BGSU vs. DRAKE
Saturday, Oct. 12 | 7:30 p.m.
Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio
Video/Web Stream: BCSN/ESPN+
Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com

• The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team returns to Missouri Valley Conference play for the next four matches, beginning Saturday evening (Oct. 12). Head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons host Drake University, with first touch set for 7:30 p.m. at Cochrane Stadium. Admission is free to all home regular-season matches.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Saturday's Drake contest will air on BCSN in the Toledo area, and will be streamed via the BCSN app as well as on ESPN+. Live stats and Twitter/X updates (@BGSUMSoccer), as always, will also be available.

• Links to any available live audio/video/stats for all 2024 matches can be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com on game day.

SENIOR NIGHT
• Saturday's match will be Senior Night at Cochrane Stadium, with eight members of the program scheduled to be recognized prior to the contest. That group includes Alberto Anaya, Jake Bergin, Kyle Blasingame, Kyle Cusimano, Taylor Dyson, Josh Erlandson, Brendan Graves and Rodrigo Montez Silva.

• The Falcons have a record of 10-3-2 mark in Senior Day/Night matches since Eric Nichols became head coach. BG has won the last seven such games.

PAINT THE TOWN ORANGE AND BROWN
• Sophomore Bennett Painter had a night to remember on Tuesday (Oct. 8). Painter had three goals and two assists – all in the first half – as the Falcons topped Detroit Mercy, 5-2, at Cochrane Stadium.

• Painter's hat trick was the first by a Falcon in over nine years, since Pat Flynn had three goals vs. Western Illinois on Aug. 30, 2015. His total of eight points was the highest by a BGSU player in more than a decade, since Flynn had an 11-point night vs. Findlay (Sept. 2, 2014).

• Prior to Painter's prolific performance, no Falcon had scored three goals and/or eight points in a single half since that Findlay game, when Flynn had all 11 of his points – including five goals and an assist – prior to the intermission.

DYNAMIC DUO
• Junior Trace Terry and sophomore Bennett Painter each have had a knack for finding the goal this season. A few facts about the Falcons' dynamic duo...

• Entering Saturday's Drake game, Terry has 10 goals on the season, while Painter has scored nine times. The 2024 campaign marks the first time BGSU has had two players with nine goals or more since 1996, when Steve Klein scored 18 times and Dave Kindl 11.

• Painter and Terry are tied for the team lead in points, with 21 apiece. BGSU has not had two 20-point scorers in a season since 1996. That year, the Falcons actually had three players with over 20 points, as Klein had a whopping 50 points, with Dave Kindl and Jason Began adding 29 and 26, respectively.

• As of Thursday morning (Oct. 10), three players in the nation have four game-winning goals on the season, and two of them play for the Falcons. Painter, Terry and the College of Charleston's Leonardo D'Ambrosio are the only three players in NCAA Division I with four GWG.

• This season marks the first time two Falcons have each had four GWG in the same year since 1991 (Rob Martella five, Tom Kinney four).

• In addition to being tied for the national lead in GWG, Terry is third in the nation in total goals, fifth in total points and shots on goal per game, eighth in both goals per game and shots per game and 11th in points per game.

• In addition to GWG, Painter is ranked on the national lists in total points (fifth), total goals (seventh), shots per game (18th), goals per game (20th), points per game (21st) and shots on goal per game (23rd).

ALOTTA ASSISTS FOR ALBERTO
• Senior Alberto Anaya had four assists in the Falcons' win over Eastern Illinois (Sept. 24) , tying the school record. Anaya matched the mark set by Brian Ferguson in a 6-1 win over Eastern Michigan on Sept. 20, 1989.

• Anaya also had an assist on the first goal of the game against Detroit Mercy. On the season, he now has 12 points on two goals and a BG-best eight assists. As of Thursday morning (Oct. 10), Anaya was tied for third in the country in total assists and deadlocked for fifth in the nation in assists per game.

• Anaya now has career totals of 22 assists and 50 points. He has moved into a tie for 11th place on the BGSU career assists list, and he is deadlocked for 21st place in career points.

TRACE SETS A SCORING PACE
• Junior Trace Terry, as mentioned, now has 10 goals on the season. He is the first Falcon with a double-digit single-season goal total since Pat Flynn found the back of the net 14 times in 2014.

• Terry, who missed the UDM match, has scored at least one goal in five consecutive games. He is the first Falcon to do so since Omari Aldridge scored in five-straight contests in 2005.

RHYMES WITH SAVES
• Fifth-year Falcon Brendan Graves had a pair of shutouts to end the month of September, making a total of seven saves in BG's wins over Eastern Illinois and Belmont. The clean sheets were the 13th and 14th, respectively, of his BGSU career.

• Graves has three shutouts this season, including a spectacular performance in a 1-0 win at Michigan State (Aug. 26). Graves made six saves vs. the Spartans, with arguably no routine stops among them.

• Graves, who has been in goal for every second of every match for nearly three years now, has a goals-against average of 1.17 this season, and that average drops to 1.00 in MVC matches.

• Entering the Drake match, Graves has a career goals-against average of 1.25, along with 189 saves and the 14 complete-match shutouts. He has moved into 10th place in BGSU history in career shutouts, and he now has sole possession of seventh place on the school list for career wins, with 25.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• Bowling Green is 9-2-1 on the season, and the Falcons are 3-1-0 in MVC play. All three of BGSU's conference wins have come by a single goal, with 2-1 victories over Northern Illinois at home and Bradley on the road, and a 1-0 home win against Belmont. The Falcons fell in league play for the first time last Saturday (Oct. 5), falling at UIC by a 2-1 final.

• BGSU bounced back to beat Detroit Mercy, 5-2, on Tuesday night (Oct. 8), rolling up a 5-0 lead at the half at Cochrane Stadium.

• In non-league play, the Falcons have topped Wright State, Butler, Eastern Illinois and UDM at home – although the EIU match was moved indoors due to inclement weather and field conditions – and BG has beaten Michigan State and IU Indy on the road. The Falcons played host Northern Kentucky to a 1-1 draw, and BG's lone non-league loss this season to date came at Michigan (2-0; Sept. 2).

• The Falcons are currently ranked seventh in the United Soccer Coaches West Region poll. BGSU is 6-0-0 at home (including a 5-0-0 mark at Cochrane Stadium) and 3-2-1 on the road.

• BGSU has topped the goal total for all of last season. The 2024 Falcons have scored 28 goals in 12 matches, an average of 2.33 goals per game. Last season, BG had 27 goals in 18 games (1.50 goals per game).

• The Falcons welcomed back 17 of the 20 players who saw action last year. That group includes nine starters from a 2023 club that went 7-8-3 overall and 4-4-0 in BGSU's first year in the MVC.

• Junior Trace Terry and sophomore Bennett Painter are tied for the team lead in scoring, with 21 points apiece. Terry has a team-leading 10 goals, with Painter right behind with nine. As mentioned earlier, they are two of the three players in all of NCAA Division-I men's soccer with four game-winning goals, and they each are ranked among the national leaders in multiple other categories.

• Senior Alberto Anaya and junior Andrew Shaffer have 12 and nine points, respectively. Anaya has eight assists to lead the team and rank third in the nation, while Shaffer is also among the nation's top-20 players in that category, with seven assists). Fifth-year Falcon Kyle Cusimano has six points on the year.

• Another fifth-year Falcon, Brendan Graves, has played all 12 matches in goal and has 44 saves, a 1.17 GAA and three shutouts. Three of the 14 goals BGSU has allowed have come via penalty kicks.

• Graves has played all 1080 minutes this season, while Cusimano has played 1079. Josh Erlandson has played 1050 minutes, with Shaffer and Painter and Shaffer at 1031 and 1014, respectively.

• Anaya and Terry, BGSU's top-two scorers from a year ago, each were named to the Preseason All-MVC Team in 2024. Both players had 14 points on four goals and six assists last season. Anaya was named to the 2023 All-MVC First Team, with Terry earning all-conference second-team honors.

• In all, BGSU returned six of last year's top-seven scorers.

• Graves is back in goal in '24 after starting every match a year ago. In fact, Graves has played every second of the Falcons' last 52 matches – a total of 4,700 minutes. No other BGSU 'keeper has been between the posts since Oct. 22, 2021.

THE OPPONENT
• Drake is 6-3-2 on the season, and the Bulldogs are unbeaten in MVC play at 2-0-1. DU was ranked 44th in the nation in the RPI to begin the week, and are coming off a 1-1 draw against nationally-ranked Western Michigan. Damian Segura has five goals and 11 points to lead the team in both categories. A total of seven Bulldogs have scored at least two goals apiece. Tomas Butkovic has played every second in goal and has 29 saves, four shutouts and a 1.18 GAA. Coach Pat Flinn's 2024 team has already doubled the win total for last season, as the '23 Bulldogs were 3-10-3 overall and 1-6-1 in the MVC.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads Drake, 1-0-0, in the all-time series, and Saturday will mark the teams' first-ever meeting in Northwest Ohio. In the only previous meeting, Bennett Painter scored a pair of second-half goals as the Falcons picked up a 3-1 win last season in Des Moines (Oct. 22, 2023). Alberto Anaya also scored in that win.

UP NEXT
• Following the Drake match, the Falcons will hit the road for the next two games, beginning with a contest vs. Missouri State on Sunday evening, Oct. 20. That match will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET.

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), and on the web at BGSUFalcons.com.