BGSU vs. UIC
Sunday, Nov. 10 | 7:00 p.m.
Cochrane Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio
Video/Web Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com

• The Bowling Green State University men's soccer team will play one more match at Cochrane Stadium this season. Head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons face UIC in a Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinal-round matchup on Sunday evening (Nov. 10). First touch is set for 7:00 p.m., and admission is free.

• The Falcons are the third seed for the MVC Tournament, while the Flames are the number-six seed.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Sunday night's UIC contest will be streamed via 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.

THE FALCONS AND THE MVC TOURNAMENT
• The Falcons enter Sunday evening's UIC contest with a record of 0-1-0 in the MVC Tournament. Last season, in BGSU's first year in the MVC, the Falcons dropped a 2-1 decision to Northern Illinois in the quarterfinal round of the league tourney. Kyle Cusimano scored for the Falcons, who outshot the Huskies by a 24-14 count.

FALCONS PUT HOME UNBEATEN RECORD ON THE LINE
• The Falcons enter Sunday night's UIC match looking to remain unbeaten at home in 2024. With the win over Western Michigan, the Falcons finished the home portion of the regular-season schedule with a record of 7-0-1 in home matches. That includes a 6-0-1 mark at Cochrane Stadium and an additional win in a match that was moved indoors due to weather and field conditions.

• The Falcons last went unbeaten at home during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, actually played in the spring of 2021. BGSU was 3-0-1 inside Cochrane Stadium that season.

• BGSU posted unbeaten home records in 1965 (2-0-1), 1973 (5-0-0), 1974 (4-0-0), 1978 (7-0-0), 1992 (8-0-0), 1994 (9-0-0), 1996 (9-0-1) and 2016 (5-0-4), in addition to 2020(-21).

DOUBLE THE DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORERS
• Junior Trace Terry scored his 11th goal of the season in the second half of the Falcons' win over Western Michigan (Nov. 1). Eight minutes later, sophomore Bennett Painter scored his 11th goal of the year.

• Then, on Wednesday night (Nov. 6), Painter recorded his 12th goal of the year, with Terry picking up the primary assist, in the Falcons' match at Oregon State.

• As of Thursday morning (Nov. 7), BGSU is one of only two teams in the nation – joining Duke – with a pair of double-digit goal scorers this season.

TOUGH CROWD!
• The Falcons definitely have played a difficult schedule down the stretch. BGSU's last four matches of the regular season included three opponents listed among the top 25 teams in the nation in the latest RPI rankings.

• BGSU faced Missouri State, ranked 11th in the RPI and 15th in the United Soccer Coaches Top-25 poll at the time of that match. The Bears are currently fifth in the RPI. The Falcons also faced Western Michigan (currently 25th in the RPI, 14th in the USC poll at the time of the match) and Oregon State (currently 20th in the RPI and 23rd in the latest Top Drawer Soccer poll) during that stretch.

• BGSU has played eight matches against teams currently ranked in the top-100 of the RPI this season. That list includes Missouri State, Oregon State, WMU, Michigan (32nd), Drake (33rd), Michigan State (83rd), Evansville (93rd) and UIC (94th).

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 Sunday's UIC game, Painter has 12 goals and Terry 11 on the season. The 2024 campaign marks the first time BGSU has had two players with 10 goals or more since 1996, when Steve Klein scored 18 times and Dave Kindl 11.

• Painter and Terry have 27 and 24 points, respectively, this fall. BGSU has not had two 20-point scorers in a season since the aforementioned '96 campaign. 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.

• Each player has four game-winning goals in 2024, tying them for eighth in the nation in that category. 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 GWG, both Painter and Terry are ranked in the top-40 in the nation in six other categories. Each are listed among the country's leaders in total goals, goals per game, total points, points per game, shots per game and shots on goal per game.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• Bowling Green is 10-5-2 on the season, and the Falcons went 4-3-1 in MVC play. BG finished in a three-way tie for third place in the nine-team league, and the Falcons earned the third seed by virtue of the MVC's second tiebreaker.

• The first tiebreaker is head-to-head results, and all three teams involved in the tie – BGSU, Evansville and Western Michigan – went 1-1-0 against one another. The second tiebreaker is goal differential in conference matches, and the Falcons had the best goal differential (+3) of the three teams.

• The Falcons ended the conference schedule with an emphatic 3-0 win over then-No. 14 Western Michigan last weekend (Nov. 1) at Cochrane Stadium. BGSU snapped the Broncos' 37-match unbeaten streak which dated to August of 2023.

• BGSU wrapped up the regular-season slate with a 3-1 loss at Oregon State on Wednesday night (Nov. 6).

• While BGSU beat WMU by three goals, the Falcons' other three conference wins came by a single goal. BG posted 2-1 victories over Northern Illinois at home and Bradley on the road, and a 1-0 home win against Belmont. The Falcons lost in league play for the first time on Oct. 5, falling at UIC by a 2-1 final.

• The Falcons' other league losses came against No. 15 Missouri State (2-1; Oct. 20) and Evansville (1-0; Oct. 25), and BG battled Drake to a scoreless draw (Oct. 12).

• In non-league play, the Falcons topped Wright State, Butler, Eastern Illinois and Detroit Mercy 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 suffered non-league losses on the road against Michigan (2-0; Sept. 2) and Oregon State.

• The Falcons are ranked eighth in the United Soccer Coaches West Region poll, as of Tuesday (Nov. 5). BGSU is 7-0-1 at home (including a 6-0-1 mark at Cochrane Stadium) and 3-5-1 on the road.

• 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.

• Sophomore Bennett Painter and junior Trace Terry are leading the way in scoring, with 27 and 24 points, respectively. Painter and Terry have 12 and 11 goals, respectively, to rank among the national leaders. Both players have four game-winning goals this season to date.

• Senior Alberto Anaya and junior Andrew Shaffer have 15 and 10 points, respectively. Anaya has nine assists to lead the team and rank 10th in the nation, while Shaffer is also among the nation's top-40 players in that category, with eight assists. Fifth-year Falcon Kyle Cusimano has six points on the year.

• Another fifth-year Falcon, Brendan Graves, has played all 17 matches in goal and has 62 saves, a 1.18 GAA and five shutouts. Three of the goals BGSU has allowed this season have come via penalty kicks.

• Graves has played all 1530 minutes this season, while Cusimano has been on the field for 1529 of those 1530 minutes. Josh Erlandson has played 1500 minutes, with Shaffer, Anaya and Painter at 1408, 1404 and 1389, 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-league 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 57 matches – a total of 5,150 minutes. No other BGSU 'keeper has been between the posts since Oct. 22, 2021.

HOME COOKIN'
• Head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons have made Cochrane Stadium a difficult place to play for the opponents. In the last decade-plus – since the start of the 2014 season – BGSU has a record of 52-15-16 (.723) in games at the site.

• Since Nichols took the helm prior to the 2009 season, the Falcons have a record of 69-31-23 at home. That mark now includes one win at a dome in Rossford.

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 OPPONENT
• UIC is 7-9-0 on the season, and the Flames went 3-5-0 in MVC play to finish in sixth place in the conference standings. After picking up a 2-0 victory over Bradley last weekend, UIC ended the regular season with a narrow 2-1 loss at Western Michigan on Wednesday afternoon (Nov. 6). The Flames are 5-4-0 at home and 2-5-0 on the road this season to date. Bart Muns leads the team in goals, with six, and points, with 13. Rui Reis has 12 points on four goals and four assists. In goal, Oren Asher has made 10 starts, and has 42 saves, two shutouts and a 2.10 GAA. Kevin Dabrowski has started six contests between the posts and has eight saves, two clean sheets and a GAA of 1.50. Last season, coach Sean Phillips's club went 11-5-3 overall and 4-2-2 in the MVC.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads UIC, 2-1-0, in the all-time series, but the Flames captured this year's regular-season meeting, picking up a 2-1 victory in Chicago just over a month ago (Oct. 5, 2024). Bart Muns scored both goals for the hosts in that match, while Trace Terry converted a penalty kick for the Falcons. Last season, BGSU picked up a 3-1 win at Cochrane Stadium (Oct. 18, 2023), in the teams' first meeting since September of 1991. BGSU is 2-0-0 and 0-1-0 on the road vs. the Flames through the years.

UP NEXT
• The BGSU-UIC survivor will advance to the MVC Tournament semifinals, which will be held on Wednesday (Nov. 13) in Springfield, Mo. The teams are reseeded following the quarterfinal round. Should BGSU advance past UIC, the Falcons would face second-seeded Drake in the semifinals. That match would begin at 4:00 p.m. ET.

The MVC Tournament final is set for Saturday, Nov. 16, at 7:30 p.m. ET. Regular-season champion Missouri State will host both the semifinals and the final.

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 right here at BGSUFalcons.com.