The men’s soccer team opened the Nichols era in fashion as the Falcons beat Marshall 2-0.

An impressive defensive performance as well as goals from Cameron Hepple and Chris Jurtovski sealed the win.

Coach Eric Nichols scrapped his plans of a 4-3-3 formation for the more compact 4-3-1-2, allowing for two strikers and a creative forward to be on the field at the same time.

That creative forward was senior Hepple, and he repaid his coaches’ confidence by scoring a free kick 13 minutes in. The Bahamian international set up 25 yards from the goal and struck a curving ball into the upper corner of the net. Herd keeper Greg Walter had no chance.

‘I knew that the keeper couldn’t see the ball, so I just aimed for the upper 90,’ Hepple said. ‘We practiced free kicks yesterday, so I was feeling pretty good about the shot.’

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Jeff Smoker, playing his first game as a Falcon, made three saves in a two minute span as the Herd began to look more dangerous.

‘It felt good to get those saves under my belt; I think I felt more confident after that.’ Smoker said.

In the 23rd minute, Smoker was outstanding, saving a curling effort from his left by Marshall forward Jordan Hilgefort, as well as a quick rebound from an onrushing Devin Perkins.

‘I just went the right way on his shot,’ Smoker added. ‘I read it really well.’

Goalkeeper coach Eric Pfeifer was pleased with his player’s spectacular save.

‘We ask our keeper to make routine saves, but Jeff made a huge double save, that kept us in the lead,’ Pfeifer said. ‘His decision making was very good, and that was nice progress for us as a team.’

The team’s most outstanding unit was the defensive line, who acted as a wall in front of the Falcon net, leaving little work for the keeper.

Nichols was pleased with his back fours play. He said if he were to give out a game ball, they would be the deserving recipients.

‘Those guys have been stellar all year,’ Nichols said. ‘We have a couple people on the bench that are capable of playing back there. Tanner Fink, Jake Custer and Tyler [Deal] were fantastic, as were the three guys we played at right back.’

The first half ended with the Falcons holding a 1-0 lead, with Bowling Green out shooting the Herd six shots to five.

The game’s importance was clear as former head coach and founding father of Falcon soccer Mickey Cochrane took time to talk to the team.

‘This game was an absolute pleasure to watch,’ Cochrane said. ‘I told the team that they were playing with a controlled intensity the whole time, there was no panic even when Marshall began to play well.’

Cochrane, whose name adorns the field, thought the game was a perfect start to Coach Nichols’ reign at Bowling Green.

‘The team will pick up good vibes from this game and take it with them to the next [games],’ Cochrane said. ‘All of the coaches in this conference speak highly of Coach Nichols and his background. There is no doubt in my mind that we will be back up there running a marvelous program.’

The Falcons added a second goal in the 70th minute as fullback Tyler Deal was pulled down in the box, leading to a penalty kick for the Falcons.

Hepple, the earlier goal scorer, stepped up for the effort.

As the rebound bounced around the box, forward Thomas McLean did a superb job poking it to Dusko Topolic from his back. The Serbian midfielder then lifted a perfect lob on to the head of onrushing midfielder Jurtovski, who nodded it home.

Nichols praised the second goal as a team effort.

‘It was fantastic, that is exactly the way we want to react in those situations,’ Nichols said. ‘Of course you want to score the penalty, but we reacted the right way after the miss. As Marshall kind of took a break, we stayed on it and got our goal.’

The next game will come Friday as the team travels to Kentucky for a weekend series against Louisville and the University of Kentucky.