Bowling Green State University Athletics
Wednesday, September 24
Bowling Green, Ohio
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
#16 Michigan State (Orange Out!)
Max Auden & the Falcons host nationally-ranked Michigan State Wednesday night
Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications
Falcons Host Michigan State Wednesday Night
September 23, 2014 | Men's Soccer
BGSU then faces St. Bonaventure to begin a three-game road swing
The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team, off to the program's best start in nearly two decades, faces a pair of stern tests this week. The Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols conclude a brief two-game homestand on Wednesday night (Sept. 24), when nationally-ranked Michigan State University comes to Cochrane Field. First touch is set for 7:00 p.m., and admission is free. Wednesday's match will be televised in the Toledo area by BCSN.
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LINKS
BGSU Notes & Statistics - PDF
Michigan State Men's Soccer | St. Bonaventure Men's Soccer
Then, the Brown and Orange will begin a three-match road swing, heading to Western New York for a Sunday (Sept. 28) match vs. St. Bonaventure University. That match is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. at McGraw-Jennings Field.
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IT'S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS
There will be a number of promotions for BGSU students surrounding Wednesday's match against the Spartans. The first 100 students through the gates will receive free pizza. As if free admission and free pizza weren't enough incentive, a $100 gift card to the BGSU Bookstore will be given away during the match. And, the BGSU-MSU match is a Ziggy Points event.
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE
While BGSU and Michigan State have been strong in multiple facets of the game during the early portion of the season, Wednesday's contest matches the top offense in the country against one of the nation's stingiest defenses, according to the latest NCAA Division I statistics. BGSU leads the country in multiple offensive categories, including total goals (22) and goals per game (3.14). Michigan State is ranked fourth in the nation in both goals-against average (0.16) and shutout percentage (0.83), and the Spartans have allowed just one goal through six games this season to date.
MORE AWARDS FOR FLYNN
Falcon sophomore Pat Flynn has compiled more than his share of awards – as well as goals – during the first third of the 2014 season. On Monday, Flynn added a pair of awards to his ever-growing collection. He was named the MAC Player of the Week for the second time in a three-week span. Additionally, Flynn was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week. And, on Tuesday, he was named the College Sports Madness MAC P-O-T-W. Flynn had three goals last week, including the game-winning goals in both games, at BGSU downed Michigan and Eastern Illinois.
GOOD START
BGSU's 6-1-0 start to the season is the team's best since the 1995 team also went 6-1-0 to begin the year. That '95 club got off to a 9-1-0 start en route to the first of three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
MATCHING LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL
After last week's wins over Michigan and Eastern Illinois, BGSU is now 6-1-0 on the year. The Falcons have matched the win total for all of last season. The 2013 club went 6-7-6 overall.
SIX SHOOTERS
BGSU enters the Michigan State match riding a five-game home winning streak and a six-game unbeaten streak at Cochrane Field. Those are BG's longest such streaks in 15 years. The Falcons won six-straight games at home in 1998 and '99, winning the last three home matches of the '98 campaign (over Eastern Michigan, Michigan State and Marshall) and the first three home contests of '99 (vs. Dayton, Western Kentucky and DePaul). BG outscored the six opponents by a 13-1 margin during that '98-99 home winning streak, and the Falcons have outscored the foes, 24-3, during the current streak.
CHART-TOPPERS
The Falcons are very well represented in the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings, released Monday morning (Sept. 22). BGSU leads the nation in six team categories, while sophomore Pat Flynn leads the country in five individual categories. Fellow soph Jacob Roth is ranked among the nation's top 10 on two charts, and yet another sophomore, Joe Sullivan, is listed among the top 25 on three lists
FALCONS IN THE TOP TEN
Player/ Â Â Â Nat'l
Team      Rank   Category(ies)
BGSUÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Total Goals (22); Total Assists (25); Total Points (69);
               Goals/Gm. (3.14); Assists/Gm. (3.57); Points/Gm. (9.86)
           4    Winning Pct. (0.857)
          16    Shutout Pct. (0.57)
Pat Flynn    1    Total Goals (12); Goals/Gm. (1.71); Total Points (26);
                 Points/Gm. (3.71); Game-Winning Goals (5)
Jacob Roth   4    Total Assists (5)
           10    Assists/Gm. (0.71)
Joe Sullivan  9    Total Assists (4)
             25    Assists/Gm. (0.57); Total Points (10)
BUILD FROM THE BACK
Slowly but surely, the Falcons have improved defensively during the Eric Nichols Era. BGSU's totals/averages in a multitude of categories have gotten better in nearly every season since Nichols took over in 2009. Last year, the Falcon defense ranked 26th in the nation in saves pct., 33rd in the country in goals-against average and 36th in NCAA Division I in shutout pct. And, so far this season, the Falcons are in the top-40 in each of those categories. The 2014 team ranks fourth in the nation in another rather important category: winning percentage. A handy table containing these statistics and more can be found in the PDF version of these notes..
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• BGSU's two fourth-year seniors, Danny Baraldi and Jon Kumher, were unbeaten against Michigan in their careers. The Falcons have gone 3-0-1 against the Wolverines over the last four seasons, including shutout wins in Ann Arbor in 2012 and '14.
• Wednesday's opponent, Michigan State, is listed in multiple national rankings. MSU is ranked 13th by College Soccer News, 15th by Top Drawer Soccer and 17th by Soccer America this week. The Spartans were 16th in the country in last week's NSCAA/Continental Tire poll. The latter poll is released on Tuesday afternoons.
• The Falcons received votes in this week's College Soccer News poll.
• MSU will be BGSU's first nationally-ranked opponent this season. The Falcons played four games vs. ranked teams last season, including one match at Cochrane Field – a 1-1 draw vs. #14 Michigan on Sept. 2, 2013.
• The Falcons' last win over a nationally-ranked foe came vs. those same Wolverines, as BG defeated #9 U-M at Cochrane on Aug. 26, 2011. Baraldi, playing in his first collegiate game, scored what proved to be the winning goal that evening.
• Sophomore Pat Flynn has 12 goals and 26 points through seven games this season. No BG player scored more than six goals or 13 points during all of last year.
• No BGSU player had scored as many as 12 goals since Steve Klein had 18 in the 1996 season, and no Falcon had reached 26 points since Chris Dore (nine goals, eight assists, 26 points) in 1999.
• Flynn has scored at least one goal in six of the Falcons' seven matches this season, and has had three matches with two or more goals. In the Duquesne match, the only game in which he has been held scoreless, Flynn drilled a shot off the crossbar in the first overtime.
• Flynn now has five game-winning goals on the year.
• Sophomore Joe Sullivan's two-assist match vs. Eastern Illinois Friday was the first of his career. He now has 10 points this season, good for the second-highest total on the team. Sullivan has three goals and four assists this fall after totaling six points on two goals and two assists as a freshman.
• Senior tri-captain Danny Baraldi assisted on Flynn's second goal of the night against EIU. Baraldi now has 55 points in 61 career matches, with 17 goals and 21 assists as a Falcon. He is just one assist and four points away from moving into the BGSU career top 10 on each of those lists.
• Redshirt sophomore Max Auden scored BGSU's first goal of the match vs. EIU. Auden has seven points this season, including the first two goals of his career. After redshirting the 2012 season at BG, Auden had one point last fall.
• The Falcons have scored 22 goals this season to date, after scoring a total of 25 during all of last season. This year's club has scored at least two goals in six of the seven games thus far.
• Sophomore Jacob Roth has five assists this fall, while Sullivan has four. No BG player had more than four assists during all of last season.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
Michigan State will enter Wednesday's match with a record of 4-1-1 on the season, and the Spartans are 1-0 in Big Ten Conference play after a 1-0 win at Maryland on Friday (Sept. 19). Junior Jason Stacy scored the lone goal of that match, while classmate Zach Bennett picked up the shutout in goal. Another junior, Zach Carroll, cleared a Maryland shot off the goal line in the final minute of play. The Spartans' other wins have come at home vs. SMU, Florida International and Loyola (Ill.), while State has tied UIC and lost to Valparaiso. Six different players have scored one goal apiece this season, while Stacy has three assists and five points to lead the team. Bennett has a miniscule goals-against average of 0.16 and five shutouts. He has allowed just one goal this season to date. Last year, coach Damon Rensing's team went 14-6-3 overall and 3-2-1 in the Big Ten, and the Spartans advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
A LOOK AT THE BONNIES
St. Bonaventure is 0-3-0 on the year, and the Bonnies play a Friday (Sept. 26) match at Canisius before hosting the Falcons two days later. SBU's losses have come by shutout at home against Delaware and Niagara, with the latter setback coming in overtime, and on the road vs. Rider. Jeremy Figler has played all but 30 minutes in goal this fall, and has 12 saves and a 2.97 GAA. Last fall, the Bonnies went 8-9-2 overall and 2-5-1 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. Mel Mahler is in his 10th season as head coach of the Bonnies. Mahler spent 17 years with the Falcon men's soccer program, including assistant-coaching stints from 1987-92 and in 1994. He served as the interim head coach in '93, and was the head coach from 1995-2003. Mahler's career head-coaching record at BGSU was 111-76-13 (.586), and he guided the Falcons to three MAC regular-season championships, three league tournament titles and three-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament from 1995-97.
THE SERIES
BGSU trails Michigan State, 19-16-6, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons are looking to snap a 12-match winless streak against the Spartans. The five previous matches in the Eric Nichols Era have seen MSU win by a single goal on four occasions, while the teams battled to a scoreless draw in 2011. Last year, MSU picked up a 1-0 win in East Lansing, and the Spartans' last trip to BG saw State escape Cochrane Field with a 2-1 win two years ago. BG's last win over MSU was a 3-1 victory on the road on Sept. 17, 2001.
BGSU leads St. Bonaventure, 4-2-0, in that series, and the teams' last meeting saw the Falcons capture a 3-0 decision in the 2012 season opener at Cochrane. Prior to that, the teams had not met since 2004. The Falcons won the first three meetings by a combined score of 20-0, but the Bonnies bested BG in both 2002 and '04.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following this week's matches, the Falcons will conclude a three-match road swing with trips to IPFW (Oct. 1) and Cleveland State (Oct. 7), before playing back-to-back MAC matches at Cochrane, beginning with a game vs. Akron on Saturday evening, Oct. 11.
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LINKS
BGSU Notes & Statistics - PDF
Michigan State Men's Soccer | St. Bonaventure Men's Soccer
Then, the Brown and Orange will begin a three-match road swing, heading to Western New York for a Sunday (Sept. 28) match vs. St. Bonaventure University. That match is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. at McGraw-Jennings Field.
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| THIS WEEK IN FALCON SOCCER | ||
| Michigan State at BGSU | Wed., Sept. 24 7:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Twitter |
| BGSU at St. Bonaventure | Sun., Sept. 28 12:00 p.m. | Live Stats |
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS
There will be a number of promotions for BGSU students surrounding Wednesday's match against the Spartans. The first 100 students through the gates will receive free pizza. As if free admission and free pizza weren't enough incentive, a $100 gift card to the BGSU Bookstore will be given away during the match. And, the BGSU-MSU match is a Ziggy Points event.
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE
While BGSU and Michigan State have been strong in multiple facets of the game during the early portion of the season, Wednesday's contest matches the top offense in the country against one of the nation's stingiest defenses, according to the latest NCAA Division I statistics. BGSU leads the country in multiple offensive categories, including total goals (22) and goals per game (3.14). Michigan State is ranked fourth in the nation in both goals-against average (0.16) and shutout percentage (0.83), and the Spartans have allowed just one goal through six games this season to date.
MORE AWARDS FOR FLYNN
Falcon sophomore Pat Flynn has compiled more than his share of awards – as well as goals – during the first third of the 2014 season. On Monday, Flynn added a pair of awards to his ever-growing collection. He was named the MAC Player of the Week for the second time in a three-week span. Additionally, Flynn was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week. And, on Tuesday, he was named the College Sports Madness MAC P-O-T-W. Flynn had three goals last week, including the game-winning goals in both games, at BGSU downed Michigan and Eastern Illinois.
GOOD START
BGSU's 6-1-0 start to the season is the team's best since the 1995 team also went 6-1-0 to begin the year. That '95 club got off to a 9-1-0 start en route to the first of three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
MATCHING LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL
After last week's wins over Michigan and Eastern Illinois, BGSU is now 6-1-0 on the year. The Falcons have matched the win total for all of last season. The 2013 club went 6-7-6 overall.
SIX SHOOTERS
BGSU enters the Michigan State match riding a five-game home winning streak and a six-game unbeaten streak at Cochrane Field. Those are BG's longest such streaks in 15 years. The Falcons won six-straight games at home in 1998 and '99, winning the last three home matches of the '98 campaign (over Eastern Michigan, Michigan State and Marshall) and the first three home contests of '99 (vs. Dayton, Western Kentucky and DePaul). BG outscored the six opponents by a 13-1 margin during that '98-99 home winning streak, and the Falcons have outscored the foes, 24-3, during the current streak.
CHART-TOPPERS
The Falcons are very well represented in the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings, released Monday morning (Sept. 22). BGSU leads the nation in six team categories, while sophomore Pat Flynn leads the country in five individual categories. Fellow soph Jacob Roth is ranked among the nation's top 10 on two charts, and yet another sophomore, Joe Sullivan, is listed among the top 25 on three lists
FALCONS IN THE TOP TEN
Player/ Â Â Â Nat'l
Team      Rank   Category(ies)
BGSUÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Total Goals (22); Total Assists (25); Total Points (69);
               Goals/Gm. (3.14); Assists/Gm. (3.57); Points/Gm. (9.86)
           4    Winning Pct. (0.857)
          16    Shutout Pct. (0.57)
Pat Flynn    1    Total Goals (12); Goals/Gm. (1.71); Total Points (26);
                 Points/Gm. (3.71); Game-Winning Goals (5)
Jacob Roth   4    Total Assists (5)
           10    Assists/Gm. (0.71)
Joe Sullivan  9    Total Assists (4)
             25    Assists/Gm. (0.57); Total Points (10)
BUILD FROM THE BACK
Slowly but surely, the Falcons have improved defensively during the Eric Nichols Era. BGSU's totals/averages in a multitude of categories have gotten better in nearly every season since Nichols took over in 2009. Last year, the Falcon defense ranked 26th in the nation in saves pct., 33rd in the country in goals-against average and 36th in NCAA Division I in shutout pct. And, so far this season, the Falcons are in the top-40 in each of those categories. The 2014 team ranks fourth in the nation in another rather important category: winning percentage. A handy table containing these statistics and more can be found in the PDF version of these notes..
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• BGSU's two fourth-year seniors, Danny Baraldi and Jon Kumher, were unbeaten against Michigan in their careers. The Falcons have gone 3-0-1 against the Wolverines over the last four seasons, including shutout wins in Ann Arbor in 2012 and '14.
• Wednesday's opponent, Michigan State, is listed in multiple national rankings. MSU is ranked 13th by College Soccer News, 15th by Top Drawer Soccer and 17th by Soccer America this week. The Spartans were 16th in the country in last week's NSCAA/Continental Tire poll. The latter poll is released on Tuesday afternoons.
• The Falcons received votes in this week's College Soccer News poll.
• MSU will be BGSU's first nationally-ranked opponent this season. The Falcons played four games vs. ranked teams last season, including one match at Cochrane Field – a 1-1 draw vs. #14 Michigan on Sept. 2, 2013.
• The Falcons' last win over a nationally-ranked foe came vs. those same Wolverines, as BG defeated #9 U-M at Cochrane on Aug. 26, 2011. Baraldi, playing in his first collegiate game, scored what proved to be the winning goal that evening.
• Sophomore Pat Flynn has 12 goals and 26 points through seven games this season. No BG player scored more than six goals or 13 points during all of last year.
• No BGSU player had scored as many as 12 goals since Steve Klein had 18 in the 1996 season, and no Falcon had reached 26 points since Chris Dore (nine goals, eight assists, 26 points) in 1999.
• Flynn has scored at least one goal in six of the Falcons' seven matches this season, and has had three matches with two or more goals. In the Duquesne match, the only game in which he has been held scoreless, Flynn drilled a shot off the crossbar in the first overtime.
• Flynn now has five game-winning goals on the year.
• Sophomore Joe Sullivan's two-assist match vs. Eastern Illinois Friday was the first of his career. He now has 10 points this season, good for the second-highest total on the team. Sullivan has three goals and four assists this fall after totaling six points on two goals and two assists as a freshman.
• Senior tri-captain Danny Baraldi assisted on Flynn's second goal of the night against EIU. Baraldi now has 55 points in 61 career matches, with 17 goals and 21 assists as a Falcon. He is just one assist and four points away from moving into the BGSU career top 10 on each of those lists.
• Redshirt sophomore Max Auden scored BGSU's first goal of the match vs. EIU. Auden has seven points this season, including the first two goals of his career. After redshirting the 2012 season at BG, Auden had one point last fall.
• The Falcons have scored 22 goals this season to date, after scoring a total of 25 during all of last season. This year's club has scored at least two goals in six of the seven games thus far.
• Sophomore Jacob Roth has five assists this fall, while Sullivan has four. No BG player had more than four assists during all of last season.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
Michigan State will enter Wednesday's match with a record of 4-1-1 on the season, and the Spartans are 1-0 in Big Ten Conference play after a 1-0 win at Maryland on Friday (Sept. 19). Junior Jason Stacy scored the lone goal of that match, while classmate Zach Bennett picked up the shutout in goal. Another junior, Zach Carroll, cleared a Maryland shot off the goal line in the final minute of play. The Spartans' other wins have come at home vs. SMU, Florida International and Loyola (Ill.), while State has tied UIC and lost to Valparaiso. Six different players have scored one goal apiece this season, while Stacy has three assists and five points to lead the team. Bennett has a miniscule goals-against average of 0.16 and five shutouts. He has allowed just one goal this season to date. Last year, coach Damon Rensing's team went 14-6-3 overall and 3-2-1 in the Big Ten, and the Spartans advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
A LOOK AT THE BONNIES
St. Bonaventure is 0-3-0 on the year, and the Bonnies play a Friday (Sept. 26) match at Canisius before hosting the Falcons two days later. SBU's losses have come by shutout at home against Delaware and Niagara, with the latter setback coming in overtime, and on the road vs. Rider. Jeremy Figler has played all but 30 minutes in goal this fall, and has 12 saves and a 2.97 GAA. Last fall, the Bonnies went 8-9-2 overall and 2-5-1 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. Mel Mahler is in his 10th season as head coach of the Bonnies. Mahler spent 17 years with the Falcon men's soccer program, including assistant-coaching stints from 1987-92 and in 1994. He served as the interim head coach in '93, and was the head coach from 1995-2003. Mahler's career head-coaching record at BGSU was 111-76-13 (.586), and he guided the Falcons to three MAC regular-season championships, three league tournament titles and three-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament from 1995-97.
THE SERIES
BGSU trails Michigan State, 19-16-6, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons are looking to snap a 12-match winless streak against the Spartans. The five previous matches in the Eric Nichols Era have seen MSU win by a single goal on four occasions, while the teams battled to a scoreless draw in 2011. Last year, MSU picked up a 1-0 win in East Lansing, and the Spartans' last trip to BG saw State escape Cochrane Field with a 2-1 win two years ago. BG's last win over MSU was a 3-1 victory on the road on Sept. 17, 2001.
BGSU leads St. Bonaventure, 4-2-0, in that series, and the teams' last meeting saw the Falcons capture a 3-0 decision in the 2012 season opener at Cochrane. Prior to that, the teams had not met since 2004. The Falcons won the first three meetings by a combined score of 20-0, but the Bonnies bested BG in both 2002 and '04.
UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
Following this week's matches, the Falcons will conclude a three-match road swing with trips to IPFW (Oct. 1) and Cleveland State (Oct. 7), before playing back-to-back MAC matches at Cochrane, beginning with a game vs. Akron on Saturday evening, Oct. 11.
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Players Mentioned
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/ Men's SoccerBGSU MSOC: USMNT GOAT (Lucas Kleimeyer)
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