farina and Jon Gallagher have four goals apiece this season, while Felicien Dumas has a team-leading five assists. In goal, Chris Hubbard has 12 saves and a GAA of just 0.39. Last year, head coach Bobby Clark's team went 12-7-2 overall and 3-2-2 in the ACC, advancing to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Twelve letterwinners, including seven starters, returned from that club.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE
Ohio State is 6-1-0 heading into Friday's battle with BGSU, and the Buckeyes are off to a 3-0 start in Big Ten Conference action. OSU has posted five consecutive shutouts to tie the school record. The Buckeyes have blanked Northwestern (3-0) and Rutgers (1-0) on the road, sandwiched around a 3-0 home win over Penn State to start league play. The team's lone loss of the year was a 3-0 setback to FIU. Joshua Jackson-Ketchup and Abdi Mohamed each have six points on the year, with Jackson-Ketchup having scored a team-high three goals and Mohamed dishing out an OSU-leading four assists. In goal, Parker Siegfried (17 saves, 0.43 GAA) has played every second of every match, and has six shutouts. Head coach John Bluem returned 11 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's club. OSU has already topped the overall win total and matched the conference win mark attained by last year's group, as the 2016 Buckeyes went 5-13-1 and 3-4-1, respectively.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons trail Notre Dame, 5-4-1, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Falcons and Irish have not met since 1994. BGSU won the initial meeting on Halloween of 1979, and the teams met seven times during the 1980's before playing a home-and-home series in 1993 and '94. The Falcons are 3-2-0 at home and 1-3-1 on the road vs. the Irish through the years.

BGSU leads Ohio State, 24-16-3, in that series, and the Falcons picked up a 2-0 win before a capacity crowd at Cochrane last season (Sept. 24, 2016). Two years ago, in BG's last trip to Columbus, the Buckeyes scored with just three seconds left in the second OT for a 2-1 win. The Falcons are 15-4-1 in home games, 9-12-2 in road contests and 1-0-0 in neutral-site meetings with Ohio State through the years.

UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following this week's two matches, the Falcons return home to face Duquesne at Cochrane Stadium on Wednesday, Sept. 27. Each of BG's next nine matches is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. local time.

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