BGSU vs. WRIGHT STATE
Friday, Aug. 23 | 7:00 p.m.
Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio
Video/Web Stream: WBGU-TV/YouTube
Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com BGSU at MICHIGAN STATE
Monday, Aug. 26 | 7:00 p.m.
DeMartin Stadium | East Lansing, Mich.
Video/Web Stream: B1G+
Live Stats: MSUSpartans.com

• The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team will open the 2024 season on Friday evening (Aug. 23). The Falcons of head coach Eric Nichols face Wright State University in a 7:00 p.m. start at Cochrane Stadium, and admission is free.

• Friday's matchup will feature the battle for the I-75 Cup, a traveling trophy that goes to the winner of the BGSU-WSU match.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will head to East Lansing for a Monday (Aug. 23) meeting with Michigan State University. That contest is also set to start at 7:00 p.m., at DeMartin Stadium.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Friday's Wright State game will be streamed on YouTube, free of charge, and produced by WBGU-TV, while Monday's MSU contest will be available on Big Ten Network Plus (B1G+). 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.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• Bowling Green welcomes back 17 of the 20 players who saw action last season. That group includes nine starters from a 2023 club that went 7-8-3 overall and 4-4-0 in the Falcons' first season in the Missouri Valley Conference.

• BGSU's top-two scorers from a year ago, senior Alberto Anaya and junior Trace Terry, are back. Earlier this week, both Anaya and Terry were named to the Preseason All-MVC Team.

• Anaya and Terry each had 14 points on four goals and six assists a year ago. Anaya was named to the All-MVC First Team, with Terry earning all-conference second-team honors.

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

• In goal, Brendan Graves returns after starting every match a year ago. In fact, Graves has played every second of the Falcons' last 40 matches, a total of 3,620 minutes. No other BGSU player has been between the goalposts since Oct. 22, 2021.

• Andrew Shaffer had eight points, including three goals last year, while Bennett Painter had three goals and seven points. Kyle Cusimano and Jake Bergin totalled six and four points, respectively, in 2023.

• A total of 18 different Falcons started at least one match last season. Four of those players – Graves, Terry, Kyle Blasingame and Mads Christensen – were in the Starting XI for all 18 contests, and all four return.

• Graves, of course, played all 1,620 minutes in '23. Blasingame led the field players with 1,483 minutes played, followed by Christensen (1,465) and Terry (1,367).

LOOKING FOR A(NOTHER) STRONG START
• The Falcons will be looking to get the season off to a good start, something BG has made a habit of doing in the Eric Nichols Era. In overall regular-season openers, BGSU is 10-1-4 since Nichols assumed the helm. The lone loss came to a Northern Kentucky team that was coached by current BGSU assistant coach Stu Riddle.

• The Falcons have a 10-4-1 record in home openers in the Nichols Era.

HOME COOKIN'
• As mentioned in the previous note, BGSU has a record of 10-4-1 in home openers since Eric Nichols took the helm prior to the 2009 season. In all games at Cochrane Stadium during that time, the Falcons are 63-31-22.

• In the last decade – since the start of the 2014 season – BGSU is 47-15-15 (.708) in home games.

RHYMES WITH SAVES
• Brendan Graves has been in goal for the Falcons for every second of every match for more than two years now. Graves recorded five or more saves in nine matches last season, including in eight of BG's final 12 contests.

• Graves had a career-high 10 saves at Duquesne last Aug. 31, then tied that mark in the 2023 MVC opener at Western Michigan (Sept. 16). Two weeks later, he had nine saves, including a diving stop of a penalty kick, in the Falcons' win over Evansville.

• Entering the 2024 opener, Graves has a career goals-against average of 1.27, along with 145 saves and 11 complete-match shutouts. He finished the 2023 season ranked ninth in the nation in total saves (84) and 16th in saves per game (4.67). At the conclusion of the Falcons' 2023 campaign, Graves was ranked eighth in the country in goalkeeper minutes played.

A FEW FUN FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons had a successful year in the classroom in 2023-24. BGSU had a team grade-point average of 3.41 during the '23-24 academic year.

• Alberto Anaya scored a goal in four consecutive matches last October. That marked the longest streak by a Falcon in over 18 years, since Omari Aldridge found the net in five-straight contests from Sept. 18 to Oct. 2, 2005.

• The Falcons suffered a 1-0 loss at eventual league champion Western Michigan in the first MVC match in program history, back on Sept. 16. Following that match, BGSU averaged 2.43 goals per game over the remainder of conference play, with 17 goals in the final seven MVC regular-season matches. BG scored two or more goals five times in MVC play, with three or more goals in four league contests.

• BGSU has scored at least two goals in every home regular-season MVC match in program history. That 'history' began last Sept. 23 with a 3-1 win against Bradley, and BGSU also downed Evansville (4-2; Sept. 30) and UIC (3-1; Oct. 18) at Cochrane. The Falcons found the back of the net twice against #18 Missouri State (Oct. 27) as well.

• The Falcons will be looking to snap a two-game home losing streak in the Wright State match. Prior to losses to nationally-ranked Missouri State and Northern Illinois to end last season's home slate, BGSU had been undefeated in the prior 10 matches at Cochrane (8-0-2).

• Since the start of the 2009 season, BGSU is 88-10-7 when scoring two or more goals in a match.

• Entering the WSU match, the Falcons have an overall record of 49-33-15 over the last 97 games, dating to midway through the 2018 season. BGSU has 24 multiple-goal victories in that time.

CAPTAINS
• Alberto Anaya, Kyle Cusimano and Brendan Graves are the captains of the 2024 Falcons. All three are captains for the second-straight season.

THE OPPONENTS
• Wright State, like the Falcons, will open the 2024 regular-season schedule on Friday night. The Raiders were picked to finish ninth in the Horizon League this season, according to the preseason poll. Last season, the Raiders went 4-9-5 overall and 3-4-2 in league play. Henry Hutchinson scored seven points last fall and was named to the Horizon League's All-Freshman Team for head coach Alex Van de Sluijs.

• Michigan State opens the season with a Thursday (Aug. 22) matchup at SIUE, before hosting the Falcons on Monday. The Spartans finished with an overall record of 7-2-7 in 2023, and MSU went 3-1-4 in Big Ten Conference action. The Spartans were picked to finish fifth in the 11-team league in 2024, with three players – Jeremy Sharp, Jake Spadafora and Jonathan Stout – all named to the Big Ten Players to Watch List. The team's top eight scorers from last season all return, as does starting goalkeeper Zac Kelly, for head coach Damon Rensing's club.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads Wright State, 12-8-3, in the all-time series, but the Raiders captured last year's meeting. WSU scored three times in the final 12 minutes for a 3-0 victory over the visiting Falcons (Sept. 19, 2023). The last meeting at Cochrane Stadium saw the Falcons pick up a 3-0 win of their own (Sept. 14, 2021). BGSU is 7-2-3 at home and 5-6-0 on the road against the Raiders over the years.

• The Falcons trail Michigan State, 25-17-7, in that series, and the Spartans posted a 3-0 victory in East Lansing last season, snapping a two-match series unbeaten streak for the Falcons. BGSU recorded a 3-0 road win three years ago (Sept. 6, 2021) – with Kyle Cusimano scoring a goal and adding two assists – before the teams battled to a 1-1 draw at Cochrane Stadium the following season (Sept. 9, 2022). BG is 10-12-3 at home and 7-13-4 on the road vs. the Spartsns.

UP NEXT
• The Michigan State match begins a three-game road swing for the Falcons, who will travel to face IU Indianapolis (Friday, Aug. 30) and Michigan (Monday, Sept. 2). BGSU will then host back-to-back home games, facing Butler (Saturday, Sept. 7) and Northern Illinois (Friday, Sept. 13). The NIU game is the Falcons' MVC opener.

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.