What To Watch For: Falcons Wrap Up Homestand vs. Detroit Mercy Tuesday

FALCONS vs. DETROIT MERCY – Tuesday, September 21
7:00 p.m. | Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio
• Video/Web Stream: WBGU-TV (YouTube) •
• Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com | Twitter: @BGSUmenssoccer •

WHAT TO WATCH FOR...
• The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team wraps up a season-long four-match homestand on Tuesday evening (Sept. 21), when the University of Detroit Mercy comes to Cochrane Stadium. First touch is set for 7:00 p.m.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• The UDM match will be streamed on YouTube, free of charge, and produced by WBGU-TV. Live stats will also be available, and twitter updates can be found at @BGSUmenssoccer.

• Links to live audio/video/stats for all 2021 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.

• Admission is free to all home regular-season matches.

NICHOLS REACHES MILESTONE
• Friday's (Sept. 17) win over nationally-ranked FIU was the 100th win for Eric Nichols since he took the helm of the Orange and Brown. Nichols now has a 100-95-32 record since coming to BG prior to the 2009 season.

• There have been only five head coaches in the history of the BGSU program, which is now in its 57th season. Nichols is the third of those five coaches to reach the 100-win mark. He would join Gary Palmisano (172 wins at BGSU) and Mel Mahler (111) on that list.

FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons are 5-1-1 on the young season. BGSU battled IUPUI to a scoreless, double-overtime draw in the season opener at Cochrane, before going on the road and recording three-straight victories. Those wins included a 2-1 OT triumph at Gonzaga and back-to-back 3-0 wins at Cleveland State and Michigan State.

• #6/7 Marshall got a goal with just 93 seconds left on Saturday night (Sept. 11), and the defending national champions downed the Falcons, 1-0. BGSU rallied for an emphatic 3-0 victory vs. Wright State last Tuesday (Sept. 14), then topped #13/17 FIU by a 2-0 final on Friday evening (Sept. 17).

• BGSU led by two goals on only one occasion during all of last season, and the Falcons never led by three (BG took a 2-0 lead against Syracuse [Feb. 23, 2021] before winning by a 2-1 final). But, BG has now led – and won – by at least two goals in four of the last five matches.

• BGSU scored as many as two goals in a match only three times in 13 games in the spring. But, the Falcons have scored two or more goals five times in seven matches this season to date.

• The Falcons have recorded three three-goal games this year after going do only once in those 13 spring matches.

• BGSU is now 70-8-6 when scoring two or more goals in a match in the Eric Nichols Era.

• BG is 2-1-1 at home and a perfect 3-0-0 on the road, and the Falcons have topped the road win total for all of last season. BGSU has outscored opponents by a 13-2 count this season.

• Sergi Martinez leads the Falcons with nine points, while Kyle Cusimano and Roberto Fernandez Garrido have six points apiece this fall. Martinez has three goals and three assists after finding the back of the net in both matches last week. He had a three-point night vs. FIU, with the game-winning goal and the primary assist on Fernandez Garrido's marker.

• Fernandez Garrido also found the back of the net in both of last week's contests, and has three goals to tie Martinez for the team lead. Cusimano had his second two-assist game in three matches with a pair of helpers vs. Wright State. He was involved in the scoring of all three goals at Michigan State.

• Nathan Masters has five points, while Alberto Anaya has four. Masters opened the scoring vs. Wright State, picking up his first game-winning goal as a Falcon. Anaya scored the GWG in back-to-back road victories, vs. Gonzaga and Cleveland State.

• Logan Kowalczyk has played every second between the posts this fall, and has allowed just two goals to date. He has five shutouts and a goals-against average of just 0.28. Kowalczyk has kept 10 clean sheets in 19 career starts at BGSU.

• Entering the Detroit Mercy match, the Falcons have an overall record of 30-15-5 over the last 50 games, dating to late in the 2018 season. Eleven of the 15 setbacks in that time have come by a single goal.

LOOKING TO MAINTAIN THAT HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE
• The Falcons certainly have given fans their money's worth at Cochrane Stadium (especially since admission is free!). BGSU finished the 2020(-21) season with a record of 3-0-1 at home, and the Falcons allowed only one goal at Cochrane Stadium in those four matches.

• BGSU is 10-1-2 in the last 13 matches at Cochrane, with a 1-0 loss to Marshall the only setback in that time. The Marshall match was the eighth-straight home contest to have been decided by one goal or fewer, with six of those games requiring overtime. That streak ended with the three-goal win over WSU.

• BGSU is 11-3-2 at home in the last two-plus seasons, having outscored the opponents by a 28-10 count during that time.

• Taking it back a few more years, BG is 23-7-10 at Cochrane Stadium since the start of the 2016 season, and the Falcons have a home record of 35-11-11 since the beginning of the 2014 campaign. The Falcons have outscored the opposition, 109-42, at Cochrane, dating to the final home game of the 2013 season.

CAPTAINS
• Zach Buescher, Jacob Erlandson and Jensen Lukacsko are the captains of the 2021 Falcons.

THE OPPONENT
• Detroit Mercy is 1-2-2 on the young season. The Titans have beaten Chicago State, tied both Michigan and Incarnate Word and lost to Dayton and Cleveland State. The most recent match was a 2-0 setback on the road at CSU on Saturday. Demetri Pliakos has a team-leading three points, and is one of three Titans to have found the back of the net in the early going. Jonathan Kliewer has a GAA of 1.07 between the posts for head coach Nicholas Deren.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Detroit Mercy, 18-8-2, in the all-time series, and BG has captured the last two meetings. The Falcons took a 1-0 decision in the Motor City in October of 2019. In the last meeting at Cochrane, UDM picked up a 2-1 victory in 2013. Fun fact: the home team has gone 0-7-1 in the last eight BGSU-UDM meetings, since a 2-1 Falcon win in 2007 at Cochrane. BGSU is 8-4-1 and 10-4-1 on the road vs. the Titans over the years. Since Eric Nichols became head coach, the Falcons are 4-3-0 vs. UDM.

UP NEXT
• Following the UDM contest, the Falcons will head to Western New York to face Canisius on Friday, Sept. 24. That match is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.

• Then, BG ends the month of September by taking on Ohio State in Columbus on Sept. 29. The Falcons will begin the MAC schedule at home vs. Georgia State on Thursday night, Oct. 7.

# BGSU FALCON SOCCER #

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